You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'youth' tag.
With 50 days left before the COP-15 international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, we’ll need a serious shift in climate (figuratively speaking) for any significant shift in climate (literally speaking) to happen after the close of negotiations on December 18th.
Developed and developing nations remain at an impasse over two major points of negotiation–who will incur the brunt of the costs to help developing countries adapt to climate change, and who will take the lead and stop pouring green house gases into the atmosphere. So, what are young people across the country doing to shift the climate state-by-state as our leaders remain stagnant and unproductive? Power Shift.
As a college-age environmental activist, I’ve always felt a divide between the Green movement of my parents’ generation and that of my own. Celebrating Earth Day each April is almost an afterthought for the environmental student group at American University, though in 1970, it singlehandedly defined a movement and a generation. Going to Sierra Club meetings with my parents is always a little alien to me as well – the older, affluent, white attendees couldn’t look more different from the young people (from increasingly diverse backgrounds) that I see at protests in Washington, DC.
With this knowledge, it’s all too easy to forget that I’m asking many of the same questions and fighting many of the same battles today that my parents did 40 years ago.
Two weeks ago, I joined twelve other members of Eco-Sense, American University’s environmental sustainability group, at a screening of Earth Days. This new documentary looks back at the roots of the Green movement, using exclusive footage and interviews with America’s legendary movers and shakers to trace its evolution through the decades. From Rachel Carson, the first Dirty Dozen, and the ground-breaking 1970 Earth Day, you witness the development of a radical movement that has finally—for better or for worse—become mainstream.
Perhaps the most powerful message of the film is that change cannot come from a movement that is partisan, polarized, and exclusive. Wealthy and poor, Democrat and Republican, developed nation and developing nation, and black, white, and brown need to once again recognize their common interests in the Green movement. After all, the first definitive pieces of environmental legislation in the US—the Clean Air and Water Acts and the Endangered Species Act—were products of a bipartisan effort for change in the 1970s, largely forwarded by Richard Nixon.
As I brace myself for my final year at American University, graduate level classes, and a highly uncertain job market at the end of the tunnel, I’m (at least a little) comforted by my experiences at AIDemocracy this summer. This organization’s ability to connect the dots between global issues (socio-political stability, food security, local organic agriculture initiatives, US aid policy, and child mortality rates, for example), rather than viewing them in isolation, has always appealed to me. I find myself almost looking forward to writing my senior thesis and diving deeper into these systemic issues that impact global development, global health, and global peace and security.
Over the last few months, many of my micro-level experiences and personal relationships have come to fit into a bigger puzzle of US foreign assistance and trade policies. Researching and blogging about progressive alternatives in the development field has shown me that effective solutions are out there, that their supporters do exist in the public policy arena, and that I’ve actually seen many of these approaches in practice with my own two eyes. My experiences abroad have taken on new meaning and weight, and I’ve realized that young people like myself are, while not scholarly experts, some of the best equipped proponents of such policies.
We are an online generation, the first group of young people fully familiar with Google, Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Skype, and WordPress. Yes, this has made some of us lazy, overweight, and phenomenally uninteresting. I would counter that it has made far more of us open-minded and better attuned to global problems. All of that Facebook chatting with acquaintances around the world is worth much more than we generally admit—it’s time we started using it to shift the national policy dialogue about global development, global health, and global peace and security.
It’s been a comfort to share experiences with my fellow activists this summer, to learn we’ve traveled and worked in some of the same communities in the developing world, and to build relationships within the movements for global justice that we’ve chosen to be a part of. It’s been a pleasure getting to know so many of you this summer, and I hope you’ll stay in touch – you’ll always be able to find me through the AIDemocracy network. Meanwhile, I hope to share my continuing research on global development initiatives this fall!
Want to learn how to get more involved in a cause you care about?
Come to the New Media and Youth Action Conference and learn why your involvement is key to making a difference!
This free, one-day community forum on progressive social issues like health, environment, global and local development, and cultural diplomacy will be taking place September 1, 2009, in New York City. Register at the conference website and connect with other activists, community organizers, and organizations working on youth outreach.
Not in the area? No problem! Join the interactive online community at the event site and start discussions with youth activists across the US and the world. Videos from the conference will be broadcast on the site as well.
Join and share your ideas!
Yesterday, I barely managed to squeeze into the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “The Case for Foreign Aid Reform: Foreign Aid and Development in a New Era.”
The room was packed with young people, and spectators overflowed into the hallway. Senator Robert Menendez jokingly asked Dr. Jeffrey Sachs if he had invited his university classes to attend. As pleased as I was that the Senator noticed our presence, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he misunderstood our reason for being there—we may be interning on the Hill or for advocacy organizations in D.C. this summer, but we are also voters, taxpayers, and activists. We packed into the SFRC hearing like sardines because we are interested, informed, engaged, and passionate about politics, not for extra credit.
The truth is, older generations still fail to take young people seriously. It’s the fault of both sides; Menendez needs to realize the significance of young people’s presence at that hearing, and we students need to make more calls, write more letters, cast more votes, attend more meetings, and raise our voices outside Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the blog world. The social networking sites our parents hate may serve as a valuable tool to connect us with the rest of the world, but affiliating with groups or causes is nothing more than mere affiliation if we don’t use that network to act. As more and more of us study abroad and gain first-hand perspectives on the world’s challenges, we’re exposed to innovative and collaborative approaches to global development and security. Young people packed the SFRC hearing because we want to know whether our government—the country with the richest economy in the world—is pulling its weight and supporting these solutions.
Wednesday’s SFRC hearing was designed to address this question: Are U.S. foreign assistance programs working?
Guest post from Ruhi Shamim
As a 2008 “Innovators in Cultural Diplomacy” fellow, an initiative brought to you by Americans for Informed Democracy (www.aidemocracy.org), I gained a deeper understanding of the current progressive Muslim American identity movement. While the identity issue at hand has personal significance to me as a Muslim American, it is my commitment to the bigger picture of an inclusive, diverse democracy that fuels my work in this field.
My initiative, “The Crescent Project” was developed in response to the need to organize the Muslim community on my campus based on a common principle of open dialogue that did not exclude self-identified Muslims who have diverse views, practices, and experiences. I reached out to upperclassmen who have achieved leadership positions in a variety of aspects of the university culture (athletics, student government, grassroots organizing, the arts, the sciences, etc..) and who also represent the diversity of the Muslim experience (Black Muslims, International Students, Shi’as, Sufis, Converts, Secular Muslims…) to create a network of support for incoming freshman who are negotiating identity questions upon arriving at college. We wanted to encourage Muslim youth to be engaged in the university community without being pigeon-holed as the token Muslim and without giving up their connection to the Muslim identity and heritage. Through this project, we created open dialogue for alternate views and a forum for active community engagement.
On his transition website, President-elect Obama has outlined his agenda for service and defense. These plans include initiatives to expand domestic community service opportunities as well as civilian-military cooperation (details below the fold). These plans are a step in the right direction, but I believe we should go even further to provide civilians and especially youth opportunities for foreign service (in addition to domestic service).
I envision a Humanitarian Corps, analogous to the military, but equipped to pursue humanitarian and peace building missions. While the Peace Corps is a valuable institution that should be expanded and supported, as Obama plans to do, we need a civilian agency that can take on large scale projects and crises as well. The Peace Corps places individuals or small groups in communities where they are needed. What we need in addition is an agency that can place large units of people trained in development, reconstruction, and emergency response in areas recovering from conflict, natural disaster, and/or humanitarian crisis. This humanitarian corps would also assist with general development projects like the Peace Corps does, but on a larger scale. Corps members would receive training on the local area (culture, language, history) so they could best meet the needs of the communities they serve. Lastly, this group would be able to coordinate their efforts with the military, USAID, NGOs, the UN, and other agencies, and fill the capacity gaps within our development, foreign aid, and military missions.
A humanitarian corps would serve several purposes. First, it would bolster U.S. relations and global security with a long-term “hearts and minds” approach. Second, it would alleviate strains on our troops by allowing them to focus on military concerns. Third, and most importantly, it would provide an invaluable opportunity for youth to engage in public diplomacy and become more informed and involved in the world around them.
There are thousands of college graduates each year searching for opportunities to travel, learn, and explore before settling into a career or grad school. More and more of them are pursuing careers in the non-profit sector and they need real international expertise and on-the-ground experience. Furthermore, student activists around the country are clamoring for opportunities to take direct action on issues they are passionate about - genocide, HIV/AIDS, climate change, Millennium Development Goals – I believe that given the opportunity, these young people would embrace a civilian humanitarian corps, I know I would.
On this day, November 4th 2008, we as Americans have both an incredible opportunity and an incredible responsibility on our hands. While cannot and will not state my affinity towards either presidential candidate, I will say that this election is historic. I am a young person, and have only had one other opportunity to vote for the president of our country before, but from everything my parents and grandparents have told me, this election and the stakes involved are unprecedented. It’s not just the economy, health care, the war in Iraq, the US role in the world, etc; it is about what voting means in our country. We live in a democracy, and that means that we as citizen have a say in who runs our country, and how they do it. Young people play a critically important role in this, and so here is why I think young people (and all people) should vote today:
1. Historically, only a small percentage of young people have voted.
The youth vote is seriously underestimated and historically only a small percentage of young people who can vote actually have done so. This doesn’t mean youth can’t be a force, it just means that youth aren’t the main impetus for the creation of campaign platforms and candidate advertising. So, go against what everyone is expect, and get out and vote!
2. The biggest issues being addressed by candidates often directly effect young people in our country the most
The war in Iraq, funding for education, employment, and reproductive rights issues are just a few of the many issues that directly effect the quality of your life as a young person. In thinking about the future we will one day inherit from the current generation in power, add onto that list environmental concerns, fuel consumption, food supply and much more. If you don’t vote and you are essentially giving away your ability to have any influence as to how these issues are addressed and effectively dealt with. Plus, I think it bears mentioning that a democracy only works if the people in it are participating. And while one vote may seem like nothing, added together with other votes it makes a huge difference. I am sure you have all seen the 5 Friends youtube videos, but I am continuously blown away by the reminder that 537 people decided the 2000 election.
3. If you don’t vote you really can’t complain about government or policy decisions you disagree with
If you don’t vote you are essentially saying you don’t care how your country is run. If you don’t care enough to vote, what makes you think that you can complain when something you don’t like happens? If you want the right to complain, then you need to vote!
4. Vote because you can!
Voting is a privilege. People in other countries fight for this right. This is a right that so many young people in democratic nations take for granted. You should vote because you can. So just stop complaining, put your money where your mouth is (or your vote where your stance is), and VOTE!!!
This is a short segment from a paper I am working on about the Youth Movement in the International HIV/AIDS area. I met Stephanie this past August at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City, and interviewed her on her impression of the state of the youth movement and how young people are mobilizing around HIV and AIDS issues. What follows is an excerpt from the paper and a summary of the interview:
Stephanie is a 16-year-old HIV+ youth from Australia who was born HIV+. She is an incredible young woman and a fervent advocate for children born with HIV. Stephanie recounts that youth don’t get much say or much power in policy making, and much red tape affects a young person’s ability to even participate in events like the International AIDS Conference (she mentioned that it was difficult even for her to get to Mexico to the conference, as individuals under18 years old are not funded to go, because insurance companies don’t allow it). As a young person born with HIV, she has suffered much discrimination and stigma, and despite the many advances and accomplishments of her and her peers, growing up, it was still “very obvious [to her] that [she and other HIV+ youth] weren’t accepted in the community as an organization or as players in the HIV field.” Things have changed dramatically, she noted that even coming to a conference such as the International AIDS Conference surprised here: “people just sat and listened to what I had to say and it was really overwhelming and different.” Stephanie has made this her life goal, and is tirelessly working to make sure that prevention and education are key, and supporting HIV+ people and the discrimination and stigma that they face.
Stephanie believes that getting young HIV+ people involved is key. Her concern is that groups of more experienced and older activists and positive activists aren’t making any room for young people. She mentions that whenever she says anything to them, they think they are being disrespected because she is so young. While having enormous respect for them, starting all these organizations from scratch, she still believes these more experienced activists have an amazing opportunity to mentor and teach youth and they aren’t doing it to the best of their abilities; “would you rather mentor a youth and teach them what you know and know that they will do a good job because you’ve taught them what you know or a random middle-aged person coming into the job who doesn’t know anything.” Her point is well taken and elucidates the need for the peer education others also called for. She also called for a need to break the silence to talk about sex especially by public figures and especially in public forums and debate. She talked about how the US has so much power, and bemoaned how unfortunate it is that they aren’t using it to do as much good as they could be; “The US has a lot of influence, it creates this ‘we should be doing what they are doing because they have the money and the power’.”
The most pressing issue for Stephanie was surprising: “it’s not the illness that’s bothering us, it’s the medication.” She explained that her most pressing issue was the side effects (both physical and psychological) she felt from the HIV medicines she was taking. I learned that pediatric medicines did not exist until Stephanie was about 6, and she so and her mother had to steal medicines that were not appropriate for children, therefore she and many other positive youth now experience symptoms of lipdistrophy (wasting) and lipoatrophy(gaining), where they either gain tremendous amounts of weight in concentrated areas, or they waste away and cannot gain any weight at all.
Stephanie was very clear in explaining that the peer education she and other fellow HIV+ are working to make available. She recalls that “it saved our lives basically because of all the social discrimination we faced… we just needed to be normal.” The biggest problem that is not working right now that Stephanie explained what happens when governments give funding then take it away. She believes that they should either give it or don’t; “it’s way too political for an illness; I don’t know any other illness that is so politically geared and so controversial, and no one wants to talk about it. It makes it really difficult.”
Despite all the hardships and difficulties she has been dealt, or maybe in part because of them Stephanie has become a committed and lifelong advocate for HIV+ youth rights. Her final words stuck with me throughout the conference and still stand out in my mind as so crucial “Nothing about us without us.” I think this is a perfect summary for how policies on youth should be created, and an example of the knowledge and understanding young people have of what they need.
Courtney Matson
So Day 1 of the preconference is over… there have been some really incredible incites and ideas. What I have realized and think is most important is that young people from all over the world – students, HIV positive youth, and representatives from countless local, national and international organizations, as well as youth delegates from UN agencies – do indeed have the power to make change. From grassroots advocacy to public policy work, to peer education programs, to comprehensive sex and reproductive health programming, there are SO many things that young people are ALREADY doing. It is just a matter of the larger population engaging them to help make change around approaches to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and education.
I would love to hear more about what others think, so please feel free to comment on this blog, and let me know your thoughts!
Thanks,
Courtney
