All the pigs in this country have a roof over their heads, but a student or a young person cannot even find an affordable broom closet. Rob Jetten was a liberal candidate aspiring to become prime minister of the Netherlands when he uttered this phrase in 2025 during the election campaign. At 38 years old, he was aware of what particularly worried young Dutch people. Those words must have stirred the consciences of many of his compatriots, as he ended up garnering a high number of votes, defeated the favorite, the far-right Geert Wilders, and became the youngest head of government in the country's history.
Zohran Mamdani (34 years old), the mayor of New York (son of a film director) who stars in videos that reach the citizen's retina directly, received the keys to the megalopolis after a campaign in which he promised to facilitate access to affordable housing.
Elif Eralp (45 years old) won last September in the elections for mayor-governor of Berlin as a candidate for Die Linke, a far-left party and heir to the communists who built the Wall that kept the city divided and wounded until November 9, 1989. How did Eralp manage to win? Because, in the former city of the Iron Curtain, rents have increased by almost 70% in the last decade and Die Linke took up the housing issue at its rallies.
But the game is not only left-wing or liberal. Housing, the star issue this week in Spain, is also on the minds of the most conservative leaders. A clear example is Donald Trump, president of the United States, magnate and leader of the Republicans and the MAGA world. Trump referred to the problem in his speech at the Davos Forum last January and, during Christmas, he had already addressed the issue on social media. "For a long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pillar of the American dream. It was the reward for hard work and doing the right thing. Now, that American dream is increasingly unattainable for many people, especially young people," said Trump, immediately blaming his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump knows what stirs and worries each electoral segment, despite his failed bet on the Iran war. If the Republican president was referring to housing, it was because access to a home has become one of the main concerns of the population, especially young people.
You only had to look at the social fuse that was being lit in other countries since the second half of 2025. In some capitals, young people took to the streets for housing, employment and to appease their frustration; In others, they focused their demands especially on education. This was the case in India of the "cockroach" movement, named 'in honor' of a magistrate who described young people who could not find employment and who were part of activism in this derogatory way.
The wave of Indian outrage had its origins in the repeated leaks of university entrance exams. The young protesters began to demand reforms in the education system and the resignation of the Education Minister, something they finally achieved and which represented a major political setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While this phenomenon was occurring in the most populated country in the world, in neighboring Indonesia and Nepal their inhabitants belonging to Generation Z or Generation Tik Tok had already taken to the streets. From Asia it moved to Latin America, as in the case of Peru. In Europe, only on the eastern flank, in Greece or Serbia, did the impetus of its young people resonate on the cobblestones of its cities. Until now, when in Spain and France, two large Western European countries with momentous elections in a matter of a few months, they have noticed the youth social outbreak.
In the French case, young people complain about the deterioration of conditions in educational centers and the lack of substitutes for absent teachers. Added to this are accusations of segregation of students in university entrance tests. The protests have been punctuated by episodes of violence, with 5,000 arrests throughout the Hexagon and 85% of those detained are minors, since the mobilizations began in the institutes.
From one end of the planet to the other, the different battles are, in essence, the same war: to conquer a future of which to be proud. And, in the face of this roar, few rulers will emerge unscathed if they decide to turn a deaf ear.
What's more, many of the current leaders will be directly challenged in the political arena. Thus, the Indian youth movement is now called Partido Popular Cucaracha and addresses issues that go beyond education, a clear signal for political forces of any stripe and place. In short, the social phenomenon can go beyond the streets.
