We Have to Be the Change

By Emily Freeburg, WireTap. Posted October 13, 2003.

Youth at the World Congress of Youth in Morocco meet in small groups to write the text for the Casablanca Declaration

This generation is inheriting a world of war and the divide between the West and the Arab world is deep. I think we can do better. I'm 23. I'm an idealist. But this summer I went to a World Congress of Youth, and beyond learning of a truly universal love for the 50 Cent "In Da Club" song, I learned that we carry history in ourselves. We are more like our parents than we know -- and this is dangerous.

In August the world converged at a 1,000-person, two-week long World Congress of Youth in Morocco, which was put on by the King of Morocco and Peace Child, a non-governmental organization (NGO) from the United Kingdom. Our theme was, "Together for Tolerance, Solidarity and Sustainable Development." Little did I know what these words would come to mean.

The goal of the Congress was to write the "Casablanca Declaration," a unified world youth statement that would represent our common vision. We would use it to tell U.N. agencies, governments and world financial institutions what youth have done for economic and social development in our communities so that they would invest in us instead of putting their money into governments and programs that don't reach the people, or do more harm than good.

The plan was to present the Declaration to the King Mohammed VI, and then later the Moroccan government would present it to the U.N. General Assembly. Several divisions of the United Nations, UNICEF (the U.N. fund for children) and the World Bank had also agreed to take a look at the document.

The youth, ages 14-25, came together with incredible credentials. We were founders of organizations, leaders in our communities, delegates of governments, journalists and artists. Gandhi's words were our mantra, and we said them over and over, "You have to be the change you want to see in this world."

And what better way to be the change than to have people from 154 countries write a declaration in Arabic, French, English and Spanish on behalf of the world's youth? Or rather, as I was soon to find out, what better way to find the differences between the Western and Arab world than to have them agree on paper?

Action!

At one action project, participants dug holes to place signs at a new park.

After arriving at the Congress in our mix of fashion, religion and dance moves, we met by region to discuss our aims for the document. We drank mint tea in the sun, ceremoniously ate enough cous cous to fill a small swimming pool, and dressed up in national dress to meet the King's brother. Then a team of 12 regional delegates met day and night for five days straight to write the declaration (communicating in four languages), while everyone else was shipped off for five days of "action" projects.

In a spectacular feat of logistics, participants were sent across Morocco to the tops of mountains and into the Sahara desert. We returned with mixed feelings. The action turned out to be tourism, and the sustainable development was more scenic than participatory. In some cases the youth were more there as an international parade for the local population. In between being escorted around and drinking sweet mint tea with the locals, only a few satisfying hours of action occurred. There was some trench digging, park renovation, tree planting, camel riding, orphanage visiting, rabbit breeding and basket weaving.

After everyone returned to the Congress, people sat around for hours confused about what was going on, until suddenly each region had only two hours to make amendments to the declaration and propose them in the Congress forum. Although the bad organization and confusing translations didn't allow for people to put their concerns together and accurately represent their regions, the actual downfall of the congress session was the chaos caused by the first proposed amendment.

Bringing Down the Tent

The opening words to the Declaration specified that the youth were united regardless of nationality, class, gender etc. So, to add to this list of descriptors, Latin America, North America and Europe suggested including sexual orientation. The proposition brought down the house, or rather, the tent.

As soon as the translation went through in Arabic, many Moroccans and other delegates from Islamic countries were on their feet shouting in Arabic, chanting, and heading for the plenary stage. The arguments against adding in homosexuality weren't complex; there was no way homosexuality could be alluded to, because in Islam it does not exist. Though it wasn't specifically argued, there was no way a document could be handed to the King (who paid for the Congress) with such a reference.

              

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