Asia
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Message for International Youth Day
Dear Friends,
The International Women Commission of MIJARC, which had a meeting in Brussels, does not want to forget all the young men and young women who belong to MIJARC in this special day, 23 September 2006, international youth day.
We would like to greet those non conformist and rebel youngsters, who are fighting and undertaking new challenges. We would like to show especial attention to women, those women who fight in their daily life to claim for their rights and for achieving the same conditions that men enjoy.
The topic for the International Youth Day, this year is: “To face poverty together”. Wow! It is a very shocking topic. How could youth people solve such a serious problem that affects the whole world? Well, we need to take it easy: young people can not solve the problem because the decision making processes are handled by the political actors. Nevertheless, young people can influence the social organisation and the decision makers.
Young people have overcome problems in different occasions. Love and Peace demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, student demonstrations to change the members in the Constitutional Courts. There are million of examples, as well as ways to express them: graffiti, manifestos, poetry, paint, videos, leaflets, dance, blogs, etc.
Let’s see, who did say that young people don’t take responsibilities? Every human being has obligations and duties as they enter into society: family, community, school or work. We have the responsibility of learning at school, of contribute and help in our homes, of keeping the “harmony” in our environments, of throwing the rubbish away, of being punctual, etc etc.
Furthermore, young people have a huge responsibility because of their immediate response ability. From this point of view, those who keep close minded, non active and conformist don’t deserve to be called “youngsters”. This is an interesting point because does not only define the concept from the age perspective but also from the behavioural one.
To be young implies to be non conformist, cheeky and even radical, what, up to a point is positive. Usually, for young people, things are either white or black and they don’t admit “greys”. The politically correctness and diplomacy are adult issues. As writer Manuel Gonzáles Prada said: “old people to the grave and young people to work”.
The value of youth in our society is very important, because it represents a big majority and if we unified the development ways in a common fight, we would be able to get important achievements to transform this society and to achieve a world led by solidarity, fraternity, a world full of love and hope.
God bless you today, tomorrow and always, dear female and male companions.
