European Youth Congress
From
August the 6th until August the 12th the European Youth Congress (EYC) organised
by the "Foundations of the Rights of Future Generations", AEGEE, AIESEC, JEF,
Rotaract and a lot more partners took place on the occasion of the EXPO 2000
in Hanover. It was the first time that all the big youth organisations got together
to plan this common project "Our common Future - Realising Sustainability".
300 participants from all over the world gathered together in Hannover to discuss
the future of Europe. They had the help of some really well known lecturers
like Mrs. Hertha Däubler-Gmelin (German State Minister of Justice), Prof. Carl
Friedrich von Weizsäcker (Wuppertal Institute), Mr. Hans-Olaf Henkel (BDI) and
Mr. Uwe Möller (Club of Rome), just to mention a few. The aim of the congress
was to create a resolution of the Youth which demands the right of sustainable
development for the future generations. But the EYC started earlier.
An Internet University was held from June the 3rd until June the 24th. The participants
and the moderators of the various study-groups had the chance to get to know
each other and to discuss various topics using chat rooms and discussion lists
in the internet. This was a big help in preparing both the participants an d
the moderators. We as AIESECers were responsible for the study-group "Different
Cultures - One Future". The participants made up their minds if there will be
a "Clash of Civilisations" or a peaceful Future amongst the different cultures
in the 21st Century. Finally there was the agreement that interaction between
the cultures is inevitable in the future not only to solve economic questions
but also to overcome the ecological and social problems of our world. A united
Europe will consist of many nations even more cultures which will have to live
together peacefully. That is why we demanded a higher exchange between the different
cultures. This exchange does not only mean to share knowledge on the internet
but also to learn more about "the others" in order to travel to enhance youth
exchange throughout the whole of Europe not only amongst the EU.
The group was very mixed - there were participants not only from Rumania, Russia,
Germany, Poland and Portugal but also from the U.S.A., Mexico and Tibet. that
is why the study-group did not only focus on Europe. Each participant had to
form a vision how her/his country will look like in 50 years. This visions showed
a great variety. Some were rather pessimistic some really optimistic. But they
had one thing in common: There are global challenges. Our future depends on
the fact whether we are able to cope with them together or not. This was our
main statement for the resolution.
Cultural exchange is a must in order to overcome our social, economical and
ecological problems may they occur today or in the future. What is more we had
the impression that we not only made our contribution to the resolution of the
EYC which has been handed over to the heads of states in Europe but we also
learned a lot from each other and that a spirit of awareness for the citizens
of other cultures has been created inside ourselves. This is probably the best
output of the EYC and we share this with 300 friends one week after we started
as 300 participants.
Alexander Nick
Trainer, AIESEC in Germany
Tammo Lenger
Trainer, AIESEC in Germany