Fundraising Starts with FUN!

Written by Dariia Kogut, AEGEE-Kyiv

More Intercultural! Your Participants can Learn Even More!

Jorge Miguel Vielva, Civic Education Working Group, is the moderator of this workshop which will be on the 21st of May, starting from 15.45 in the “S.Giacomo” room. 

One of AEGEE’s main ideas is intercultural exchange. The organisation creates a space for members of different backgrounds to meet and learn about cultural differences, in order to foster mutual understanding, to break stereotypes and strengthen tolerance, show respect and solidarity. This is possible to achieve with the help of Summer Universities and other AEGEE events. The topic might seem easy, but given today’s reality it is very complex and crucial. During the workshop the participants will dive into the intercultural communication theories and reflection exercises. This will help to embrace differences, diversity on a deeper level and truly understand other’s and your own culture. You might learn not only how to say “Hello” in any language, but also how to co-live peacefully in this dynamic and fast changing world with people from all around the globe.

For more information you can download the Agora Agenda and the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Dariia Kogut, AEGEE-Kyiv

Whether you are a delegate, a visitor or an envoy, you are definitely going to love the workshops planned for the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo! They are new, they are fresh and interactive, aimed for new members coming as visitors, some of them being for the first time at an Agora, eager to learn valuable things, AEGEE related or not,  from trainers and members with experience. Three of them will briefly be presented in this article and are the following: “Be water, my friend!”, “I was killed by PowerPoint” and last, but not least, “Peace it Up!”. Read more to find out about each one of them and don’t forget to join one during Agora Bergamo! See you there!

Workshop I-A: Be water, my friend!

Held by the Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the Public Relations Committee (PRC), Gerardo Garcia Diaz (AEGEE-Oviedo) and former Comité Directeur (CD) member, Mayri Tiido (AEGEE-Tallin), the workshop will take place on Thursday, 19th May at 12:45 and will end at 14:15. This workshop encourages you to refresh yourself and teaches you how to adapt to different situations, to be like water, as the name suggests, through improvisation theater and role-playing. Although this workshop will be a lot of fun,  a decent level of English is required, so if you are having trouble with that, start revising!

Workshop I-B: I was killed by PowerPoint

As the name suggests, we are all sick and tired of PowerPoint presentations and dull speeches. The means used to spread education & knowledge have changed a lot, the best example for that being TEDx, with events taking place all over, featuring worldwide known trainers, experts and great leaders that inspire us with their speech and stage act. Why shouldn’t you try to be like them? Through tips and tricks presented during this workshop, you will learn how to keep the participant’s attention, leave them speechless and falling in love with your presentation. The workshop will be held by Academy trainer, Ana Potocnik (AEGEE-Ljubljana) and will take place on Thursday, 19th May between 12:45 and 14:15.

Workshop I-C: Peace it Up!

So far, the year of 2016 wasn’t too great when it comes to democracy and peace-making, considering all the terrorist attacks that happened in Paris, Brussels, Istanbul and Ankara. However, it definitely brought us together and motivated us to take our own actions to contribute to a better and more peaceful Europe. The collaboration between the “Democracy in Practice” and the “Your Vision for EUrope”
project has resulted in an interactive and meaningful workshop called “Peace it Up!”, which will offer you this great opportunity to come, share and support your thoughts and feelings about the current situation. It will be held by Noemi Lowy (AEGEE-Debrecen) on behalf of the “Democracy in Practice” project and Adonis Meggos (AEGEE-Peiraias) from the “Your Vision for EUrope” project and it will take place on Thursday, 19th May from 12:45 until 14:15.

For more information you can download the Agora Agenda and the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Agora is not just about candidates and proposals, but it’s a place where members of AEGEE can share also their knowledge in different fields and they are discussing the progresses on certain topics, such as Agora or Network Development. Overall, during Spring Agora Bergamo there will be 14 workshops and 12 Progress Meetings. You can check the agenda to see when they will be delivered or the thematic booklet to see the topics. Today we are going to present you all the workshops and progress meetings you can attend on the second day of the Agora, the 19th of May, from 11.45 to 12.45. 

Agora for Newbies is hold by the Chair Team and the Comité Directeur, a session tailored to the needs of who is at his/her first Agora and wants more explanations and clarification on our statutory event.  For who has already attended an Agora and s/he now a delegate, the Chair Team and members of the Agora Reform Task Force will hold the workshop Dark Agora Army: Agora for Experts. This workshop is targeted for members of the Agora who want to deepen their knowledge on the statutory and want to live it to the fullest. The goals of this workshop is to have members to comprehend the real powers of the delegates, to understand the procedural rules of the legislative mechanism of AEGEE-Europe, to know how to propose motions which cannot be denied by the Juridical Commission, to argument yourself upon hidden CIA legal exceptions and, to ask uncomfortable questions.

As we should all know by now, Agora will be in Italy where the official language is Italian. This language is one of the most studied abroad and definitely one of the most loved. Luca Ciucci from AEGEE- Pisa and member of the Language Interest Group will deliver the workshop called The history of the Italian language: a European perspective. In this workshop, Luca will give you an overview of the Italian language, in order to understand the differences built through century of history that resulted in how Italians see themselves and how they perceive their position towards Europe.

Despite approved in Agora Patra, very few are aware of what Data privacy policy statement is, and how it will work. That’s why Atanas Nachkov, AEGEE-Sofia, and Lisette Kunst, Mediation Commission and AEGEE-Groningen, will hold the workshop MedCom Data Privacy Policy. The aim is to clarify and explain the adopted protections and limitations as well as the related procedural matters. According to the holders, after this workshop, you will learn what is the current progress of the data privacy of AEGEE-Europe and what is to come, what kind of information AEGEE-Europe collects from you and your Local, what kind of limitations apply, why the elected people must sign NDA and what it legally means,  what the OMS is, how to get anonymous statistics and what kind of requests can be done to the Mediation Commission.

It’s not a mystery that our Statutory Event has some hidden potentials which are not fully used. From Autumn Agora Kyiv, a task force have been working on this to implement it and in the progress meeting Agora Reform, held by Svenja van der Tol, Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe, and Agora Reform Task Force, these new ideas will be shared. For more than two decades, we’ve spent money on the house rent, money that could be used for other projects and for members. At least what Ander Guerrero Ruiz, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, thinks and, for this reason, he will hold the progress meeting AEGEE HQ: looking for the next 30 years. In this progress meeting, he wants to explore, with inputs from the Network, the possibility of a long term financial strategy to buy a house for the association.

You can download the blookets here (login required). 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

During Autumn Agora Kyïv, several workshops will take place, divided into four sessions. The first three sessions will take place in the second day of the Agora, and the fourth one will be on the fourth day.

In the first session of workshops, which will be on the 15th of October, from 12:00 to 14:00. There will be one workshop called ‘Identity’ and Liberation, held by Dr. James M. Skelly, Director of the Center on Critical Thinking. With this workshop, he will try to show participants how the socialisation process to an identity is similar regardless of in which social environment it happens. Everyone has their own identity, but in the end we all identify with being “humans”, and we all have a common fate.

Second session of workshops, which will take place in parallel from 15:30 to 17:30, are Refugee crisis – what can you do, and what can AEGEE do? and How to support youth participation: e-tools for democracy.

The first named one, is going to be held by Thomas Leszke from AEGEE Election Observation regarding the European refugee crisis. “It aims to create a basic understanding of what is happening, and to generate ideas how AEGEE and its members could respond to it”. The workshop will have two parts, the first one about the Common European Asylum System, an introduction, and the second one will be “brainstorming and developing ideas for concrete action by AEGEE-Europe, its Locals and its individual members”.

The second one, How to support youth participation: e-tools for democracy, will be held by Andrea Ferrara, Project Manager of the EUth project, and Nils Altland, Liquid Democracy e.V. During the past years, technology changed our lives. We can communicate and get to know people really easy nowadays. With this workshop, participants will be challenged to take advantage of all the tools so they will have their voices heard. In the same time, thoughts and opinions on how e-tools can support youth participation will be shared.

The fourth, and the last workshop session will take place on the fourth day of the Agora, from 12:00 to 13:30, called How do YOU think and feel about Europe and its future? and it will be lead by Maarten de Groot from Your Vision for Europe. In order to give an idea on what will happen at this workshop, he said that “we will discuss questions related to the future and the identity of the European project in an open, personal, (interactive) and accessible manner. Let me give you an idea of what type of questions will be discussed: do you consider yourself a European? Is your European identity stronger than your national identity? Do you feel informed about European political issues? Are you worried about the future of Europe?”. They aim to trigger the curiosity and imagination of the participants, by changing stories and experiences among them. The workshop is the kickoff activity of the project, Your Vision for Europe. During this one, “AEGEEans will be able to enter the discussion on the identity and the future of the European project in an accessible manner”. Divided in two parts, the workshop will make use of the “cross the line” method, and the participants will also work in groups in order to identify the main challenge that Europe is facing lately and have a discussion about it. For the ones that want to learn more, but in the same time want to practice their skills in public speaking, critical thinking and open, inclusive communication, this workshop will be one of the best place they could be at that time.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

Autumn Agora Kyïv is closer than we think, and during these days organisers, members of AEGEE Bodies and the Chair Team are taking care of all the last details, from facilities to content, in order to make the event a very good one. Workshops are an important part of the Agora, and they are being prepared by several commissions and projects.

During the second day of the Agora, there will be three workshop sessions. The third session will take place between 18:00 and 20:00. “Erasmus+ – Give your application a PLUS!”, “Let’s get ACTive” and “AEGEE in the external world” are the topics covered.

Let’s get ACTive is going to be organised by the Action Agenda Coordinator Committee (ACT), and it is going to encourage “members to get more active and create activities that comply to aims and objectives stated in the Action Agenda”, as Miljana Vulevic, the Vice-Speaker of the Committee, said. The workshop will be organised in a way that will also involved the participants, so they can learn more using “both their imagination and logic to solve the tasks we’ve prepared for them. It will be educational and very, very fun”. A second aim is to help members understand that the Action Agenda is not as difficult as it might seem, and that it is a document that “is beneficial in more ways than one.” Members need to know that the Action Agenda and the ACT can help them get new ideas and develop great and creative projects for all the members.

Erasmus+ – Give your application a PLUS! is a workshop that is going to be held by Anna Gumbau, member of Comité Directeur. With this workshop, the participants will learn how the locals can benefit from the program and how much it actually helps in the organisation of an event.

The third workshop that is going to take place, AEGEE in the external world, held by Pablo Hernández Rodríguez and Aleksandra Kluczka, both members of the Comité Directeur, is going to encourage all AEGEE members to participate in the external activities of the organisation. They would also like to see what kind of impact would members like AEGEE to have in society and empower them to take action.

During the fourth day of the Agora, the fourth session of workshop will take place, between 12:00 and 13:30. One of them is called Play your role in democracy, held by Noemi Lowy, Elena Panagopoulou and Lia Tuska from Democracy in Practice. With the topic of the workshop, they want “to raise awareness of what are the democratic values in a state and in society”. Members have to realise that their saying can have a major impact in society. The workshop itself goes hand in hand with the theme at the Agora, “Rebuiding Democracy”, and even if “it is a very broad concept and according to many, it’s vaguely idealistic”, human rights can be very powerful and you can learn a lot by talking about them.

Through this workshop, participants will be able to understand “how different players (government, media, NGO’s and citizens) influence and shape human rights” and they will be encourage “to think and express their opinion on the current social/ political/ economic issues and challenges”. In a very interactive way, participants will have to create “a statement as the role they would have to react to the human rights project”, everything continuing with discussions according to the statements. All the participants of this workshop will leave the room with more knowledge about human rights and everything that is interconnected with it.

All the workshops that will be held during this Agora will have an impact on members somehow, and it will definitely make them take some action at a smaller or a bigger scale.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca 

Aren’t we all a bit nationalistic? Nationalism in Europe is getting stronger again, they say. Is that true? Where can we see it? And is it just “the others” who are getting more nationalistic? Are we, young, educated and tolerant people, really as liberal as we believe?

This is why former member of the Comité Directeur, Thomas Leszke, decided to organise a workshop on Nationalism at Zaragora.

AEGEEan: Thomas, why did you choose to organise this workshop?

I believe nationalism is one of the main problems in Europe. Nationalist sentiment is relied upon for many a wrong policy and we are not aware of it!

We, AEGEE members, are unlikely to be nationalists. Yet, even for many of us, nationalist attitudes are closer than we think. Of course, everyone has a national identity and the line between “having a national identity” and “being a nationalist” is very thin indeed. This is logical, because most identities (and certainly national ones) are based on social exclusion and everyone wants to feel like they truly belong somewhere. Still it is dangerous, because we may not realise that our feeling of attachment towards our home country may lead us to opinions that are discriminatory, unjust and even in conflict with human rights.

This is why it is very important to understand what nationalism is and to see how we can protect and cultivate our identities without getting into ethical trouble. However, I do not want to stand in front and preach abstract definitions of nationalism. Participants should find out for themselves in a more active way.

AEGEEan: Can you tell us something more about what your workshop will be like?

Firstly, participants are split into two groups (liberals and nationalists – this doesn’t reflect their own beliefs). They should try to put themselves in different political perspectives and use arguments that do not necessary reflect their own personal opinion. They will be put up with political problems that are of high relevance in different national societies in Europe today.

Furthermore, participants are separated again to three committees (consisting of both groups) where they discuss and decide about different issues, supporting their roles’ opinion (so not necessarily their own). This way, they can learn to distinguish between “national identity” and nationalism. AEGEE members in general have to realise how present nationalist ideas are in our common thinking and start thinking about what we as an association or as individuals can do about it.

AEGEEan: What do you expect from the participants?

I expect participants to realise that many of the problems that will be discussed in the workshop are in fact a reality in their own societies. The workshop is not a place for drafting activities, but for understanding problems. I am quite sure that most of the participants will leave the workshop with a lot of thoughts and that they will go on discussing about it, involving their friends in the topic as well. I would not be surprised and even very glad to see that participants develop ideas for projects of activities countering nationalism, whether it is on a local, national or European level.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria

The topic of participation in workshops at statutory events was raised recently in The AEGEEan, and we continue to focus on this interesting topic. Questions concerning the quality of workshops, the topics and the golden recipe of a workshop will be answered in this interview that The AEGEEan did with Gunnar Erth, who throughout his many years has participated and hosted a large number of workshops.

He has hosted very different workshops, from simple brainstorming sessions regarding a project to creative ones, where people display their ideas with performances or posters. He describes them as the ones that are the most fun.

In Agora Rhein-Neckar Gunnar will host a workshop but it is no classic workshop. It will be a mixture of a presentation and group discussions and the topic will be the history of the summer universities. Since the Summer University Coordination Team will be at the Agora, the hope is to have lively best-practice discussions with the participants regarding participants’ management and a SU programme design. Hopefully, ending up with the best formula for a SU.

Gunnar says that “a good workshop should not primarily transmit knowledge, but rather be about developing ideas together”, but what other golden rules are there to workshops? Let’s have a look.

The AEGEEan: How many times have you hosted a workshop?

Gunnar Erth: Oh, many times. I did the first one was when I was president of the Human Rights Working Group. We were discussing projects about former Yugoslavia. Most of my workshops were either related to PR matters, antenna management or project management.

And what is it that you like about organising workshops?

It’s the best way to directly involve and motivate people in AEGEE! People see each other eye to eye – and thanks to this aspect workshops add the human touch to discussions, which otherwise would happen online. The most fascinating thing about workshops is that they can get their own life and go to directions that you did not expect. When you organise a workshop then you usually have an idea and preferred outcome in mind. But as soon as the people discuss, they take over, they develop ideas and these can be totally different from yours. This can be great, but also frustrating.

Why is that the case?

Sometimes you have some high goals in mind, which require a lot of work and initiative. And then the participants don’t catch the hint and rather go for a simple solution with less impact. If it’s only a training workshop then it’s not a big deal – you can just tell them what else they could have opted for. However, if the purpose of the workshop was to develop a new project, then it’s a pity. But there is nothing you can do as a workshop leader, since the participants are the ones to carry the project out.

You have organised and been in many workshops. What is the golden recipe to make a workshop good?

First of all, you need a good topic. Without it, you don’t get participants. The potential participants must feel that they can either learn something for themselves or help shaping a great initiative. The second factor is making catchy PR before the workshop. The third thing is the way you structure and lead a workshop – currently Fabian Brüggemann is the best workshop leader in AEGEE. He is brilliant! You need to set out a clear goal of the workshop, keep in mind your own ideas and nudge the participants in a certain direction – but you have to let the people develop the idea. Because if it’s theirs then the chance is high that they catch on; if you present a ready-to-use idea, the chance is lower. You need to be able to adapt the workshop to the ideas of the participants, if things go in a different direction.

To give an example, I can tell you that in the Network Meeting in Mainz some years ago we discussed PR ideas in a workshop. Nearly all participants were from the Rhein-Neckar region. Some people suggested a printed AEGEE magazine for the region as a joint PR tool. That was in 2004, so before people made WordPress blogs. Since there was so much enthusiasm, I changed the workshop right in the middle and we discussed the form and content of this magazine. After the event we kept on discussing the idea online, but since no one wanted to coordinate it, the idea died.

That’s a pity.

Yes. And this leads us to the final ingredient of the recipe for a great workshop: a good follow-up. In every workshop you should discuss concrete steps how to follow-up, if you developed new ideas. But as you can see from the example, even then success is not guaranteed.

It is sometimes difficult for workshop organisers to get participants of the Agora to take part in their workshop, because it is not compulsory to go. How do you face this problem, and what is your advice to other workshop hosts?

Good PR, before the event. During the Agora it’s too late, because unfortunately there is only little time to present the content. There were so many Agorae where I didn’t really know what the next workshops were about so I just followed my friends – sometimes we went to just any random workshop or we had a coffee… So the participants must know about the workshop before the Agora. You must promote it like a big event. Social media help a lot. You can create a Facebook event and invite people, you can create a Facebook group, you can present the workshop in The AEGEEan or Golden Times, and you can even present it on AEGEE-L. If the topic is related for example to current issues, for example human rights, you can use existing discussions in AEGEE to make people aware of your workshop. There is no limit.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Have you ever thought about the effect you can produce with an update of your Facebook status?

A workshop delivered by Nikolay Kazantsev from AEGEE-Moscow covered one of the most important parts of peacemaking for conflict zones in Europe – resistance to nationalistic propaganda and information pressure from the official media, and declared a way that AEGEE members could contribute to peace building for creating a European identity.

It is natural for human beings to desire peace and people in conflict zones are not an exception. However, due to political struggles, people are counteracted by the nationalist norms that still govern their societies. These norms and core beliefs are accelerated by constant media support.  Academics argue that the influence of the media is especially strong in environments where a) citizens have little or no interest in politics and b) when they depend on a limited number of news sources[1]. That is exactly the case with conflict zones, when official (or national) media channels are declared as the only ones transmitting true facts (having monopoly on truth) while accesses to others are prohibited.

The question arises: could an objective picture of reality be transmitted through only one official information source, especially in conflict zones?

Comparison of press freedom around the conflict zones

In this research we took Press freedom index[2] to show the influence of media on conflict zones in European map (Picture 1). This index shows actual media transparency and determines how and why information is conveyed in different countries through various means.

According to Press freedom index national media is transparent when:

1. There are many, often competing, sources of information;
2. Much is known about the method of information delivery;
3. Funding of media production is publicly available.

Independent media is characterized by demonstration of facts and subjective judgement from both sides, leaving decisions to listeners that implies an active reception of information by an audience, developing their own attitude towards a subject.

Dependent media shows the picture from only one side, with multiplied argumentation and repetition to support this vision. Attitude in this case is developed not by listener but by the journalist.

As it could be seen from Press freedom index, conflict zone in Balkans (Serbia/Kosovo, FYRM, etc.) as well as countries of Caucasus region (Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia) suffer from noticeable to very serious problems in media transparency and information transmission.

Information access as a human right

Information is a critical resource for proper decision-making. European laws support the freedom of speech, and deprivation of access to information, as well as limiting the available sources, is an act of crime. Article 10 of European Declaration on Human Rights discusses rights that include not only the right to express or disseminate information and ideas, but also the right to receive information and ideas.

Paradox: However, still there is no law that punishes for this crime on the national level, especially in conflict zones.

What information is sent to us by the media?

In order to detect the ways of information distortion in the media we will decompose the notion of “information”. Information is a conveyed message that contains:

• Facts (data for analysis)

(includes answers to questions: who, when, what, how, etc.)

• Emotional “enchanting” (inc. hate speech)

Emotions distract listeners from rethinking and understanding. It may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group.

• Subjective judging (including nationalistic propaganda)

Subjectivity comes first of all from stakeholder’s ambitions.

• Politicians often include patriotic messages that allow them to quickly collect support and create a positive image.
• Military representatives are interested in long-term conflict and support fear of danger of a counterpart that increases governmental military spending etc.

The corrupted and emotionally enchanted information messages turn into propaganda. It is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) and even mixing up with some truths the audience wants to hear. It is generally an appeal to emotion, not rational response (intellect). Further propaganda results may be used for manipulation of target groups.

South Caucasus and media influence

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has shown the variety of emotional enchanting and subjective interpretation that has affected youth from both sides, playing on people’s emotional reactions. Influence of rhetoric here is very intensive. The region of the mountain Karabakh (unrecognized territory and a sphere of interest of both countries) in Armenian media is presented as de-facto independent (or, in nationalist lingo, ‘liberated’ Armenian land), while in Azerbaijan media it is illustrated as occupied Azerbaijan territory.

This polarization of views is kept so strong to keep the status quo in people’s separation. In this moment no link is made to centuries-old history of common neighborhood of both nations in this area. The same rhetoric (but much weaker) appeared in Russian-Ossetia-Abkhazian-Georgian conflict in 2008.

“Ramil Safarov’s case”[3] – was another example of media influence that complicated political relationships between two Caucasian countries even more.

After the murder of Armenian officer by Azerbaijan officer in 2006, official media of both sides strongly opposed each other.

• Armenian media put an accent of cruelty and nationality on the case, describing vividly the steps of committed crime, making their residents virtual victims of murderer, and presented the crime as an act against the nation.
• Azerbaijan media replied with an accent on national honor and humanity: a crime left without detailed description however vividly the historical background was described, the murderer’s feelings, and the crime was argued (and sometimes explained) by superiority of keeping national honor and revenge for perished relatives in Mountain Karabakh conflict.

These opposite views cannot be either true or false; each of them has an argumentation behind it. However, neither Armenian nor Azerbaijan side received the opposing point of view due to politically erected information barriers between the nations. Enormous amount of negative emotions (hate speech, nationalistic insults, and generalizations) multiplied by subjective judgement achieved the goal: now even people that have never seen their “counterparts” are motivated to hate them.

How could they change the status quo and oppose the subjectivism?

The only way for youth in countries with weak media transparency is to separate the facts from ways of official interpretation and to seek for alternative facts to make decision personally.

So where do we find a reliable source of data?

• It is important to keep in mind that every writer, lecturer, reporter, and teacher has an opinion.
• An internet article that provides news but does not provide a list of sources is not very trustworthy.
• Movies are fiction (even movies based on real events are fiction).
• Memoirs and autobiographies are nonfiction, but they contain a single person’s point of view and opinions.
• Cable news, radio shows, and other media sources must make a profit. If you use these as sources, you must consider their many stakeholders and political slants. Profit-making potential can cause a book to be more scandalous and more sensational – and less truthful.
• National history books are only a collection of events when other nations were in conflict with “our” nation. There is rare mention of when nations were cooperating, fighting a common enemy, or were partners in trade and handicraft. However, when a book publisher publishes a book, publisher takes responsibility for its truthfulness.
• Works of literature and poetry could be used for broadening the understanding of other cultures and for developing tolerance. Usually, however, for obvious reasons, they are generally ignored or not spoken about.

What unites counterparts of conflict zones?

• Not politicians but civilians from both sides are actual victims of conflict, suffering from its negative consequences.
• Both sides are worried about the external influences.
• Both sides perceive poverty as the biggest threat to the region.
• A significant percentage hopes that their children will be better off than they are.
• Both parts live being passive victims of conflicts

Workshop Outcomes:

• Tendency to peace is natural for human beings; governments do not always express the views of a nation.
• Educated open-minded people have no problems in communication with each other despite any national differences.
• Nationalism has nothing in common with love to your country. It is a measure to achieve political goals and a hate towards other nations.
• There are NO good and bad nations, but different people everywhere.
• There is no monopoly on truth, no reliable information source but different data sources to compare.
• Separation of political level from relationships between people is needed.
• Regional identity instead of national identity could be a solution.

Personal recommendations:

–  Meet different points of view in European trainings (Youth In Action, Council of Europe Youth projects, Salto, etc.)

–  Try to understand opposing feelings and positions based on national classical literature and poetry

–  Find a social platform to discuss the views with opponents; regard topic without emotions

– Restrain from expressions which contain hatred against a nation: e.g. re-tweeting nationalistic thoughts of opponent’s politicians through your friends network (twitter, Facebook, etc.) that increases the risk of stereotyping and generalization

– Ability to separate and eliminate the propaganda from information is your part in peace-building

AEGEE contribution to peace building process

AEGEE unites open-minded students across Europe and has no national level. That is why it compasses a unique capability of solving national conflicts. The topic was started in frames of Eastern Partnership Project (EaP). In 2012, the project team has organised two successful events dedicated to conflict resolution:

1. Conflict resolution Action Day on topic “Lingering conflicts in EaP countries” by AEGEE-Groningen in May 2012. The main idea of this event was to give understanding on current situation in the Caucasus region to Dutch students. The event had a huge success as this information was new for ordinary students who never travelled to that region and had no friends from there.
2. Youth in Action project “Peace building in Europe” organized by AEGEE-Oviedo and EaP project in September 2012.  This event gathered 30 young people from Armenia, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, Spain and Ukraine. This training was focusing on conflict resolution issues; participants had number of case studies on finding the best solutions on how to bring together youth from conflict zones.

Building a European youth identity by new members is impossible in situation of constant conflict between them. That is why conflict resolution within the whole network is a necessity of AEGEE, and particular peace building process in the Caucasian region is AEGEE’s zone of interest (Picture 2).

Project “Music as a common language for peace building among the Caucasus region” was one of the first initiatives developed by AEGEE members in cooperation with local partners – NGO’s in Russia, Georgia, Germany, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria and Turkey to create:

–  Series of charity concerts and trainings in public spaces (school halls, refugee camps etc.) together with musicians – representatives of confronting sides

– The support of AEGEE – network

 Aims and objectives of this project are:

–  Creating a platform of intercultural exchange  and long-life learning that brings together people who suffered through the conflict: civilians, refugees, etc. as well as AEGEE participants;

–  Non-formal education for AEGEE project team and local population

Peace building process needs you, dear AEGEE member.

Wake up and join!

Written by Nikolay Kazantsev, AEGEE-Moskva & Sandro Scordo, AEGEE-Roma