Let Them Lead the Way
  October 20, 2026 Greetings, Meteor readers, We are one week away from Election Day, and I feel super-relaxed about it because I already voted early. So if you, too, want the euphoria that comes with scratching something off your to-do list ahead of schedule, go cast your vote.  In today’s newsletter, we take a look at how Gen Z is voicing their growing discontent across Europe. Plus, an insanely bad scheduling choice and an invite to gab about Liz Holmes. Early voting’s biggest fan, Shannon Melero  WHAT’S GOING ONThe kids are in the streets: This week, after two years of protesting government corruption, a student-led movement, called Student List, ended the 14-year rule of Serbia’s right-wing party. Student List secured a majority of the seats in the Serbian parliament during the country’s snap parliamentary election. Those seats will now be filled by lawyers, former Serbian celebrities, doctors, and artists who have been part of the Student List movement. The prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, conceded on Sunday as young people took to the streets of Belgrade in celebration. “For the first time in my adult life, I’m seeing a change of government,” one student told The New York Times. “After so many years under the same leadership, I’m happy that I’ll finally get to live in a free, normal country.”  A MOTHER AND CHILD CELEBRATE STUDENT LIST’S WIN IN BELGRADE. (IMAGE VIA GETTY IMAGES) What happened in Serbia is just the latest in a year that has seen sweeping youth-led movements across much of Europe. Young people are angry in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Albania, and Greece, and they’ve wielded that collective sentiment to call for change in their respective countries. The protests center around education, housing costs, military spending, climate, and health care—all issues that create an uncertain future for young people. A sociologist speaking to El País explained the rise of activism among young people this way: “Generation Z has grown up through multiple crises—austerity, climate change, the pandemic and now wars—and has been politically shaped by protests in solidarity with Palestine and against Israel’s genocide [in Gaza]. In Italy, we call them the ‘Gaza Generation.’” Stateside, the question has already been raised by scholars: Where is our great youth movement? The answer is, slowly but surely, unfolding right before our eyes. American Gen Zers are marching, running for office, protesting, and quite literally putting their money where their mouths are. Still, the case of Serbia and Student List’s parliamentary takeover—where a newly formed party unseated a longstanding political group—lays bare how much the United States is held hostage by a broken two-party system. If we want our own youth movements to have the impact of Europe’s, we’ll have to address that first. AND:
 ONE MORE THING Have you become one of those people who can’t talk about anything except “You Can See Everything”? Come sit by us! Next Wednesday, November 4, at 1 PM ET, The Meteor Book (and Sometimes Movie) Club is getting together virtually to dissect every last Elizabeth Holmes-ian twist and turn. (There will be spoilers.) If you’d like to join your favorite Meteor pals, sign up here. See you down the rabbit hole!  FOLLOW THE METEOR     Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? |
