Gen Z’s Global Uprising: A Demand for Schools and Hospitals Over Superyachts
A new generation is drawing a line in the sand. From the sun-baked streets of Morocco to the political epicenters of Madagascar, a wave of youth-led protests is reshaping the global conversation about inequality. Their message, distilled into powerful slogans like “We want hospitals, not stadiums,” cuts to the heart of a broken social contract. This isn’t a fringe movement; it’s a generational cry for a fundamental reordering of priorities, where public services trump private luxury.
The Fracturing Social Contract
What is driving this unprecedented mobilization? The answer lies in a potent cocktail of generational frustration, soaring inequality, and a palpable sense of betrayal. For decades, a tacit agreement existed between citizens and their governments: pay your taxes, follow the laws, and the state will provide a foundation of essential services like health, education, and social protection. That foundation is now crumbling.
In Morocco, protests weren’t sparked by an abstract political theory but by the tangible reality of electricity and water outages. The demand was simple: reliable, public infrastructure. This sentiment echoes across continents, where young people see vast public funds funneled into prestige projects—gleaming stadiums and vanity infrastructure—while clinics lack basic medicines and schools operate in shifts due to overcrowding. The social contract isn’t just strained; in the eyes of Gen Z, it has been voided.
A World Backtracking on Its Promises
As world leaders convene for the first World Summit for Social Development in three decades, the data paints a bleak picture. A recent Oxfam report highlighted a devastating trend: a staggering 84 percent of countries have cut investment in education, health, and social protection since 2024. Think about that for a moment. Nine out of ten nations are moving backwards in at least one of these critical areas.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, once a beacon of global ambition, are now dangerously off track. Compounding the crisis, cuts to aid from wealthy nations are pulling the rug out from under the Global South. A chilling study in The Lancet suggests that US foreign assistance cuts alone could be responsible for over 14 million additional deaths by 2030. These aren’t just statistics; they are a forecast of human suffering on a colossal scale.
The Great Paradox: Immense Wealth, Immense Need
Herein lies the great paradox of our time: the world is not poor. Global private wealth has exploded, growing by a mind-boggling $342 trillion since 1995—a sum eight times larger than the growth in global public wealth. The problem is one of distribution. The vast majority of this new fortune is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite and remains barely taxed.
We are witnessing the creation of what some economists grimly call an “inheritocracy.” Over the next decade, an estimated $70 trillion is set to pass from the rich to their children</strong, cementing privilege and inequality for another generation. Meanwhile, access to quality education and healthcare is increasingly determined by the size of one's bank account. How many potential doctors, climate scientists, or engineers are we losing because a child from a poor family simply cannot afford to go to high school?
The erosion of the welfare state, driven by a rigid ideological commitment to austerity, is a tragedy in plain sight. Robust social safety nets are not a luxury; they are the bedrock of stable, cohesive societies. Academic research consistently shows that strong welfare systems are key to reducing inequality and rebuilding public trust. Conversely, when services are delivered poorly or corruptly, that trust evaporates, paving the way for the very unrest we are now witnessing.
Gen Z: The Canary in the Coalmine
This generation is not waiting for permission or for traditional party politics to catch up. They are digitally native, organizing across borders with a fluency that baffles older institutions. Their protests are the canary in the coalmine, a stark warning of the instability that flourishes when governments fail to deliver on their most basic promises.
If the response to this legitimate anger is met with batons and bullets rather than classrooms and clinics, governments risk a deeper, more sustained resistance. The Gen Z uprising is a demand for a future that works for the many, not just the few. It is a rejection of the “private finance first” snake oil that has been sold as a panacea for decades.
A Path Forward: Rejecting Privatization and Building Public Wealth
The push to privatize, commercialize, and financialize essential services like health and education is a dangerous dead end. In the last year alone, 49 new billionaires were created in the health and pharmaceuticals sector. Yet, at the same time, half the world’s population lacks coverage for essential health services, and 1.3 billion people are impoverished by out-of-pocket medical expenses. The beneficiaries of this system are clear, and the human cost is immense.
But despair is not inevitable. There are beacons of hope that prove a different world is possible. Thailand has built a world-class public healthcare system available to all its citizens. Across Africa, hundreds of millions of children have seen their lives transformed by the simple act of making primary education free. These are not pipe dreams; they are policy choices.
The solution lies in a fundamental shift in focus: governments must prioritize building national public wealth, not private wealth. This requires the political courage to tax extreme wealth effectively and reinvest those resources where they belong—in the people. The momentum for such wealth taxes, thanks to the leadership of nations like Spain and Brazil, is building, and it is long overdue.
The agenda at the World Summit for Social Development has never been more urgent. The message from the streets is clear. Governments can either heed the call for schools and hospitals, or they can continue to ignore the gathering storm at their own peril. The choice is between investing in a stable, prosperous future for all, or presiding over a world fractured by inequality and discontent. For Gen Z, the time for waiting is over.
This report is based on the original article from Al Jazeera.