After his viral Jubilee performance, Zander Moricz was at it again.
By Jackson Rothman
Original Air Date: May 15, 2026
Host: Youth activism is primarily performative—or so, says the prompt for a debate on Thursday hosted by the Oxford Union. Zander Moricz embodies the “no way” to this prompt. SEE Alliance—the organization he co-founded when he was a high school student—has mobilized hundreds of high school and college students, and it has moved the needle on local school board politics, voter registration and even a statewide referendum. So it’s not a complete surprise that Moricz was picked to debate this question in Oxford. Jackson Rothman has the story.
Jackson Rothman: The Oxford Union is a debating society founded in 1923 by students at Oxford University in England. In these debates, the Union, also called the house, chooses a point of contention and takes a side. Teams are then assigned to debate both sides of the argument as an exercise. To be selected to debate is an honor, and on Thursday, a Sarasota local was a member of the opposition panel.
Photo via Oxford Saïd Business School
In traditional debate settings, a debater may not necessarily agree with the prompt or the side of the argument they are on. The challenge of the exercise is to create a compelling argument for their side. In this case, however, the topic of youth activism was very close to Zander Moricz, the Sarasota local who made the trip across the pond to Oxford to participate in the debate.
Zander Moricz making his case in a Jubilee debate, “1 LGBTQ+ Activist vs 25 Conservatives”
Moricz, a youth activist and the executive director of the Social Equity through Education Alliance (SEE Alliance), was featured as a debater, siding against the critical view of youth activism as presented in the prompt.
Moricz was the first openly gay class president at Pine View School and was the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit opposing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He founded the SEE Alliance at just 15 years old, growing it from a student club to a statewide movement. The Alliance describes its goals as to “save our schools, protect our rights, or fight for our futures.”
Trying to counter the notion that youth activism is just performative, the opponents brought up examples of notable protests and movements. They mentioned climate activist Greta Thunberg’s Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, the Gen Z movement that recently toppled the Nepalese government, and the civil rights movement in America, and how youth activists did or did not affect change.
While Moricz was talking it up in Oxford, a watch party for the debate was held at the SEE Alliance headquarters in downtown Sarasota. WSLR’s Johannes Werner was on scene to find out how Alliance members felt about the debate topic and Moricz’s participation.
Diane Becker, a community organizer working with SEE Alliance, said that she believes in the power and efficacy of youth activism.
DB: My experience has been that it is not performative at all. My experience is that they’re doing a lot of the hard work for the right reasons and they are the future.
JR: A live chatroom was simulcast alongside the debate and presented viewers with the chance to voice their own opinion on the topic by voting yes or no. When asked if they thought youth activism was primarily performative, a resounding 83% who responded said they disagreed.
Moricz argued in defense of youth activism but attempted to distance it from youth organizing, saying, “Performance is not performativity—Protests, speeches, petitions, all performance but not being done selfishly, which is what is performative. Intention is not impact. Youth activism is impactful but only when you understand what it means.”
He described his view of the difference between organizing and activism: “Many misattribute organizing to youth activism. Youth activism is not organizing. Activism is better for raising awareness and organizing is for building power.”
He also argued that a lower barrier to entry for activism is an overall positive, claiming that activism brings in more people directly affected by social issues.
Moricz now attends Harvard University and has built an online following. Last year he appeared in a Jubilee debate on LGBTQ+ issues, which currently sits at 3.9 million views on YouTube.
The Oxford Union holds weekly debates during term time alongside speaker events, which they say continue to explore issues and current affairs.
Reporting for WSLR News, Jackson Rothman.
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