In an effort to revive my blog, I'm going to start posting updates from my work at TIG & GYAN :) Here is a reflection about my trip report to Chicago:

On April 17th I traveled to Chicago to attend the Global Engagement Summit at Northwestern University. I was invited as one of the Summit’s three keynote speakers and also held a workshop on “Technology as Global Platform”.

The mission of the Global Engagement Summit is to build the capacity of the next generation of global change leaders to cross-borders and partner with new communities to produce responsible, sustainable solutions to shared global programs. I was very impressed with how well the summit was organized, and the level of engagement and commitment of staff, participants and facilitators was incredibly inspiring.

One of my personal highlights was to have two active TIG members from Nigeria and Liberia attending my workshop on Friday morning. Both of them are actively involved in CLCWA, and the guy from Nigeria was also an active member of the Nigerian WSIS Youth Caucus team (he was wearing a green ‘Nigeria Rocks’ scarf, which brought back many good memories and made me very happy :)

In my keynote speech I emphasized the motivation and hope that derives from being part of a community of like-minded young people. When I prepared my speech the night before, I read on the GES blog on socialedge.org that, in his opening speech, one of the co-directors of the summit had remarked how he had always felt really frustrated about the limitations young people face in affecting change in a complicated world, and that it wasn’t until he participated in a previous Global Engagement Summit that he realized he was not alone, but part of a larger generation of young people with similar concerns, who together were making a difference. In my speech, I quoted him and then told my own story, which is very similar to his and indeed, in my belief, the story of so many of us.

I then went on to talk about GYAN’s 5-level model of youth organizing, explaining how social change is created through the collective and collaborative efforts of individuals and organizations focusing on awareness, action and policy change (the title of my speech was “Connecting global youth movements and community efforts to global systemic change”).

This is the blog post about my speech, which provides a brief summary from a listener’s perspective: link to blog about my speech.

Règlement du ton du sommet global 2008 d'enclenchement
Automatically translated into French thanks to WorldLingo
Dans un effort de rétablir mon blog, je vais commencer à signaler des mises à jour de mon travail au TIG et au GYAN :) Voici une réflexion au sujet de mon rapport de voyage à Chicago :

Le 17 avril j'ai voyagé à Chicago pour m'occuper du sommet global d'enclenchement à l'université du nord-ouest. J'ai été invité comme un des haut-parleurs principaux du sommet trois et également jugé un atelier sur la « technologie en tant que plateforme globale ».

La mission du Sommet global d'enclenchement est établir la capacité de la prochaine génération des chefs globaux de changement aux croix-frontières et à l'associé avec les nouvelles communautés de produire les solutions responsables et soutenables aux programmes globaux partagés. J'ai été très impressionné d'à quel point le sommet a été organisé, et le niveau de l'enclenchement et l'engagement du personnel, des participants et des facilitants inspiraient incroyablement.

Un de mes points culminants personnels était d'avoir deux membres actifs de TIG du Nigéria et du Libéria s'occupant de mon atelier vendredi matin. Les deux sont activement impliqués dans CLCWA, et le type du Nigéria était également un membre actif de l'équipe nigérienne de comité de la jeunesse de WSIS (il écharpe portait de `roches vertes du Nigéria la', qui a rapporté beaucoup de bonnes mémoires et m'a rendu très heureux :)

Dans mon discours principal j'ai souligné la motivation et espère qui dérive de faire partie d'une communauté des jeunes semblables. Quand j'ai préparé mon discours la nuit avant, j'ai lu sur Blog de GES sur socialedge.org cela, dans son discours d'ouverture, un des Co-directeurs du sommet avait remarqué comment il s'était toujours senti vraiment frustré au sujet du visage de jeunes de limitations en affectant le changement d'un monde compliqué, et cela il n'était pas jusqu'à ce qu'il a participé à un sommet global précédent d'enclenchement qu'il a réalisé qu'il n'était pas seul, mais une partie d'une plus grande génération des jeunes avec les soucis semblables, qui ensemble faisaient une différence. Dans mon discours, je l'ai cité et ai puis dit ma propre histoire, qui est très semblable au sien et en effet, dans ma croyance, l'histoire tellement de bon nombre d'entre nous.

J'ai alors continué pour parler du modèle du niveau de GYAN 5 de la jeunesse organisant, expliquant comment le changement social est créé par les efforts collectifs et de collaboration des individus et des organismes se concentrant sur la conscience, action et modificaton de police (le titre de mon discours était « des efforts globaux se reliants de mouvements et de communauté de la jeunesse au changement systémique global »).

C'est le poteau de blog au sujet de mon discours, qui fournit un bref résumé de la perspective d'un auditeur : lien au blog au sujet de mon discours.

Dar el tono la cumbre global 2008 del contrato
Automatically translated into Spanish thanks to WorldLingo
En un esfuerzo de restablecer mi blog, voy a comenzar a fijar actualizaciones de mi trabajo en el TIG y GYAN:) Aquí está una reflexión sobre mi informe del viaje a Chicago:

El 17 de abril viajé a Chicago para atender a la cumbre global del contrato en la universidad del noroeste. Me invitaron como uno de los altavoces principales de la cumbre tres y también fueron sostenido un taller sobre “tecnología como plataforma global”.

La misión del Cumbre global del contrato es construir la capacidad de la generación siguiente de los líderes globales del cambio a las cruz-fronteras y al socio con las nuevas comunidades de producir soluciones responsables, sostenibles a los programas globales compartidos. Muy me impresionaron con como de bien la cumbre fue organizada, y el nivel del contrato y la comisión del personal, de participantes y de facilitators inspiraban increíblemente.

Uno de mis toques de luz personales era tener dos miembros activos del TIG de Nigeria y de Liberia que atendían a mi taller el la mañana de viernes. Los dos están implicadas activamente en CLCWA, y el individuo de Nigeria era también un miembro activo del equipo nigeriano del Caucus de la juventud de WSIS (él usaba de las rocas verdes bufanda de un Nigeria del `la', que trajo detrás muchas buenas memorias y me hizo muy feliz:)

En mi discurso principal acentué la motivación y espero que deriva de ser parte de una comunidad de la gente joven semejante. Cuando preparé mi discurso la noche antes, leí en Blog de GES en socialedge.org eso, en su discurso de abertura, uno de los co-directores de la cumbre había comentado cómo él se había sentido siempre realmente frustrado sobre la cara de la gente joven de las limitaciones en afectar el cambio en un mundo complicado, y eso no era hasta que él participó en una cumbre global anterior del contrato que él realizó que él era no solo, sino parte de una generación más grande de la gente joven con las preocupaciones similares, que juntas diferenciaban. En mi discurso, lo coticé y después conté mi propia historia, que es muy similar la suya y de hecho, en mi creencia, la historia de tan muchos de nosotros.

Entonces me encendí hablar del modelo del nivel de GYAN 5 de la juventud que organizaba, explicando cómo el cambio social se crea con los esfuerzos colectivos y de colaboración de los individuos y de las organizaciones que se centran en conocimiento, acción y cambio policial (el título de mi discurso era “esfuerzos globales de los movimientos y de la comunidad de juventud que conectaban al cambio systemic global”).

Éste es el poste del blog sobre mi discurso, que proporciona un breve resumen de la perspectiva de un oyente: acoplamiento al blog sobre mi discurso.

Dare l'intonazione alla sommità globale 2008 di aggancio
Automatically translated into Italian thanks to WorldLingo
In uno sforzo fare rivivere il mio blog, sto andando cominciare inviare gli aggiornamenti dal mio lavoro al TIG & a GYAN:) Qui è una riflessione circa il mio rapporto di viaggio a Chicago:

Il 17 aprile ho viaggiato a Chicago per assistere alla sommità globale di aggancio all'università nordoccidentale. Sono stato invitato come uno degli altoparlanti principali della sommità tre ed inoltre sono stato giudicato un'officina “su tecnologia come piattaforma globale„.

La missione del Sommità globale di aggancio è sviluppare la capacità della generazione seguente dei capi globali del cambiamento ai traversa-bordi ed al socio con le nuove Comunità di produrre le soluzioni responsabili e sostenibili ai programmi globali comuni. Molto sono stato impressionato con come la sommità è stata organizzata ed il livello dell'aggancio e l'impegno del personale, dei partecipanti e dei facilitators incredibilmente stavano ispirando.

Uno dei miei punti culminanti personali era di avere due membri attivi di TIG dalla Nigeria e dalla Liberia che assistono alla mia officina sulla mattina di venerdì. Gli entrambo attivamente sono coinvolti in CLCWA ed il tipo dalla Nigeria era inoltre un membro attivo della squadra nigeriana di Caucus della gioventù di WSIS (stava portando delle roccie verdi sciarpa della Nigeria del `', che ha riportato molte buone memorie e lo ha reso molto felice:)

Nel mio discorso principale ho dato risalto alla motivazione e spero che deriva da fare parte di una Comunità dei giovani simili. Quando ho preparato il mio discorso la notte prima, ho letto sul Blog di GES su socialedge.org quello, nel suo discorso di apertura, uno dei co-direttori della sommità aveva rilevato come aveva ritenuto sempre realmente frustrato circa la faccia dei giovani di limitazioni nell'interessare il cambiamento in un mondo complicato e quello non era fino a che non partecipasse ad una sommità globale precedente di aggancio che ha realizzato che faceva parte non solo, ma di più grande generazione dei giovani con le preoccupazioni simili, che stavano facendo insieme una differenza. Nel mio discorso, lo ho citato ed allora ho detto alla mia propria storia, che è molto simile a sua ed effettivamente, nella mia credenza, la storia di tanti di noi.

Allora ho continuato a parlare del modello del livello del GYAN 5 della gioventù che organizza, cambiamento di spiegazione del come il cambiamento sociale è generato con gli sforzi collettivi e di collaborazione degli individui e delle organizzazioni che mettono a fuoco sulla consapevolezza, di azione e di politica (il titolo del mio discorso era “sforzi globali di collegamento dei movimenti e della Comunità della gioventù a cambiamento sistematico globale„).

Ciò è l'alberino del blog circa il mio discorso, che fornisce un breve sommario dalla prospettiva dell'ascoltatore: collegamento a blog circa il mio discorso.

Keynoting das globale Verpflichtung Gipfel 2008
Automatically translated into German thanks to WorldLingo
In einer Bemühung, mein blog wieder zu beleben, werde ich Updates, von meiner Arbeit an TIG u. an GYAN bekanntzugeben beginnen:) Ist hier eine Reflexion über meinen Reisereport zu Chicago:

Am 17. April ich reiste zu Chicago, um mich das globale Verpflichtung Gipfel an der nordwestlichen Universität zu sorgen. Ich wurde wie einer der wesentlichen Lautsprecher des Gipfels drei eingeladen und gehalten auch einem Seminar über „Technologie als globale Plattform“.

Die Mission von Globales Verpflichtung Gipfel ist, die Kapazität des folgenden Erzeugung der globalen änderung Führer zu den Kreuzrändern und zum Partner mit neuen Gemeinschaften zu errichten, die verantwortlichen, stützbaren Lösungen zu geteilten globalen Programmen zu produzieren. Ich wurde sehr beeindruckt mit, wie gut das Gipfel organisiert wurde, und das Niveau der Verpflichtung und die Verpflichtung des Personals, der Teilnehmer und der Vermittler spornten unglaublich an.

Einer meiner persönlichen Höhepunkte war, zwei aktive TIG Mitglieder von Nigeria und von Liberia zu haben, die mein Seminar über Freitag Morgen sich sorgen. All werden aktiv in CLCWA miteinbezogen, und der Kerl von Nigeria war auch ein aktives Mitglied der nigerischen WSIS JugendCaucusmannschaft (er Schal trug ein der grünen `Nigeria Felsen', der zurück viele gute Gedächtnisse holte und mich sehr glücklich: bildete)

In meiner wesentlichen Rede hob ich den Beweggrund hervor und hoffe, der vom Sein ein Teil einer Gemeinschaft der gleichgesinnten jungen Leute ableitet. Als ich meine Rede die Nacht vor vorbereitete, las ich auf GES blog auf socialedge.org das, in seiner Eröffnungsrede, einer der Codirektoren des Gipfels hatte erwähnt, wie er immer wirklich über das Beschränkungen Gesicht der jungen Leute frustriert gefühlt hatte, wenn er änderung in einer schwierigen Welt beeinflußte, und das war es, nicht bis er an einem vorhergehenden globalen Verpflichtung Gipfel teilnahm, das er verwirklichte, daß er nicht allein, aber Teil eines größeren Erzeugung der jungen Leute mit ähnlichen Interessen war, die zusammen unterschieden. In meiner Rede veranschlug ich ihn und erklärte dann meine eigene Geschichte, die seiner und in der Tat, in meinem Glauben, die Geschichte von so vielen von uns sehr ähnlich ist.

Ich fuhr dann fort, über Niveaumodell GYANS 5 von Jugend zu sprechen organisierend, änderung Erklärens, wie Sozialänderung durch die Kollektiv- und gemeinschaftlichen Bemühungen der Einzelpersonen und verursacht wird der Organisationen, die auf konzentrieren Bewußtsein, der Tätigkeit und der Politik (der Titel meiner Rede war „anschließende globale Jugendbewegungen und Gemeinschaftbemühungen zur globalen Körperänderung“).

Dieses ist der blog Pfosten über meine Rede, die eine kurze Zusammenfassung von der Perspektive eines Zuhörers liefert: Verbindung zum blog über meine Rede.

Dando o tom básico o Summit global 2008 do acoplamento
Automatically translated into Portuguese thanks to WorldLingo
Em um esforço revive meu blog, eu estou indo começar afixar updates de meu trabalho no TIG & no GYAN:) Está aqui uma reflexão sobre meu relatório do desengate a Chicago:

Abril em 17o eu viajei a Chicago para atender ao Summit global do acoplamento na universidade do noroeste. Eu fui convidado como um dos altofalantes principais do Summit três e prendido também uma oficina na “tecnologia como a plataforma global”.

A missão do Summit global do acoplamento é construir a capacidade da geração seguinte de líderes globais da mudança às cruz-beiras e ao sócio com comunidades novas produzir soluções responsáveis, sustainable aos programas globais compartilhados. Eu fui imprimido muito com como bom o summit foi organizado, e o nível do acoplamento e o compromisso da equipe de funcionários, dos participants e dos facilitators estavam inspirando incredibly.

Um de meus destaques pessoais era ter dois membros ativos do TIG de Nigéria e de Liberia que atendem a minha oficina na manhã de sexta-feira. Ambos eles são envolvidos ativamente em CLCWA, e o guy de Nigéria era também um membro ativo da equipe Nigerian do Caucus da juventude de WSIS (desgastava das rochas verdes o scarf de uma Nigéria do `', que trouxe para trás muitas memórias boas e me fêz muito feliz:)

Em meu discurso principal eu emfatizei o motivation e espero-o que se deriva de ser parte de uma comunidade de povos novos like-minded. Quando eu preparei meu discurso a noite antes, eu li no Blog de GES em socialedge.org isso, em seu discurso de abertura, um dos co-diretores do summit tinha observado como tinha sentido sempre frustrado realmente sobre a cara dos povos novos das limitações em afetar a mudança em um mundo complicado, e isso não foi até que participou em um Summit global precedente do acoplamento que realizasse que era não sozinho, mas parte de uma geração maior de povos novos com interesses similares, que junto faziam uma diferença. Em meu discurso, eu citei-o e disse-o então minha própria história, que é muito similar a his e certamente, em minha opinião, a história de assim muitos de nós.

Eu fui então sobre falar sobre o modelo do nível de GYAN 5 da juventude que organiza, mudança da explicação de como a mudança social é criada com os esforços coletivos e collaborative dos indivíduos e das organizações que focalizam na consciência, da ação e de política (o título de meu discurso era “esforços globais conectando dos movimentos e da comunidade de juventude à mudança systemic global”).

Este é o borne do blog sobre meu discurso, que fornece um sumário breve do perspective de um ouvinte: ligação ao blog sobre meu discurso.

Keynoting av det globala kopplingstoppmötet 2008
Automatically translated into Swedish thanks to WorldLingo
I ett försök att uppliva min blog, I-förmiddagen som går att starta utnämninguppdateringar från mitt arbete på TIG & GYAN:) Här är en reflexion om mitt snubblar rapporten till Chicago:

På April 17th reste jag till Chicago för att delta i det globala kopplingstoppmötet på den nordvästliga universitetar. Jag var inbjuden som en av toppmöte tre grundtankehögtalarna och rymde också ett seminarium på ”teknologi som den globala plattformen”.

Beskickningen av Globalt kopplingstoppmöte är att bygga kapaciteten av nästa generation av globala ändringsledare till korsa-gränsar och partnern med nya gemenskaper till jordbruksprodukteransvariga, hållbara lösningar till delade globala program. Jag var mycket imponerad med hur väl toppmötet organiserades, och det jämnt av kopplingen och förpliktelse av bemannar, deltagare, och facilitators var incredibly inspireras.

En av min personliga viktig var att ha två aktivTIG-medlemmar från Nigeria och Liberia som deltar i mitt seminarium på fredagmorgon. Båda av dem är aktivt involverade i CLCWA, och grabben från Nigeria var också en aktivmedlem av det nigerianska laget för WSIS-ungdomförberedande valmöte (han ha på sig en gräsplan`Nigeria vaggar' scarfen, som kom med tillbaka många bra minnen och gjorde mig jätteglatt:),

I mitt grundtankeanförande betonade hoppas jag motivationen och som härleder från att vara delen av en gemenskap av like-minded ungdomar. När I som var förberett mitt anförande natten för, mig läste på GES-blog på socialedge.org det i hans öppningsanförande, en av co-direktörerna av toppmötet hade anmärkt hur han hade klädde med filt alltid egentligen frustrerat om begränsningarna som ungdomaren vänder mot i röra ändring i en invecklad värld, och det den inte var, tills han deltog i ett föregående globalt kopplingstoppmöte som han realiserade att han var inte ensam, utan delen av en större utveckling av ungdomar med liknande bekymmer, som var tillsammans danande per skillnad. I mitt anförande citerade berättade jag honom och därefter min egna berättelse, som är mycket liknande till his och sannerligen, i min tro, berättelsen av så många av oss.

Jag gick därefter på att tala om jämn GYANS 5 modellerar av för ungdom ändring för uppläggning, för förklaring, hur social ändring skapas till och med de kollektiva och kollaborativa försöken av individer och organisationar som fokuserar på medvetenhet, handling- och politik(titeln av mitt anförande var ”förbindande globala ungdomförehavanden- och gemenskapförsök till global systemic ändring”).

Denna är blogen postar om mitt anförande, som ger en resumé som är summarisk från en lyssnare perspektiv: anknyta till blog om mitt anförande.

Keynoting глобальный саммит 2008 захвата
Automatically translated into Russian thanks to WorldLingo
В усилии возродить мое blog, я иду начать вывесить уточнения от моей работы на TIG & GYAN:) Здесь отражение о моем отчете о отключения к Chicago:

17-ого апреля я переместил к Chicago для того чтобы присутствовать на глобальном саммите захвата на северозападном университете. Я был приглашен по мере того как один из дикторов саммита 3 keynote и также придержан мастерской на «технологии как глобальная платформа».

Полет Глобальный саммит захвата построить емкость следующего поколения глобальных руководителей изменения к крест-границам и соучастнику с новыми общинами произвести ответственные, sustainable разрешения к, котор делят глобальный программам. Я очень был впечатлен с how well саммит был организован, и уровень захвата и принятие окончательного решения штата, участников и facilitators неимоверно воодушевляли.

Один из моих личных highlights было иметь 2 активно члена TIG от Нигерии и Либерии присутствуя на моей мастерской на утре пятницы. Both of them активно включаются в CLCWA, и ванта от Нигерии была также активно членом нигерийской команды Caucus молодости WSIS (он носил утесы шарф зеленые Нигерии `', который принес назад много хорошая память и сделал меня очень счастливо:)

В моем установочное выступление я подчеркнул мотивировкой и надеюсь выводит от быть часть общины like-minded молодых людей. Когда я подготовил мою речь ноча перед, я прочитал на Blog GES на socialedge.org то, в его вступительной речи, одном из co-директоров саммита заметило как он всегда чувствовал реально расстроенным о стороне молодых людей ограничений в влиянии изменения в осложненном мире, и то он не был до тех пор пока он не участвовать в ранее глобальном саммите захвата который он осуществил он было не одним, а частью более большого поколения молодых людей с подобными заботами, которые совместно вносили изменения. В моей речи, я закавычил его и после этого сказал мой собственный рассказ, который очень подобен к его и деиствительно, в моем веровании, рассказ настолько много из нас.

Я после этого пошел дальше talk about модель уровня GYAN 5 молодости организуя, изменение объяснять как социальное изменение создано через собирательные и сотруднические усилия индивидуалов и организаций фокусируя на осведомленности, действия и политики (названием моей речи были «соединяясь глобальный молодежными движениями и усилиями общины к глобальный внутрирастительному изменению»).

Это будет столб blog о моей речи, которая обеспечивает кратко сводку от перспективы оператора на приеме: соединение к blog о моей речи.

Keynoting de Globale Top 2008 van de Overeenkomst
Automatically translated into Dutch thanks to WorldLingo
In een inspanning om mijn blog te doen herleven, ga ik beginnen updates van mijn werk bij TIG & GYAN te posten:) Hier is een bezinning over mijn reisrapport aan Chicago:

Op 17 April reiste ik naar Chicago om de Globale Top van de Overeenkomst op Noordwestelijke Universiteit bij te wonen. Ik werd uitgenodigd als één van de drie essentiële sprekers van de Top en hield ook een workshop over „Technologie als Globaal Platform“.

De opdracht van De globale Top van de Overeenkomst is de capaciteit van de volgende generatie van globale veranderingsleiders aan dwars-grenzen te bouwen en partner met nieuwe gemeenschappen om verantwoordelijke, duurzame oplossingen aan gedeelde globale programma's te veroorzaken. Ik was zeer geïmponeerd met hoe goed werd de top georganiseerd, en het niveau van overeenkomst en verplichting van personeel, deelnemers en facilitators was ongelooflijk inspirerend.

Één van mijn persoonlijke hoogtepunten moest twee actieve TIG leden van Nigeria en Liberia hebben die mijn workshop over Vrijdag ochtend bijwonen. Beiden zijn actief betrokken bij CLCWA, en de kerel van Nigeria was ook een actief lid van het Nigeriaanse Caucus van de Jeugd WSIS team (hij de sjaal droeg van groene `Nigeria Rotsen', die terug veel goed geheugen bracht en me zeer: gelukkig maakte)

In mijn basisspeech benadrukte ik de motivatie en hoop die uit het uitmaken deel van een gemeenschap van gelijkgestemde jonge mensen voortkomt. Toen ik mijn toespraak de voordien nacht voorbereidde, las ik op GES blog op socialedge.org dat, in zijn openingstoespraak, één had van co-directors van de top opgemerkt hoe hij altijd werkelijk gefrustreerd over het gezicht van beperkingen jonge mensen in het beïnvloeden van verandering in een ingewikkelde wereld had gevoeld, en dat het was not until nam hij aan een vorige Globale Top van de Overeenkomst deel die hij realiseerde hij niet alleen, maar een deel van een grotere generatie van jonge mensen met gelijkaardige zorgen was, die samen een verschil maakten. In mijn toespraak, citeerde ik hem en vertelde toen mijn eigen verhaal, dat aan het zijn en inderdaad, in mijn geloof, verhaal van zo velen van ons zeer gelijkaardig is.

Ik ging toen over 5 niveaumodel van GYAN van jeugd spreken die verklaren, hoe de sociale verandering door de collectieve en samenwerkingsinspanningen van individuen gecreërd wordt en organisaties organiseren zich die zich op voorlichting concentreren, actie en beleids de verandering (de titel van mijn toespraak was „Verbindende globale de jeugdbewegingen en communautaire inspanningen aan globale systemische verandering“).

Dit is de blogpost over mijn toespraak, die een korte samenvatting vanuit het perspectief van een luisteraar verstrekt: verbinding met blog over mijn toespraak.

[كنوتينغ] الشاملة إلتزام قمة 2008
Automatically translated into Arabic thanks to WorldLingo
في جهد أن ينعش [بلوغ] ي, يذهب أنا أن يبدأ يعيّن تحديثات من عملي في [تيغ] & [جن]:) هنا إنعكاس حول ي رحلة تقرير إلى شيكاغو:

في أبريل - نيسان [17ث] سافر أنا إلى شيكاغو أن يحضر الشاملة إلتزام قمة في جامعة شماليّ غربيّ. أنا كان دعات بما أنّ واحدة من القمة ثلاثة المتحدث متعلّق بالفكرة الرئيسيّة وأيضا أمسكت ورشة على "تكنولوجيا كمنصة شاملة".

المهمة من ال شاملة إلتزام قمة أن يبني القدرة من ال [نإكست جنرأيشن] من شاملة تغير زعيمات إلى [كروسّ-بوردرس] وشريكة مع جماعات جديدة أن ينتج مسؤولة, حلول قابل للمحافظة إلى يشارك برنامج شاملة. استهويت أنا كان جدّا مع [هوو ولّ] القمة كان نظّمت, والمستوى الإلتزام وتعهد من ملاكة, مشتركات و [فسليتتور] كان بشكل لا يصدّق ألهم.

كان واحدة من حدث هامّي شخصيّة أن يتلقّى اثنان نشطة [تيغ] أعضاء من نيجيريا وليبيريا يحضر ورشتي على يوم الجمعة صباح. تضمّنت [بوث وف ثم] بنشاط في [كلكوا], والشدادة من نيجيريا كان أيضا عضوة نشطة من النيجيريّة [وسس] شباب مؤتمر حزبيّ فريق (هو كان ارتدى خضراء `نيجيريا صخورة' وشاح, أيّ أحضر إلى الخلف كثير ذاكرات جيّدة وجعلني جدّا سعيدة:)

في خطبتي متعلّق بالفكرة الرئيسيّة أكّد أنا التحريض ويأمل أنّ يستنتج من يكون جزء من جماعة من الناس [ليك-ميندد] شابّة. عندما أعدّ أنا خطبتي الليلة قبل, أنا قرأت على ال [جس] [بلوغ] على socialedge.org كان أنّ, في [أبنينغ سبيش] ه, واحدة من ال [ك-ديركتورس] من القمة قد لاحظ كيف هو تلقّى دائما [فلت] حقّا يثبّط حول التحديد شابّة الناس وجه في يأثر تغير في عالم معقّدة, وأنّ هو [ب] لم إلى أن هو ساهم في سابقة شاملة إلتزام قمة أنّ هو حقّق هو [ب] لم بانفراد, غير أنّ جزء من جيل كبيرة من الناس شابّة مع اهتمامات مماثلة, الذي معا كان جعل فرق. في خطبتي, اقتبسه أنا وبعد ذلك قال ي خاصّة قصة, أيّ يكون جدّا مماثلة إلى خاصّتي وحقّا, في إعتقادي, القصة من هكذا كثير من نا.

أنا بعد ذلك ذهبت فوق أن [تلك بووت] [جن] 5 مستوى نموذج الشباب ينظّم, يفسّر كيف تغير اجتماعيّة يكون خلقت من خلال الجماعيّة وجهود تعاونيّة من فردات وتنظيمات [فوكسنغ] على حالة وعي, عمل وسياسة تغير (كان العنوان من خطبتي "يربط شاملة شباب حركات وجماعة جهود إلى تغير شاملة [سستميك]").

هذا ال [بلوغ] موقعة حول خطبتي, أيّ يزوّد خلاصة موجزة من مستمعة منظورة: خطوة إلى [بلوغ] حول خطبتي.

... Only with young people!

Yesterday evening I went to hear a lecture by Paul Nolte, a German professor (with a background in history and sociology) and leading intellectual. Some time ago (well, it must actually be a year or two ago already), I found one of his books and read it with great interest. The book was called “Generation Reform” and provided a couple of – in my opinion - very good thoughts and ideas about the future of the German state. Because the book was so inspiring to me, I really wanted to go and hear him speak.

His lecture was called “The price of chances - About the economy of a new citizen society” and was organized by the Körberstiftung as part of their “Körberforum”, which is subtitled “For people, who don’t want to leave everything as it is” :) His lecture was basically divided into four parts. In the first part, he outlined the different values and guiding principles of the citizen society over the last three decades and especially how they changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall (basically in the 80ies, citizen society (or civil society as you might also call it) existed as a form of self-organization against the power of the state, whereas in the early 90ies the state wasn’t seen as enemy anymore; citizen engagement started to be was seen as “activities of individuals in social networks”).

The second part focused on the relation between the citizens and the state. For Germany, Paul Nolte identified four important “crisis”, which have a huge influence on our society:

1. The crisis of the consumer society (consummation past its peek at the end of the 80ies and is since declining)


2. The crisis of the tax state (people are less willing to pay more and more taxes but at the same time are less aware of the rising costs of public services)


3. The crisis of the welfare state (growing state debt since the 70ies and a growing feeling of people to give more than to receive)


4. The crisis of the public sphere (people are retreating into privacy and democracy is not res publica anymore, but rather seen as a political system that should ensure as much freedom of privacy as possible).

In the third part of his lecture, Paul Nolte presented his idea of the new “innovative citizen society”. Instead of being just mere consumers of resources and having a lot of expectations to gain from the state and others, people should invest more into society again and also show more solidarity. Everyone should ask themselves: “What can I do as an individual to serve the society I live in?” The whole concept is based on a sustainable and more long-term approach: innovations that are made today will bring benefits tomorrow – this is something that people seem to have forgotten. One good example is that in Germany, parents are not willing anymore to invest in the education of their children if that means that they have to cut down their own standard of living (not to mention that investing in education is generally “out” so to say – something that I know from my own experience with my mum).

Lastly, in the fourth part, Paul Nolte described how the state could address some of the problems highlighted in the second part.

While the lecture was generally good, the discussion with questions from the audience that followed it was much more eye-opening to me (probably also because I had already read about many of his ideas in his book). There were quite a number of people who spoke up and they were generally quite critical of his vision. A number of people even compared his visionary idea of more socially active citizens with the vision of communists who claimed that for socialism to work, a “new human” is needed. But in general (making the comparison with communism or not), people argued that his vision is unachievable. You could hear comments like: “”People are not interested in the society anymore, they just care about themselves and you can’t change that” or “the majority of people wants to be led and for those who lead, we have our politicians” - which is a comment that totally ignores individual leadership and is in my opinion exactly what Germany is lacking!

Over the last years, it has become more and more embarrassing to talk about one owns individual engagement. Doing social work is not really something that is openly valued and appreciated – people are not grateful to others to do this kind of work (and this is exactly one of the things that Paul Nolte mentioned in his speech as well) and instead of those of us who are active telling others that they should do the same and show more solidarity with their fellows, we are hiding ourselves and our activities when talking with other people about them (in my case, I know that telling many people at university about the things I do, I would just hear from them things like “why don’t you go out and party more?”). In addition, I strongly believe that we need more leadership in all spheres of live. This is an area where we can learn a lot from America – promoting leadership skills, valuing them and awarding leaders for the benefits they bring to our society. All this is non-existent in Germany.

I actually very much liked one of the responses that Paul Nolte gave to a statement that we can’t change a thing anyway. He said: “Only because a disease is hard to combat, doesn’t mean that we don’t try curing it”. But adults are so … disillusioned, vision-less, exhausted from life or as Kumi Naidoo’s son apparently once phrased it “contaminated with experience”. Renée, the Coordinator of the Millennium Campaign in Germany, who spoke at the event of the European Youth Forum, which I attended this weekend, said in response to the question, why she chose to focus in her Campaign on young people: “If I speak to adults about the MDGs, they might agree that they are very important, but they are very skeptical if they can actually be achieved. If I speak to young people about the MDGs, they say: Ok, let’s do it and make them become a reality!” It was exactly these words that I had to remember yesterday evening when I heard all these old people speak. And maybe the reference to communism isn’t something that we should just laugh about. Maybe there lies a deeper truth in it. If you look at people in Germany who “don’t want to leave everything as it is”, then you’ll find out that (still) a majority of them are “Alt-68er” (those who were part of the big student demonstrations in 1968). Many of them were communists, but after the fall of the Berlin wall, all that they believed in over many, many years suddenly fell apart. They had to realize that their vision was unrealistic – and they became disillusioned by that.

But if the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism disillusioned so many – then this is yet another reason for me to turn the power to young people, whose minds are still “uncontaminated” and who still believe that, if you just work hard enough, then it is possible to make a vision come true! Giving up before the work has even started is a virus that unfortunately, too many people have already been infected of.

On Friday, something really weird happened to me, something, which still doesn’t make any sense to me. But let me tell you:

A few weeks ago I was invited by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) to attend their “MDG information and training day” in Bonn (the former capital of Germany) as a resource person on the MDGs. I was first supposed to just co-present on the topic “Youth and the MDGs” with Leif Holmberg, bureau member of the YFJ, but in the last week before the event I was asked if I could give two more presentations, one about the MDGs more broadly (I called it “The Millennium Development Goals – Opportunities and Challenges”) and one about advocacy for the MDGs (“Advocating for the MDGs – the birth of a new global movement”). As A friend of mine was visiting me last week for a couple of days, I had no time to prepare any of the presentations though, so I ended up working on them during my train ride to Bonn.

I spent about 1 hour on my part of the MDG and Youth presentation when it was almost done – I just wanted to add a few screenshots to it. But for some strange reason Powerpoint didn’t want to add them. So I saved the document and restarted Powerpoint – nothing. Then I restarted my whole computer. But after that, I suddenly couldn’t open the document anymore. Instead the program gave me the error message “this file can’t be open as it is either corrupted, in use or the program doesn’t support this kind of file” (something along these lines). It was very strange, but whatever I tried, it didn’t work, so before loosing even more time, I reconstructed the whole presentation :-(

When I arrived in Bonn, I had a meeting with the organizers and we then went to have dinner. After dinner, the event was opened with “ice-breakers” (some of them were actually really funny games – I had great fun!). However, it wasn’t until 11pm that I could eventually sit down with Leif to finish the presentation and finalize also my two other ones. At 1:30am we were finally ready though and Leif went to his room. And now it happened, what I still have no explanation for: After Leif had left, I saved all the files (I’m 100% sure I did), left my laptop on the bed and went to the bathroom. When I returned, the file with my presentation had strangely disappeared!!! I was utterly confused as you can imagine – how can a file just disappear? But the place where I had saved it on my desktop was suddenly empty – there was nothing than a big hole. I started searching on my whole laptop for the file (luckily I have a Mac with Tiger, which makes searching for files thanks to Spotlight so much easier), but the only file that I could find gave me the same error message than the one I created in the train that afternoon – and I’m not even sure that it was that file (I also searched for auto recovery files etc, but to no avail).

Luckily, when I was just looking for the file, Leif called again to ask when he should wake me up (my presentation was at 9 am and he knew that I have a hard time getting up so early in the morning ;-) I told him what happened and he said he would come down to my room immediately. But even with his help, we couldn’t find the file again and the corrupted file didn’t want to open on his laptop either. In my desperation, I even tried calling Mike in Toronto, who had helped me many times before with computer troubles and who I knew can do magic when it comes to technology. And in fact, after sending him the file, he was able to retrieve the information, but he told me that the file only contained two slides – how weird!

So basically, there was nothing I could do. The only file that we found on my laptop was corrupted and contained only two slides (another reason why it probably wasn’t the right file: it said that it had last been changed around 12 pm), while the real file had completely disappeared!! I’m still trying to come up with a logical solution that would make sense to me, but so far it is still a total mystery to me.

The presentation went nevertheless very well though. I went to bed at around 2:30 am that night (although I was so confused that I couldn’t sleep until 3:30 am), but thanks to Leif’s help I was able to reconstruct the whole presentation the next morning.

It was very crazy though; I got up at 7 am, started my first presentation at 9 am, presented – with breaks - until lunch at 1 pm and then after lunch co-moderated a policy discussion on aid and debt. When I stood up from my chair after this policy discussion meeting and spilled my whole bottle of water on the carpet I knew – it’s time for me to sleep!!

It’s still surprising though how you can even with just a few hours of sleep be fully present if you have to. It all depends on your mind – I had to be fit to present, so I was able to do it. But after my responsibilities were over, I collapsed immediately.

Anyway, I wanted to share this little story about my presentation with you – maybe some of you had similar experiences already? Although, I doubt that disappearing files are a very common phenomenon…

This morning I read a very interesting interview with Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss born Muslim and one of the leading intellectuals about the Islam. When they came to talk about the freedom of press in European countries, Ramadan said that many Muslims in the Middle East think that the governments are responsible for the caricatures printed in the press, because in their countries the president controls the press. When asked by the newspaper, if he also thinks that many people might not be aware of the fact that there is even in European countries a huge debate about the caricatures, he said that he thinks so, but added one important thing: He said, that we in Europe are not much better in this respect as we see the people in the streets of Islamic countries, who smash the windows of European embassies and demonstrate against “the West”, as the Muslims.

We don’t differentiate either. And I must admit that he is certainly right. One reason for that is the one-sided press in our countries (which is in fact something that Tariq Ramadan mentions in the interview as well). It’s the same as with young people in the press: The bad and ugly is portrayed all day, but nobody talks about those who can be seen as role models - or even just normal people (cause I don’t believe that every Muslim is supporting the violence these days as much as I don’t believe in the common view that young people are supposedly not interested in anything societal and rather watch TV or play video games the whole day than contributing to their communities).

For that reason, I started searching for literature that is presenting me with another view – I’m fed up with the daily bad news that I have to read when opening the newspaper in the morning (or rather looking up the headlines on the Internet). So far I have found two books that I really liked and that gave me a new view on people in countries you usually only hear bad things about. One book was a biography of Wangari Maathai. A very short and simple description of her life, how she grew up, why she started the Green Belt Movement and how she became active in the political arena. The reason why I liked the book was because it was presenting me with a fascinating and courageous African woman who dared fighting against her corrupt government even though that meant that she was constantly risking her life. These are the stories we need to hear! I’m sure there are many more people like Wangari Maathai on this vast continent – journalists, where are you? Find these people and tell us about them!

The second book that I read in December already is a book called: “We are Iran: The Persian Blogs” (the German subtitle is even more interesting: Rebellion against the Mullahs – the young Persian Weblog-scene). The book basically consists of hundreds of quotes, taken from weblogs of young Persians who similarly to Wangari Maathai risk punishment for publishing their opinion on the Internet. Nasrin Alavi uses these blogs to present the reader with a completely different picture of Iran: Young women who write about love, friendship and their admiration for Shirin Ebadi (another one of these great people we should hear more about!); young people who are fed up with the politics of the ayatollahs in Iran and who clearly say: “our enemy is not the US, our enemy is our own government!” and students who fight for human rights and the freedom of press.

While western newspapers only report about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s newest speeches in which he either denials that the Holocaust ever took place or offends western governments in some other way, this book allows us a glimpse behind the curtain of hateful speeches and gives us an understanding of the struggle and endeavors of ordinary young people in Iran.

Let me cite a book review that I found on amazon.com:

Any who would understand the people and culture of Iran must read We Are Iran: The Personal Blogs: it gathers the country's Internet diaries and translates them from Farsi to provide quite a different view of the ordinary people's sentiments and experiences. Much of what comes to the U.S. in newspapers comes from reporters or politicians: We Are Iran comes from the people - in particular, from an educated, youthful, literate segment of the country which doesn't condone Islamic fundamentalism and which is eager to embrace a new era. Supplementing these blogs is commentary on these people and their concerns, providing the background and cultural insight necessary to appreciate the voices and their place in modern Iranian society.

Of course, there hasn’t only been positive critique for the book. As one critique points out: “The vast majority of Iranians do not have access to the web. As in most countries, Iranian bloggers represent the views of a very limited demographic group - affluent and otherwise privileged individuals." When reading the book, we have to remember this. But I’m nevertheless extremely happy to have found this book. I wish, more people who are quoted in the book were given the chance to appear in western newspapers and magazines – I’m sure it would help a great deal for a better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. To end with the words of Tariq Ramadan:

“If it should come to a clash of the cultures, both sides will lose. If it comes instead to a dialogue of the cultures, then both sides will profit. We must understand that whether we win or lose, we will do it together.”

Stuck in the middle of nowhere.
This place is not my place anymore.
Rain is covering the soil I’m walking on,
Like tears sympathizing with me.

I’m longing to be embraced again
By this city;
As much as I’m longing to be kissed
By the person I love.

Loneliness is creeping into my soul.
The night is my only friend.
Darkness is surrounding me,
Like a warm shell covering my skin.

I’m longing to be embraced again
By this city:
As much as I’m longing to be kissed
By the person I love.

At night, this place has its right to sleep.
At day, I’m tired of its pace.
Slow and constant are its moves,
But no change will ever be borne here.

I’m longing to be embraced again
By this city;
As much as I’m longing to be kissed
By the person I love.

I need to leave and I know where to go.
Darkness is light, and light is darkness.
The city that never sleeps,
Is my place to be.

New York,
I’m longing to be embraced by you.
How long still do I have to wait to make you mine?
How long still before I can sleep again?


[It must be at least 8-9 years since I last wrote a poem or any piece of lyric.... Kudos to Coldplay for the inspiration while writing and for the first line that I allowed myself to copy.]