International Youth Convention 2008

By Pawel Hytry

Greek extraversion against Estonian introversion, Cypriot tardiness against German punctuality. I am sure that Greeks and Cypriots will party until late in the night, they will come late and we will never finish our workshops in time. I think they should not take part in such important events as International Youth Convention.

Hold on, hold on, STOP! Have I just characterized my best friends by stereotypes? YES. Have I expressed my prejudices about them, their culture and behaviors? YES. In this situation, not only do I make stereotypes and create prejudices, but I discriminate other nations as well.

The above mentioned example perfectly and at the same time softly captures the easiness of going from a false, imaginary stereotype to serious discrimination and violation of human rights. It also stresses the importance of the topic raised during the convention:  "Responsible Citizen - Acting in Society for Promotion of Intercultural Dialogue and Human Rights".

First part of the International Youth Convention 2008 served as an opportunity for 56 people from 19 countries to get to know each other and build the mutual trust. The activities we did in Wurzburg were especially important because of the fact that building the mutual trust was crucial for the future success of the whole convention.

During the convention, diverse methods of non-formal education were just a tool for us to realize the differences within and between societies, and threats that can result from misunderstandings or false assumptions. Privilege walk, theater of the oppressed as well as our own experiences highlighted in the discussions contributed to better understanding of our roles as active and aware citizens.

All in all, it turned out that workshops, role plays and simulations that were held in Glashagen were an extremely strong basis for comprehension of the topic in the reality. Additionally, these were a visit in the concentration camp, discussion with ex-neonazi and meeting in the German Institute of Human Rights that made the main issue and our reflections fully covered.

What I and probably many of the participants learned throughout these three weeks is the importance of treating people as single individuals, without assuming or generalizing on their backgrounds or nationalities. After the event, we can clearly see how much can be improved in respect to the issues we raised. As far as I was proud of the participants’ involvement during the convention, I wish and share the belief we would be proud of our own actions for promotion of intercultural dialogue and human rights in the near future.

The implementation of the project was possible with the financial support from Directorate of Youth and Sports (Council of Europe), European Youth Foundation and Youth in Action Programme of European Union together with municipality of Wuerzburg, Sparkasse, Stadjugendring, Fair trade associations

Paweł Hytry (CIM Horyzonty)