Global Dialogues

The panel on “Intergenerational Solidarity in a Broken World” made me reflect less about generational conflict and more about what it means to live between what we inherit and what we are expected to fix. I was struck by how the panel resisted the idea that generational solidarity is about blaming older generations or idealizing younger ones. Instead, there was a mutual understanding that solidarity can often be something that grows through relationships, through how we remember, take responsibility, and care for one another over time. 

The student speakers approached this from different angles and offered nuanced insights into how we can think about the term “generations.” The idea of living in “post-normal times” captured the sense of instability many of us feel, where social and political systems are incapable of keeping up with the scale of today’s crises. Framing generations as cycles rather than opposing sides challenges the idea that age automatically determines values or agency. The panel reflections suggest that intergenerational solidarity is about acknowledging how deeply our lives are shaped by decisions made before us, and how our own choices will shape the lives of those who come next, and not only about smoothing over differences or avoiding guilt. 

Reflecting on this through a Global South lens added another layer for me. In contexts like South Africa, crisis is familial, affected by generations of colonialism, apartheid, and uneven development. Here, intergenerational solidarity looks different. It's not necessarily about future planning but also about collective memory in how the histories of struggle are remembered, contested, and continued. Younger generations inherit both political freedom and deep structural inequality, which creates tension between gratitude and frustration. Solidarity, in this context, cannot mean unity without critique. It must allow for space for anger, disappointment, and reimagining, while still taking responsibility for collective futures. 

This panel clarified for me how much my understanding of solidarity has shifted through GGD Barcelona. Before GGD, I thought of solidarity mostly as a reactive force, a way to stand with others in moments of crisis. GGD discussions complicated that. It made me realize that solidarity is also how spaces are built: who is invited into the conversation and who is listened to and gets to make decisions. I became more aware of how easily we talk about “the future” without including those who live it most directly. At the same time, I began to question stories that place responsibility on the present generation, as if we exist outside of history. Practicing solidarity, I now think, means holding both of these realities at once. It means recognizing inherited damage without stepping away from the systems that created it. 

Practicing solidarity, I now think, means holding both truths at once. It means acknowledging inherited damage while refusing to disengage from the systems that produced it. It looks like listening across age and experience without assuming superiority. It looks like staying in uncomfortable conversations rather than retreating into blame or detachment. And it looks like refusing the idea that we are either innocent of the past or powerless over the future.