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| Number 1 | September 1998 | ||
Contents
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The Alliance in Motion
Last May, a meeting of the regional coordinators of the YW was organised in India in collaboration with NEHI--Network for Egalitarian and Humanistic Insights (New Delhi). A personal account of the YW meeting in Manali, India A couple of months ago, I was sitting at my desk at home, thinking about the state that the world was in and wondering why I felt so powerless in the face of the large, destructive "machine" that seemed to be running things. I tapped my pencil against my head hopelessly. Then the phone rang. The call was an invitation to participate in a meeting of the Youth Workshop, part of the Alliance for a Responsible and United World. Ten days later, I found myself in a camp in Manali, India with a group of twenty people from fourteen countries and a variety of interesting backgrounds, all filled with similar questions and with positive, youthful energy. The Himalayas provided us with an inspiring backdrop for our meetings. We gathered together outside in a circle, under the shade of a tarp. The river rushed loudly behind us, the mountaintops sparkled white, poppies waved in the breeze. We flung our shoes aside, made ourselves comfortable on a pile of blankets and cushions, and got down to work. We spent the next five days talking and questioning and translating and taking notes. We debated and laughed, and watched the snow sparkle on the mountaintops. We wrote reports, held extra meetings, asked ourselves still more questions, and tried to digest all that was being said. We went swimming to cool down in the icy rapids of the clear mountian river. We read and we wrote and we pondered and we discussed some more. We went wandering in the grassy hills, and in the market in Manali. We came from a wide variety of contexts, each with our own perspective on things, but in spite of our cultural differences and different ways of communicating, it became clear that we were basically saying the same things. We all shared the same vision of a better, more just world. We had just needed to meet each other and pool our energies. By coming together, we were able to add new dimensions to each other's understandings of the world, and advance slowly but surely towards our common goal of a more just and healthy planet. Our project gradually concretized: an international youth network, with a group of regional coordinators to run it. This would be the means by which we would expand the "web" of connections, make the links with the thousands of other young people and organizations throughout the world who shared our vision, who were working in creative ways to improve the situation of youth and of the world, and who just needed a way to make links among themselves. After the Manali meetings, we had a week to spend together, taking in as much as we could of our surroundings and of each other. Discussions continued, friendships blossomed. We visited the lovely mountain town of Mussouri, and the valley of Dehra Dun below. We braved the above 45*celcius temperatures of Agra to admire the majesty of the Taj Mahal, and returned to New Delhi to experience the beautiful and heart-wrenching contradictions of the large city, then say our good-byes and return to our respective homes. As I sit down at my desk again now, I feel energized. I have realized that the world is full of like-minded people, possibly tapping their pencils hopelessly against their heads even as I write this. Perhaps they are just waiting for a phone call, or to stumble across the Youth Workshop website, or to receive a letter in the mail, or overhear someone talking about the network in the street. Then they too will realize that they are not alone, and that by pooling our youthful and creative energy together, we can indeed change the world.
Asia Australia and Pacific East Africa West Africa Maghreb Europe Mediterranean North America Latin America International Coordinator | ||
Having identified youth movements all over the world over the past two years, the Youth Workshop (YW) now has representatives in almost every region of the world. The YW is designed to give international support for young people to express themselves and organise to address their common and local challenges.
Regional Coordinators of the Youth Workshop