The youthful protestors have many concerns — sweatshops, environmental destruction, the Afghanistan war, eroding civil liberties and deteriorating schools — and they insist on being heard by the members of the World Economic Forum (WEF). “This small group of people with lots of money is making decisions that affect the lives of many people that they don’t have any connection with,” said Libby Gills, a senior at the New York School for Collaborative Studies. “I don’t think that’s right.”

“It’s not just a matter of fighting for the rights of other people, but our own,” adds Mike Gould-Wartoffky, a junior at Hunter High.

Gould-Wartoffky, the grandson of immigrant laborers, has been an activist since 7th grade. He and Gills and many other youth activists are involved in the Student Committee Against Labor Exploitation (SCALE), which works with the National Labor Committee on anti-sweatshop campaigns. Bombarded by advertising and coveted as a key demographic, the students are skeptical of the WEF’s hardline free-market doctrine.

“The world market is buying our sweat and our blood. And then, we’re buying it back,” said Matthew Hall, a senior at LaGuardia High.

Many of the youth activists have followed the larger anti-corporate globalization movement over the past couple of years. To a person, they hope not to be arrested this week. But while they prepare their banners and posters, they also are taking legal and nonviolence workshops from veteran activists. For most, the WEF will be their first mass mobilization.

“I think I’m more excited than nervous,” Gould-Wartoffky said. “I see the potential for the movement to come together in a way that it hasn’t for awhile.”

As many as 70 students have attended recent SCALE meetings. Members are quietly hopeful that an energized citywide network of youth activists will remain in place after the WEF protests end.

“This is the first time I’ve felt like something is building up because so many people are interested,” Gills said.