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Role of the youth of Azerbaijan in peace-building process
an article by Albina Hajimahammadova, Member of NGO AEGEE-Baki
We live in the twenty first century and this period is actually the time of youth. The youth of Azerbaijan carries a huge responsibility nowadays, and the future of the country and society depends upon the way they make their contribution. Although Azerbaijan is involved in the conflict which has been lasting for more than twenty years, active youth is interested in making peace with the conflict country, and makes broad steps towards this peace.
Youth training in peacebuilding, Budapest, October 2012. The author is on the right.
click on photo to enlarge
Firstly, it is significant to point out that youth are interested in making peace, not war. Of course, not all the young generation is about the same opinion, but more and more youngsters are stepping to this way of thinking day by day. They were born and raised during the conflict, and they feel responsibility in resolving it, because they see that the older generation, including policy-makers has not been able to solve the problem after so many years. The youth, mostly students, wish to live in peace, always knowing that there are no enemies in any part of the world and they can easily cross any borders without being shot dead. This youth studies abroad, travels to different countries, participates in various trainings, and they know peace is possible, although it does not exist right now.
Another important point concerns the projects that youth are trying to implement. It shows how determined they are in their aims, and they are trying to realize them, not just talk. I can underline the importance of the trainings which give them ideas and support. As a person who has an experience in these types of trainings, I can say that it is a big improvement to participate in events organized by different organizations, because you understand that there are a lot of other people who share your opinion and are ready to help. I did not expect to find so many like-minded youngsters. It was such a new feeling for me to build up a dialogue with the people from conflict-strengthen regions. It was like staying for a week in a completely other world where all are different and all are equal. You are learning, you are sharing, you are working and you are thinking. These four “You” principles are based on the willing of the youth to develop them and it is only up to us to follow them or not. People are different, and opinions differ from each other as well, but all I want to say is that there is increasing number of liberal-thinking youth in Azerbaijan.
As Carlos Santana said, “Peace has never come from dropping bombs, real peace comes from enlightenment and educating people to behave more in a divine manner.” Education is a great part of the peace-building process, and nowadays, youth wants to be educated as much as possible. Our future depends only on us, and we are the people who build it, and we are trying to make the constructing material of our future the most durable ever.
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Is there a renewed movement of solidarity by the new generation?,
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LATEST READER COMMENT:
from Javier Collado Ruano, Director of Edition at Global Education Magazine, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity.
Solidarity is a trans-dimensional phenomenon that goes beyond the ontological essence of human nature. In fact, when we analyze the connections between the microcosm and the macrocosm, we perceive that human beings are not involved in chaos and arbitrariness, but belongs to the large network of interdependencies, complementarities and reciprocities that constitute life. The emergence of life on Earth, around 3,8 billion years ago, was a complex process of exceptional natural phenomena, inherent in all living systems. A process which is expressed through unlimited creativity: mutation, gene exchange, and symbiosis. From a cosmo-biological perspective, we can understand a new conceptual dimension of life, where all living beings share same basis of genetic code: the twenty amino-acids and four phosphatic bases. In fact, the diversity of living beings is caused by the combination of this cosmo-bio-genetic basis.
This trans-dimensional perspective has a deep ecological and spiritual sense for our worldview because the human evolutionary adventure is the latest stage of life on Earth. The modern human being is a vertebrate animal, mammal, belonging to the primates, which emerged 200,000 years ago. In recent centuries he has imposed its anthropocentric, industrial and capitalist vision to the detriment of Pachamama (and Indigenous goddess known as earth mother). We consume around 120% of the natural resources that Earth Mother regenerats annually. Our consumer behavior is immersed in a fatalistic dynamic with a destiny to climate change (deforestation, loss of biodiversity, ozone, etc.), and our own self-destruction as a species.
There is an urgent need to get beyond the cognitive fallacy that the mental structures of social Darwinism and capitalist postulates of the 19th century have historically constituted, because they only understand natural and social systems as warmongers and competitive processes whereby species diverge from each other. . ...more.
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