PETER BORGES
Something is stirring in Goa. Young people are beginning to organise, to name their anger, to refuse the quiet compliance that has been expected of them for far too long. The phrase ‘Enough is Enough’ didn’t fall from the sky. It rose from years of frustration, shrinking oppor tunities, emotional fatigue and the slow realisation that youth are visible on posters but invisible in power. That awakening matters. But here’s the uncomfortable truth that needs to be said early — a movement cannot survive on anger alone and it cannot reduce youth issues to a single cause, however ur gent that cause may feel. Be cause youth lives in Goa are affected by much more than water, land, environment, or climate change. Those issues matter. Deeply. But they are not the whole story. If a youth movement frames itself only around rivers, land and ecology, it risks unintentionally nar rowing the definition of what it means to be young in Goa. For many young peo ple, the daily crisis looks different: • finding stable work, not just any work • surviving rising living costs on shrinking incomes • coping with anxiety, depression, and burnout without access to care • navigating substance use in the absence of sup port systems • facing unsafe public and digital spaces • being forced to migrate because staying back is no longer viable • carrying the burden of family expectations with little guidance Environmental justice can not be separated from social justice — but it also cannot replace it. A movement that speaks loudly about land but quietly about people will lose its own base. Goa’s youth are not one voice. They never were. They are rural and urban. Privi leged and precarious. Edu cated and excluded. Vocal and invisible. Tribal, fishing, migrant, queer, disabled, first-generation learners, young women navigating lay ered vulnerability. If ‘Enough is Enough’ does not actively create space for youth from all backgrounds, it risks becoming a move ment about youth rather than of youth. Inclusivity is not about representation on stage. It’s about whose struggles shape the agenda. A movement that fails to listen widely will eventually speak only to itself. Anger sparks action. That’s real. But lasting change comes from understanding, not just outrage. If this move ment is serious about trans formation, it must pause and ask questions that are harder than slogans: • What are the most pressing needs of young people across Goa today? • Which issues are com mon, and which are being ignored because they are uncomfortable? • Who is falling through every policy gap? • Whose pain never reaches a microphone? Youth-led needs assess ment is not academic jar gon — it is political strategy. Without it, demands remain emotional. With it, demands become impossible to dis miss. Movements don’t win by shouting louder. They win by knowing more. Goa has seen this before. Youth energy rises. Events are organised. Statements are issued. Visibility peaks. Then time passes. Fatigue sets in. The system absorbs the language of dissent without changing its behaviour. This is how movements dissolve. If ‘Enough is Enough’ is to survive, it must shift from moment to mission. From reaction to roadmap. From outrage to long-term vision. That vision must go beyond protest and ask: • What does a dignified future for young people in Goa actually look like? • What kind of jobs, hous ing, and social security are realistic? • What mental health in frastructure is non-nego tiable? • What safety, online and offline, must be guaran teed? • What support exists for those who don’t fit the suc cess narrative? Without a future-facing vi sion, movements burn bright and burn out. Let’s stop dancing around it. Goa’s Youth Policy exists — but it is stagnant, under funded, and disconnected from lived reality. It does not speak honestly to unemploy ment, mental health, sub stance use, migration, digital harm, or exclusion. A serious youth movement cannot ig nore this. The Youth Policy needs ur gent revision — not cosmetic updates. It needs investment — not symbolic allocations. Most importantly, it needs youth participation that actu ally shapes outcomes. Youth must be co-creators of policy, not last-minute consultees. A policy written for youth with out youth is not progressive — it is paternalistic. Goa loves the language of youth engagement. Consul tations are organised. Feed back is collected. Photos are posted. And then… silence. Participation that does not influence decisions is not empowerment. It is theatre. If young people are to trust institutions, those institu tions must be willing to be challenged, corrected, and reimagined. Youth don’t need more invitations. They need authority, accountability, and transparency. Every growing movement faces a test. At some point, it will be praised. Quoted. In vited. Applauded. And gently nudged to soften its edges. This is where many move ments lose their soul. Being acknowledged is not the same as being heard. Being included is not the same as being influential. The strength of ‘Enough is Enough’ will lie in its ability to stay uncomfortable — to speak about water and land and unemployment, mental health, substance use, safety, dignity, and belonging. This is your moment — but it is also your responsibility. Don’t allow your anger to be narrowed. Don’t let urgent issues erase invisible ones. Don’t accept token partici pation as progress. Build a movement that listens before it leads. One that plans be fore it protests. One that refuses to trade long-term change for short term visibility. Because Goa doesn’t just need youth who care. It needs youth who think, organise, and endure. Enough may finally be enough. But what comes next will decide whether this mo ment becomes a movement — or just another memory. (Peter F. Borges is an Assistant Professor of Social Work, Goa University and Founder, Human Touch Foundation and Former Chairperson of the Goa State Commission for Pro tection of Child Rights)
