"We are not only the future, we are the present," says a young man named Clinton on a street in Lusaka, Zambia. "But are they listening to us?"
"There is no Cameroon anymore," says Jean David Blot in Douala. "We have to rebuild everything. Everything." He is part of the grassroots movement "The Okwelians."
"If you want to run for office, that is great," says student Mbayo Akiri in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. "But there are certain systems that ensure that certain types of people do not get beyond a certain point."
They represent a trend that can be felt across Africa: A young generation, motivated and full of ideas, wants to make decisions and create change — but is confronted with the limits of a system maintained by a small, often aging elite. Opportunities seem few. Is democratic participation a dead end, or are there new paths? These are the questions DW explores in a mini-series featuring reports from five African countries.Not lost in frustration: African youth in politicsTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
When voting no longer helps
