20 Brussels events in 2020: #4. Restless Youth

In March 1969, Henry Kissinger forwarded to President Lyndon B Johnson a report produced by the CIA entitled Restless Youth, sub-titled What Makes Johnny Riot.

Currently, the exhibition Restless Youth at the House of European History highlights four recent periods of protest: the after war era of the late 40s and early 50s (Europe’s Quiet Generation?); the late 60s (Generation Revolution); the 80s (Between Despair and Hope) and the 2000s (Generation Me?).

The show is very rich in both physical objects and audiovisual historic material. Particularly fascinating is a subject that most people are not familiar with: the extent of youth unrest in the Soviet block, and the show surprises with examples of youth protest in the East such as Russian punk outfits, and a map of Czechoslovakia produced by the authorities which shows county by county which counties have the highest percentages of young males with long hair.

At the end of the exhibition there’s a device they are calling the Recollector where visitors can share their memories of growing up during any one of these periods.

Until 29 February, House of European History

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