# Advice to the next generation > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Advice to the next generation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/advice-to-the-next-generation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's answer to a Gen Z viewer who said he felt helpless — that helplessness is not new, that 1968 and 1969 were worse, and that the remedy is four concrete things: run for any office at all, starting with the local water board; demonstrate; ride your elected officials and vote them out if they will not do what they are told; and write.* - **Prompted by:** A Gen Z viewer who said he felt helpless about the state of the world - **The precedent:** 1968 and 1969 — King, Robert Kennedy, Kent State - **The four instructions:** Run for office; demonstrate; ride your representatives; write - **Where to start:** *"Run for the local water board"* - **Kiriakou's line:** *"You're the next leaders. And so you've got to grab the bull by the horns"* Asked in May 2026 by a Gen Z viewer who said he felt helpless about the state of the world, [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) answered first with history and then with instructions. ## 'We've been through this before' He begins with his own earliest memories, which are of 1968. Among them is sitting on his father's lap watching the news and asking why all these buildings were on fire; his father told him that a very bad man had killed Martin Luther King and that people were very angry. A couple of months later his mother was crying, and told him that Robert Kennedy had been killed — *"that a bad man shot Robert Kennedy."*[1] *"1968 was nightmarish. It got worse in '69 with the [Kent State](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kent-state) shootings. So we've been through periods of helplessness before. World War II had to be just one nightmare year after another. I can only imagine what 1861 to 1865 was like."*[2] He does not exempt himself from the feeling: *"Some days I wake up and I read the headlines and I feel helpless, too. But we're not helpless."*[3] ## Run for something The cliché that the young are the next generation of leaders he defends on the ground that *"clichés are clichés because they're true."* His instruction is to start at the bottom and mean it: *"Run for office. Any office. Run for the local water board, because then that's going to get you elected next time to city council, and then to state legislature, and then to Congress. I mean, how do you think these people started? They started at the bottom."*[3][4] ## Demonstrate His example of what demonstration can still do is a colleague. Brian Becker, founder of the ANSWER Coalition, is someone Kiriakou describes as having *"never cared about money. He only cares about truth and activism and equality."*[5] After the 7 October attacks, when the Israelis began *"pounding Palestinian civilians,"* Becker organised a demonstration in Washington. His permit application to the Department of the Interior estimated twenty-five to thirty thousand people. Kiriakou attended. *"300,000 people turned up, and the line stretched from the White House to the Capitol Building. Now, that's a demonstration. We've got to take to the streets."*[5][6] ## Ride your representatives The third instruction is about employment. *"We also have to ride our elected officials. And if they don't do what we tell them to do — remember, they work for us. If they don't do what we tell them to do, then they have to go, and we have to vote them out and bring somebody new in."*[6][7] ## Write The fourth is publication, and he treats access as no excuse: *"you have to write, write, write. Place op-eds and articles everywhere, whether it's in the big mainstream papers if you have access to them, or online publications."* The outlets he names repeatedly are Consortium News, [Covert Action Magazine](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/covertaction-magazine), Reader Supported News, Dropsite News, antiwar.com and the *American Conservative*. *"There are a million outlets. Get your ideas out there and help to mold minds."*[7][8] His closing instruction is to stay as well informed as possible — *"the future really is yours. And like I say, grab it by the horns."*[8] ## See also - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [The death of investigative journalism](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/death-of-investigative-journalism) - [Kent State](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kent-state) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 42:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2561s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 2. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 43:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2591s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 3. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 43:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2622s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 4. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 44:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2654s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 5. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 44:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2685s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 6. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 45:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2717s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 7. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 45:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2748s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 8. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 46:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2780s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. 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