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20 years, 20 people
Youth& Globalisation In 2002, AEGEE realised the need to highlight the concerns of young people on one of the most challenging issues of our time: globalisation. At the Agora in Athens that November, the concept of Youth&Globalisation was successfully proposed as the Yearplan project for 2003 – despite great scepticism about whether AEGEE could achieve our ambitious plans. As its coordinator, I am very proud to say that we did. Our concept was to create activities in five thematic pillars; politics, economics, culture, civil society and geo-communications. Y&G started with a 30-question survey to gather the main ideas about globalisation held by youths today. This was a great success, with almost 1000 completed surveys submitted. Then in summer 2003 a series of five intimate study meetings, each with around 20 participants, were organised in Bayreuth, Paris, Riga, Cluj-Napoca and Izmir. Some event highlights of 2003 February
Sofia (BG): Minorities in Bulgaria and Romania Cambridge (UK): Model European Council Enschede (NL): Planning Meeting
April
Bologna (I): Higher Education, Global World Blagoevgrad (BG): SEE between EU & Iraq War
May
Bucuresti/Constanta (RO): Agora Chisinau (MD): Moldova in Five Days Bucuresti (RO): Diplomatic Seminar Berlin (D): European School 2
July
Paris (F): European Economics Kayakoy-Fethiye (TR): KayaFest
August
Kobenhavn (DK): EU & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
September
Magusa/Buffer Zone (CYP): Cyprus in Europe Magusa (CYP): Planning Meeting
October
Izmir (TR): Civil Society & Globalisation Ljubljana (SI): Europe’s Torn Identity Madrid (E): Bridge to Latin America Zaragoza (E): Agora
November
All over Europe: European Day of Languages Athina (GR): Music Voyagers
AUTHOR
Passau (D): Human Resources & Import
In 2001, Alexianne Galea received an email about an event on EU Enlargement to take place in Brussels – the AEGEE Summit of 28. She joined the board of AEGEE-Valletta and became Juridical Commissioner of AEGEE-Europe. After obtaining a double bachelor's degree in Law and International Relations, she is currently finishing her law degree.
Komarno (SK): Project School December
The recommendations and strategies gathered in this way were re-evaluated at the joint study meeting hosted by Udine and Trieste, so as to produce a working document for the World Youth Summit on Globalisation. This summit, taking place at the European Parliament in December 2003, was the culmination of the project. It was the very first time that AEGEE organised an event which gathered all the five corners of the world, with delegates from international youth organisations in countries from Azerbaijan to Zambia. The three-day long summit encompassed thematic workshops and open dialogues on the effects of politics, economics, culture and civil society. The delegates could tackle major discussions with personalities from the World Bank, the European Commission and other institutions. The last day of the summit was filled with lengthy discussions which produced a bold final strategy paper on globalisation. Starting with a definition of globalisation as a “dynamic multi-dimensional and interconnected process that generates intertwined links affecting all aspects of contemporary life”, the delegates stressed the importance of adopting free and fair trade, which would in turn give developing countries more equal bargaining power. A global civil society to promote cultural diversity was endorsed. The concept of globalisation as an opportunity to become less prejudiced was roundly welcomed. Despite the great results, Youth&Globalisation was hardly a bed of roses. The fundraising-responsible position changed hands three times in just a few months, and in the confusion, no applications for grants were made. Another major change took place in August when the original project manager went to the United States for his MBA and I took over as project manager. Depite these problems though, the team pulled together and got the job done. The hard work of our outstanding team members like Egita Aizsilniece, Ayan Ozuturk and Monica Zarna made everything possible. The project could yet be a great loss if the results are not acted on. The year 2005 will see three distinct yet complementary activities. The new phase of the project started off with the Youth for Development training course for young people in Odessa. AEGEE-Madrid hosted the conference Youth for Peace and Stability in March 2005. Finally, this phase of the Y&G follow-up will culminate with the congress Youth on the Move: Let’s go global, in Maastricht. And so the story continues for Youth&Globalisation. Alexianne Galea
Brussels (B): World Youth Summit
In 2003, altogether 145 conferences, trainings, cultural and statutory events were organised – plus 87 Summer Universities.
20th Anniversary
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