During this corona virus pandemic, on one of our frequent walks, my father said to me “Once the outlook for positive change becomes dominant in a society, nothing can stop its growth”. I immediately thought about how radical ideas had shaped revolutions of different countries. Having in mind that history repeats itself, I thought of my generation.  Then the ideas and prevalent outlook my generation and the ones before mine flipped through my mind. Globalization has shown that the people will always stand up against powerful and greedy corporations who exploit and oppress them for profits.

A few decades ago, reports were published that confirmed that the Coca-Cola products were injurious to human health. But using its enormous resources the company managed to deceive the world that the findings were not true by hiring researchers that concocted data that attributed the health challenges of obesity and diabetes to lack of exercise.  In same manner, oil companies have used their resources to convince the world that there was no such thing as climate change. They used their political connections to silence scientists. Also, tech corporations have manipulated data on people without any consideration for the possible harm it could do to its consumers.

Corporations have been able to fire workers with little repercussions for doing so. The dot-com boom led to an increase in the number of billionaires in the world, these billionaires emerged largely among dominant groups in the developed world because  less developed countries and minority groups and communities were unable to take advantage of the boom. This is not to say that I see capitalism as the enemy of progress, I consider myself a capitalist.  However, I have observed that the busting of the dot-com bubble led to the loss of wealth for many individuals, from groups and communities that were not able to profit from them.  These people have had to bear most of the negative effects.  These inequalities and inequities have come to light during this COVID-19 pandemic in the form of layoffs, pay cuts across the world.  It showed in the differing rates of survival between to the two wealth classes in the developed world where the pandemic hit hard. All these seems to draw my generation towards socialism instead of capitalism.  I believe in capitalism but for it to work, corporations will have to support the people of who are consumers of their products in the various countries of the world.

The repercussions of unhealthy food and drinks are being voiced all over the world, but the impact is still going to take a while to be felt due to the political power such corporations have over governments of different countries. The ongoing campaigns should press on to continue to challenge these corporations.  In the long run, the exploitation of workers in these companies will strike the heart of leaders across the world to legislate and take measures to change the situation. The introduction of palliatives across the world to cushion the effects of the many layoffs during this COVID-19 period buttress confidence in the possibility of change. For now, we trust that the corporations are smart enough to ward off a situation where the poor starve so much that they end up eating the rich.

             The challenge for my generation is to keep trying to adjust an ever-changing tech world to address inequality. The problems we face are not obvious problems that can be attacked and solved easily, they require discipline and consistency which is not going to be easy. If we are not weary we might end up  living in the real world of 1984  according to George Orwell, a world in which Corporations control the public or like the citizens of the Japan in the Anime Psycho-Pass who are seen as livestock that produce churns of data that can be used to manipulate humans and not as citizens.

Our Environmental problems are being solved with solar energy companies, entrepreneurship initiatives in green energy and Electric car manufacturers such as Tesla and Audi with their revolutionary electric vehicle, the E-tron.  Right now, they have been able to serve only the upper middle classes and the super-rich. Although the speed of their adoption has been slow, there is hope that with a lot of work to be done, they will extend access to the lower classes.

The fashion industry as well has recently been involved in solving environmental problems.  This is shown in the introduction of companies like Patagonia that are trying to address the negative effects of fast fashion, with most fast fashion companies such as Zara and H&M creating more supply of clothes than the possible demand for them.

With these developments, I look forward with hope to a future that is going to be drastically different from what our predecessors have bequeathing us beyond what they have ever imagined. The end of the baby boomers is near, the power being held by the Generation-Y is gets slowly depleted every day, the peak of the Millennials is approaching and so is the rise of my generation, the Generation-Z.

Written by Zaye Sosa.