Co-determination and age: Where is the compensatory justice?

F elix and I watch a detailed report on the riots in France on television. The initially peaceful demonstrations by schoolchildren and students for better education policy and social justice have escalated into a nationwide wave of protests in just a few weeks, which has spilled into cities in the form of street battles, looting and arson. Thousands of injured people, devastated inner cities and a prime minister who calls on television to choose a side now.

“That’s so crazy!” I blurt out. "I understand the young people... but the violence? Nobody can support that."

Felix gets my favorite chocolate from the kitchen – the expensive one that I buy just for myself.

“Hey, what’s this?” I shout. “At least give me something too!” But my friend from the future calmly stuffs one piece after another into his mouth.

“That’s enough!” I snatch the package out of his hand and eat the last sad piece. He grins at me, chewing.

“So it did some good that you took the chocolate away from me by force?”

“Being right and protesting loudly doesn’t change anything,” says Felix. “You also need leverage, otherwise those in power will do whatever they want.”

"Okay... but in a democracy, power has to be controlled politically... and in an aging society, the old are in the majority and say what's going on - and that's rarely for the benefit of the young. How are they supposed to get their due when it comes to education, climate, defense or pensions?"

"The demography will not be reversed in the next 100 years - it will even get worse because people are getting older and having fewer and fewer children. But the young cannot be marginalized in the long term. They too will get old at some point and will have to endure the consequences of political decisions for much longer than those who made them. So a balance of interests must be found somehow. That is why the EU is introducing age-weighted voting rights in the 2040s. With an assumed maximum age If you are 100 or older you get 1 vote. For every year you are younger you get 1 vote. So a 50 year old has 51 votes, an 18 year old has 83.”

“Oh, I can imagine what happens then: laws in youth language instead of official German and finishing work an hour early every day so that I can still post on social media.”

“I would have expected this disrespectful attitude towards young people from Merz rather than from you,” says Felix icily.

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“Should be a joke… I guess they’ll invest in sustainability, education and social justice.”

"It's all kind of predictable. What's the point now?" I ask.

“The point is that all of this is already known and it will still take decades of oppression, violence and counter-violence until you finally make sensible policies.”