"We need to listen to young people."

Within the framework of the V International Congress of Researchers on Youth, organized by the Center for Youth Studies and the Union of Young Communists of Cuba from September 23 to 27 in Varadero, Cuba, Graciela Castro, member of the CLACSO Steering Committee for Argentina, spoke with CLACSO.tv.

The Doctor of Psychology asserted: “Unfortunately, the future looks quite bleak. And I think that demands greater responsibility from adults, because if young people are here today, it's the today we have built. I remember, from my youth, being told 'you are the future,' and we wanted to be the present. It was that very turbulent present of the 70s in Argentina, in which we wanted to be protagonists. With successes, with mistakes, but we were moving forward. And after so many years, one realizes that the world is becoming increasingly complex.”

Furthermore, Castro emphasized the need to listen to young people, stating: “I belong to a generation where the disruptive element wasn't exactly the right wing. But, in that sense, it seems to me that progressive movements, the left, haven't provided sufficient answers or offered enough alternatives for young people to perceive something positive in involvement and participation. I take into account what happened in our country. We can't ignore what the last government was like, in which we largely bet on that approach, and the frustration was immense. So, the alternative is this: let's tear everything down. (…) But in the face of that, we find youth groups that continue to participate. In the sphere where I work, the university, (…) young people, students, are the ones who most actively mobilize for marches, for demonstrations, for involvement. There are young people who aren't following that alternative, so we need to listen to them.”

“Sometimes, as adults, we can think we have all the answers, that we already know everything, but we don't. We have to learn to incorporate new strategies. (…) It's necessary because the complexity of the world is very distressing. I remain optimistic and believe that we can and must still give ourselves, as adults, as a society, and out of respect for young people, this opportunity to build something different. It can't be that everything has already been destroyed,” he added.

Interviewed by Gustavo Lema.