FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
An announcement from the International Peace Bureau
In the 21st century, we experience multiple wars, destruction and injustice. Challenges and problems are becoming more visible at both small and large scales, ranging from threats with the potential to end human life itself to diverse destruction of the environment and other foundations of life. Militarism and injustice drive these potentials on multiple levels. Aspects of societies – i.e. lack of democracy, distribution of wealth, gender inequalities or the belief in infinite profit maximization – are at the base of many challenges and problems.
Young people are agents of change and need to discuss and exchange on these matters much more. We want to organize to amplify our voices and to engage much more in peace processes and struggles for societal progress.
The world youth congress is a youth-led congress, contributing to the vision of a world in peace and without war and to the vision of a more peaceful, just and sustainable future.
The idea of the youth congress derives from the preparatory process of the youth gathering of the IPB World Congress “Disarm! For a Climate of Peace – Creating an Action Agenda” (www.ipb2016.berlin). Some of the discussions of this Congress as well as of an international working meeting on the weekend of the international day of peace 2018 (https://ipb-youthnetwork.org/2018/08/ipbyn-event-on-international-day-of-peace/) will be continued at the world youth congress.
The congress will focus on transformation towards a more peaceful, just and sustainable future. This will be achieved by informal learning to develop a sense of personal responsibility, by developing plans for concrete actions in day-to-day life as well as in societal processes. The Youth Congress will engage youth from various different backgrounds and with varying perspectives and approaches to peace, justice and sustainability as well as diverse experts and lays from different fields related to the Congress’ issues.
Objectives
The overall objective of the world youth congress is to build bridges and foster discussions among youth with different perspectives on and approaches to peace, justice and sustainability alongside non-youth stakeholders active in the peace movement and in the various fields. Voices of youth against war and for peace should be increasingly and strongly heard. Among others, the specific objectives are:
To speak out and act against war, militarism, injustice, and planetary destruction.
To equip young people with the confidence and competencies to build peace, sustainability, and justice.
To bring young people into regional national and international decision-making processes.
To facilitate intergenerational and interdisciplinary approaches to a global culture of peace, justice and sustainability.
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Programme
Friday, 20 September 2019
19:00 Public Evening Event
“Transformation – how fundamental and how fast do we need change”
With: Joachim Spangenberg (Helmholtz Institute / INES), NN ITUC Youth, Joseph Gerson (AFSC / IPB), Sara Medi Jones (CND)
Greetings and moderation: Reiner Braun (IPB), Marie Cucurella (IPB Youth)
Saturday, 21 September 2019
9:30 – 12:00 Exchange of experience and information in smaller groups
Floor for meaningful exchange between the participants and floor for open discussions in the framework of the topics of the congress:
Exchange of expectations: Why are you here? How do you see your participation in the congress, what can you bring?
Exchange of knowledge and experience: What is your local day to day situation and work? How and in which ways are you active for peace, sustainability, and justice? What are your best practices and lessons learnt from your activism/work?
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 Panel discussions on the themes of the congress
Transformation from militarism to non-violence
Organized by IPB. With Arielle Denis (IPB), Kevin Martin (Peace Action USA), Emma Pritchard (IPB Youth), Matt de Vlieger (IPB Youth) (tbc), NN WILPF
Transformation from environmental destruction to sustainability
Michael Müller (Naturfreunde Deutschlands), Tamara Lorincz (IPB), Jagoda Munic (Friends of the Earth Europe), Greta Thunberg (tbc)
Transformation from injustice to global justice
Organized by ITUC and ITUC Youth with Philipp Jennings (former UNI)
15:00 – 15:45 Break
15:45 – 18:00 Parallel working groups deepening the panel discussions
19:30 Social Event
Sunday, 22 September 2019
9:30 – 11:00 Developing of strategies & actions for a transformation towards a culture of peace
Which strategies and actions can be applied and developed?
What can we do together?
11:00 – 11:30 Break
11:30 – 13:30 Panel discussion with open mic: How do we transform our societies?
With: Sharan Burrows (ITUC), Lisa Clark (IPB), NN Fridays for Future, Angelo Cardona (IPB Youth)
End
Organizational Information:
Please register for the congress at info@ipb-office.berlin
We would like to ask participants for a financial contribution to the conference in the amount of 5 Euro / 20 Euro / 40 Euro. You may submit a contribution upon arrival or via bank/ PayPal transfer (/donate/). European bank account holders may transfer a contribution to Bank Account Holder: Unterstützung des Internationalen Friedensbueros e.V.; IBAN: DE23 1005 0000 0190 6331 58; Bank: Berliner Sparkasse. PLEASE give the following reference: IPBYN congress 2019.
How to get there: TU Berlin is located close to S-Bahn station Tiergarten and U-Bahn station Ernst-Reuter-Platz. The entrance to the Mathematician Building is right next to Mathe Café. Geographic coordinates 52.513392, 13.326323
Accommodation: for cheap accommodation check www.booking.com or www.hrs.de. Around S-Bahn station Zoologischer Garten are various hostels and hotels. Furthermore, we will be able to offer limited private accommodation. Please contact us for more details.