Demo-crazy Times_Welcoming Issue

Welcoming Issue

Democracy Times

Dear delegates,

Welcome to the 1st International Forum Leipzig! After a long (or short) journey and the first taste of what this session is going to be about, you are now holding the welcoming issue of our session magazine.

There’s no need to start narrating cool stories and give you guidelines about the next days but what we do want to tell you is that we are here to cover everything that happens and create the best of memories for you. So if you witness any delegates going crazy, any officials trying to com-municate in their own weird language or any teachers playing the big fat ponny, do come and tell the press! Because in the end it’s you who will create the final product.

Have a great session and an even greater day!

Your editorial team, Lavrentia Christodoulou and Johan Wallin

Lukas Bock (CH), Fabian Hilden-brand (DE), Lukas Rosenkranz

(DE), Tuna Dökmeci (TR), Monica Mantovani (IT)

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Editorial...

Contributors

Content

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world of Teambuilding

Exploring the

> Are you sure that you know what Teambuilding really is? Monica Mantovani and Tuna Dökmeci provide an analysis from a new point of view.

Teambuilding is not the most essential element of an EYP session, however without it you would feel like EYP wasn’t EYP anymore.

The very first day you feel very lost; try to imagine the beginning of a session without teambuilding. You are stuck in a room with people that you’ve never met before, different from you in language, culture and nationality. You are expected to come up with solutions to European problems. The result, would it be the same?

A basketball team, to win important matches needs to act as one, finding a common strategy to play their best when it’s needed. Here it’s the same. Before the most important moment of the session, which is the GA, you should be trained in an accurate way.

You have to learn that you’re not alone; you are in a team, where you will have the chance to discover other ideas and also yourself from another point of view. The most important thing now is not to be shy, just be yourself, as you’ve never been. Do not pretend to be something you are not, do not agree with someone if you do not think so, just know that what you want to say is always very important to your team. Just by acting in this way you will learn to understand how extraordinarily different we all are and how these dif-ferences can contribute to the well-being of the session.

At the end, they say that EYP is a serious thing and that’s totally true. They also say that teambuilding is not so serious. We say that that’s true too, but it’s the Teambuilding which makes what you will do later during the session more serious and useful.

So, do you really want to win this important match? If so, just challenge your differences.


We are the people!

> In 1989, Leipzig was the starting point of a peaceful revolution. Lukas Rosenkranz elaborates.

The number of participants rose sharply to 70000 on the 9th of October-exactly 22 years ago. It reached its peak on the 23rd of October when 320000 demonstrators showed their dissatisfaction and empha-sised the urgent need for economic and political reformations. The regime had to react to its people who were illustrating their self-confidence in the streets with the new slogan: „We are the people! “ For-tunately, this time the state didn´t answer with weapons and violence but gave in. The pressure which occurred during the demonstrations led to the fall of the Berlin wall on 9th November of 1989.

As you can easily see now, Leipzig is a city with an interesting and exciting history. It has proved the vigour of democratic ideas and that people can improve the society they life in with non-violent measures. So, which other city could be imaginable to be a better host town for a session under the theme “youth for democracy”?

Keep this in mind when exploring the city! It will help you to understand Leipzig and its people.

More than 20 years ago, an event such as EYP could have not taken place in Leipzig. At that time it would have been impossi-ble for European adolescents to come together and discuss the topic of “youth and democracy“. This was due to the authoritar-ian communist government of the German Democratic Republic suppressing public debates on the political system.

Leipzig is the city where constant demonstrations marked the beginning of a progress leading to the German Reunification and further breakdown of the Soviet Union. Those weekly dem-onstrations, called „Monday Demonstrations“ began on the 4th of September in 1989 after the prayer for peace in Leipzig when citizens claiming rights such as the freedom to travel gathered together in front of the church and expressed their demands through non-violent demonstrations. News about these dem-onstrations was spread throughout Eastern Germany, mostly via word-of-mouth propaganda. Pictures of peaceful demon-strators calling for basic democratic rights encouraged people in other cities to join the protests and repeat the demonstra-tions from Leipzig on Monday evenings in their own town.

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Meet the chairs> Here are the people you will be spending most of your time with during the session, even if you may don’t like it. Have a look; they are the faces you will remember whenever you will think back on your time in Leipzig. Monica Mantovani persuaded them to answer a few questions, find out what they clamed.

Name: Randolf Carr (aka Randy)

Nationality: German

Best EYP moment: Helsinki in 2009 and the voting of my resolution. The first time they counted, it didn’t pass but after the coffee break they checked it and it was approved!

Your ideal girl: confident, inde-pendent, always smiling.

Name: Bentley James Yaffe

Nationality: Turkish

Best EYP memory: the first time I edited and we had a pic-nic with the other officials. It was not just a part of the EYP session, it was a real EYP mo-ment.

Your superhero when you were young: my dad.

Name: Ema Šťastná

Nationality: Czech

Best EYP moment: Helsinki 2009, when we went to a gay bar.

Your ideal guy: tall, intelligent, funny.

Name: Maximilian Karpf (aka Max)

Nationality: German

Best EYP memory: Frankfurt, In-ternational Session 2010

Your superhero when you were young: Asterix


Name: Panos Kalaidopoulos

Nationality: Greek

Best EYP moment: in France, the session was fantastic, but just because I participated.Your superhero when you were young: at the beginning Buzz Light Year from toy Story, then Giulio Andreotti (who is he?).

Name: Sophie Hall

Nationality: Swiss and Scottish

Best EYP moment: the EYP New Year’s party in Dublin

Your ideal guy: jinger, Irish, lives in the suburbs or Josh Lyman

Name: Tereza Krucková

Nationality: Czech

Best EYP memory: the imag-ine song after my Head Orga-nizing in Tabor

Your superhero when you were young: Michael Phelps

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Youth and Democracy; What is in that Fancy Phrase?

> Be it the Pirate Party’s election successes, the Arabian spring or the First International Forum in Leipzig. Various events show that youth and democracy are closely connected. But what exactly does democracy mean to the younger generation? Lukas Bock and Fabian Hildenbrand attempt to clarify.

Stéphane Hessel, co-author of the Charta of Human Rights, recently called upon the younger generation to “be outraged”. He wanted to encourage young people to use their democratic rights and duties and to show concern about current issues. Indifference, he says, is dangerous, since it impedes change. It is pretty im-portant to show dissatisfaction with current circumstances and to try actively to improve them.

The demonstrations on the Tharir square and the riots in London showed that there is indeed a growing dissatisfaction among younger people with the society they live in. It is no longer a silent mumbling of ar-guments but the apparent display of mute protest which shakes the world. Apparently, even though young people rarely participate in elections, they are nevertheless concerned about our future challenges and express this fact in unprecedented ways.

Democracy (from Greek demos = people, kratia = power, rule) means after all the rule of the people, not the demonstration of the people – it seems that many youths may not express their views in a peaceful and constructive way. Their power is though considerable: With the help of Facebook, Twitter and other, young oppositional groups made former corrupt regimes in the Arabic world disappear. In Europe, protest parties were founded, such as the Pirate Party, whose members do not follow a precise party program but are unit-ed both by their dissatisfaction with classical political parties and by their know-how of new technologies.

However, as various commentators in the media have made clear, not even this movement is recognised as a respectable political force. It is on one hand understandable, since a protest party usually fails to voice precise political suggestions. On the other hand, society’s neglect of movements of this kind may be seen as a proof that the younger generation’s concerns rarely get a chance to be voiced. For instance, when we told others about the European Youth Parliament, one reaction which we encountered was “well, who elected you? What do you stand for?” This clearly demonstrated that initiatives of actual “young democracy” en-counter the problem of acceptance in other age groups.

In the end, it seems that the way out of this dilemma lies only in the measure Jens Stoltenberg, President of Norway, advocated after the Utoya massacre: He called for further encouragement for democratic par-ticipation. This of course goes with increased acceptance of the young people’s political initiatives. If there are clear signs that show society’s interest in the next generation’s contribution to the solution of today’s problems, then we may hope that the democratic participation of the young people will actually increase and violent protest movements lose their reasons for existence. The condition for this is, however, that the fostering of “Youth and Democracy” no longer remains just a catchy phrase, but becomes a serious commit-ment of both politicians and the rest of society.


Riddles of the Session’s Future Solved

> We live in a mysterious world. In a time when nothing may be considered surely known, the power of the unforeseen has become significant. In order to ensure that you will be able to face future challenges, Lukas Bock and Fabian Hildenbrand - aka our fortune-tellers- tell you to which extent they have been able to unveil the ses-sion’s future. Dark times. Unsure times. Astris indicatum est. The signs of our crystal spheres may not be mistaken: dramatic changes are about to come and will inevitably affect all of us. The depth of the crystal sphere’s wisdom has shown that we may not rely on anything manmade – be sure that the original schedule of the session will only very rarely turn out to correspond to reality. Above all, do not trust technological gadgets. We can guarantee that at least one microphone will cause serious difficulties during consilium generale (General Assembly)because of malfunctioning. This has been confirmed by our recent coffee ground read-ing during the summer’s last full moon. The omnipresent rhomboid structura obscura of the triple bear combined with the double-orthogonal line from northwest is a messenger of turmoil. Be prepared, and especially allow for long queues before the showers in the morning, since our youth hostel will only provide us with limited washing facilities. Expect wild bears to be cleaner!

Even though conciliant Venus partly limits Mars’ belligerent influence on our living space, we may not forget that unpredictable Saturnus has shown keen interest in youth and democracy as well. Expect un-matched new resolutions, but also a minimum of the number of the product of thirteen and nine when divided by three and subtracted three again, then taken to the power of a half of delegates who tend to fall asleep during committee work. Beware of a lack of caffeine, and use coffee breaks wisely.

The EYPoltergeist made us look into the on-going development of the nutritional provision of the par-ticipants (id est food supply in general). In this context, at least nine participants will complain, seven participants will even complain louder, six participants will complain loudly without actual reason and at least three participants will complain loudly knowing that there is no actual reason. On top of that, a slight chance exists that a maximum of one participant will complain because he or she will be in a bad mood. Don’t bother too much, silencia aura, silence is gold – offer the respective delegate a piece of chocolate or another sweet which will likely cheer him or her up.

Beware of the organisers! We burnt selected resolution booklets of past EYP sessions. In the smoke, we could make out the outline of cheetah, which stands for speed. The organizing team will be in a hurry for most of the time and honestly try to smile at you nevertheless. Do try to support all the orgas as much as you can, otherwise, the prophecy of the eagle might come true and the magic stick will transform several innocent delegates into white mice. Don’t you dare test its power!

In general, however, we may be positive about the session. Somnia, the Goddess of Dreams, has shown us that the session may become a true success, while the phrase “Where are you from?”, as well as the verb “to socialize” will be frequently in use. And even though at least three delegates and one teacher will tempo-rarily get lost, Somnia has indictaed that there are six days ahead of you which you may fill with virtuous activities, well-founded thoughts and intercultural exchange. We wish you all the best on your path, don’t trust strangers, mind yellow bugs and adore your chairs. May the Force be with you!

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EYP FUTURE TEST> Which role fits you best in an EYP Session? Tuna Dökmeci and Lukas Rosenkranz invite you to take the following quiz and find out.

1. What are you most likely going to do during the GA?

a. Sleepb. Hold the placardsc. Prepare/deliver speechesd. Run around but not forget to smile

2. What do you like most about EYP?a. To get to know different people from all over Europeb. Motivate others c. Discuss politicsd. To be in charge

3. What’s your biggest talent?a. Writingb. Leadingc. Speakingd. Organising

4. At the end of the session, you feel happy because...a. Of all the memoriesb. Your comittee’s resolution passedc. Of all the people you met during the session d. Everything worked out well

5. In the future, you’re planning to become a...a. Consultantb. CEO/Executive Directorc. Diplomatd. Wedding Planner

6. Which European country suits you the best?a. The U.K.b. Russiac. Franced. Germany

7. What is your favorite item? a. Camerab. Fancy bagc. Badgesd. Agenda

8. Who’s your role model? a. Andy Warholb. Steve Jobsc. Kofi Annand. Bill Gates

If you have mostly As:You should apply as a JOURNALIST! You like to ob-serve other people and things around you. You are highly creative and you express yourself better in writing. For you, EYP is about getting to know peo-ple and create memories.

If you have mostly Bs:You should apply as a CHAIR! You like to be in charge and motivate other people. You’re good at leading people and seeing the potential in them.

If you have mostly Cs:You should apply as a DELEGATE! You like politics, discussions, negotiations and hot debates. You have your own opinions and you’re not afraid to share them. You’re the perfect EYP delegate.

If you have mostly Ds:You are either a German or the perfect ORGANISER! You like getting things done, you’re punctual and you are not happy untill everyone else is satisfied.


Did you know about the ‘spicy news’ box?

It’s outside the orgas’ room and wagerly waiting for your in-but. So, whenever you have a short break run and be the first to report the news!

Special award for the one (delegate, official or teacher) who will report the democraziest moment!

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Sponsors

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Unterstützt durch die Sächsische Staatskanzlei

Demo-crazy Times_Welcoming Issue

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