Why do we presume elders will be against social justice? Third Act targets the Boomers in the US. Could the approach work here?

Third Act (linktree here) is a great US initiative - but we’re wondering whether it will work on these islands. The blurb from the Vimeo above:

Third Act is people over the age of 60—“experienced Americans”--determined to change the world for the better. We muster political and economic power to move Washington and Wall Street in the name of a fairer, more sustainable society and planet. We back up the great work of younger people, and we make good trouble of our own.

It’s obviously an attempt to break through the seeming correlation between the older vote and regressive, intolerant and anti-planetary attitudes, expressed politically in all the populist regimes we know. As they say;

We’re used to thinking that humans grow more conservative as they age, perhaps because we have more to protect, or simply because we’re used to things the way they are. But our generations saw enormous positive change early in our lives—the civil rights movement, for instance, or the fight to end massive wars or guarantee the rights of women. And now we fear that the promise of those changes may be dying, as the planet heats and inequality grows.

But as a generation we have unprecedented skills and resources that we can bring to bear. Washington and Wall Street have to listen when we speak, because we vote and because we have a large—maybe an overlarge—share of the country’s assets. And many of us have kids and grandkids and great grandkids: we have, in other words, very real reasons to worry and to work.

They have chosen their campaign topics carefully. One is about “protecting the vote” - resisting voter suppression in US states. The other is “bug the banks” - highlighting which financial institutions are still investing in, and profiting from, fossil fuels. The first appeals to the 60s and 70s civil rights struggles that many elders would have been involved in, or aware of. The second asks Third Actors to sign this pledge: “If by the end of 2022, Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are still funding climate-destroying fossil fuel projects, I pledge to close my account and cut up my credit card. If I don’t bank at these institutions now, I pledge I won’t do so in the future.” Very do-able action for an elder…

Could this work on these islands? What do you think? Is there a kind of hippie, civil-rights legacy among elders in the UK that could be reincited? Or is there something distinctive about British elders - maybe punk rock’s nihilism is just as resonant with them as Woodstock idealism would be to Third Act’s audience. We’re interested, but we don’t know… so tips and research suggests below most appreciated.

To see all of Third Acts initiatives, visit here.