Why is it that former high officials can make powerful statements while young leaders are in such short supply? Mary Robinson recently gave one of the most forceful condemnations of the situation in Gaza. After visiting Egypt and the Rafah border, the former President of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called on states to implement “decisive measures” to halt the “unfolding genocide and famine in Gaza.” After criticizing states’ policies towards Gaza – “Governments that are not using all the tools at their disposal to halt the unfolding genocide in Gaza are increasingly complicit” – she chided today’s leaders for not fulfilling their legal obligations; “Political leaders have the power and the legal obligation to apply measures to pressure this Israeli government to end its atrocity crimes.” Robinson is 81 years-old. Where are the young leaders making such statements? Where are they organizing groups like The Elders? 

The media’s attention to Robinson was impressive. Her August press conference was followed by several lengthy interviews on major networks. An independent group like The Elders – former presidents, U.N. officials, and civil society activists working for peace, justice, and human rights – deserves recognition. It also invites reflection on the role of age in today’s accelerated time. 

Being elderly and having once held an important position was not always politically positive. “Don’t trust anyone over 30,” was a popular expression in the 1960s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was just 34 years-old when he delivered his  ‘I Have a Dream‘ speech during the 1963 Washington rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial; he had previously established himself as a prominent civil rights leader when at 26 he led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. John F. Kennedy was 43 years-old when he was elected president, having already served in the House of Representatives at 30 and the Senate.at 36. 

And the 1960s youth leadership was not confined to officialdom. Student leaders made their marks on national politics. Mario Savio was a 21 year-old student when he led the Berkeley Free Speech Movement at the University. Mark Rudd was a 20 year-old junior when he led strikes and student sit-ins at Columbia University. Tom Hayden was 20 when he cofounded Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). He wrote the Port Huron Statement, the political manifesto for American student activism, when he was 22. At the time, Savio, Rudd, and Hayden were more than just campus activists; they were front page national news. 

Where are the student leaders opposing Trump’s attack on universities and freedom of expression? College presidents, professors, and boards of trustees are shouldering the burden. There is a generational vacuum. 

Youth and youthful dynamism are no longer the political positive. Today, no one could imagine the 79 year-old Donald Trump playing touch football on a beach in Florida as JFK and family did at Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. Kennedy’s real physical condition was ably hidden from the public, but the image of athletic activism was crucial. Trump swinging a club and riding in a golf cart is not a youthful image; even his awkward swing shows his age. Nor are the pictures of the members of his Mar-a-Lago crowd youthful; they look like a southern Florida section meeting of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). As slogans reflecting their times, Make America Great Again is far from the New Frontier.

Robinson was not alone. She visited the Rafah crossing with another member of The Elders, Helen Clark. Clark is 75 years-old, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and United Nations Development Program administrator. In addition to a joint statement with Robinson, Clark said: “I was horrified to learn from UNFPA [United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency] that the birth rate in Gaza has dropped by over 40% in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period three years ago…Many new mothers are unable to feed themselves or their newborn babies adequately, and the health system is collapsing.  All of this threatens the very survival of an entire generation.” Based on her years of experience, Clark wisely talked of generational change.

Age benefits people who have held important positions like Robinson and Clark. Besides experience, members of The Elders take no political risks by speaking out. The 83 year-old Senator Bernie Sanders is a notable exception of an elder speaking out in the U.S. while still in office. For whatever reasons, the elderly members of the Senate – there are currently seven senators who are in their 80s, 17 are in their 70s – have been particularly silent on issues like Gaza. In fact, they have been particularly silent on most issues. 

Where are the Savio/Rudd/Haydens today? The only comparable young leader is Greta Thunberg. Greta was only 15 when she initiated the climate strike movement Fridays for Future. But while Greta initiated the movement, she did not organize it as Tom Hayden did with the written Port Huron statement and SDS. Greta is an important symbol and example of courage – the drone attack on her Gaza-bound “Freedom Flotilla” is beyond reprehensible and consistent with Israel’s total war – but she is not a movement organizer on a national or global level. 

What makes statements by people like Robinson and Clark so impressive is that they stand out in a realm of stunning silence. The Democratic Party, for example, has no serious leadership. (The same might be said for Socialists in Europe and Labour in Great Britain.) The Dems inability to rally around Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City is an example of the Party’s cowardice and/or lack of vision. Besides criticizing Trump, there is nothing new out there.

We are desperately waiting for something new. JFK’s motto The New Frontier touched a foundational American embrace of the frontier, the space between the known and the unknown/new. Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier theory is essential to America’s identity. Trump’s return to the past is anti-frontier. MAGA is nostalgia and passé. 

Where are today’s young progressives presenting new political possibilities as Hayden and Co. did with Port Huron and SDS? Or does asking that question show that I am being too nostalgic about the past as well?   

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