TIGblogs - Dumisani Nyoni

Emily and I met through TIG, shared a common vision and after the trauma of September 11, helped bring youth together from the Boston area to "Confront perceptions and Act on realities" with regards to the new climate that is now prevalent across the US. Below, Please find a copy of the report! (for more information, please email me dumisani@youthemploymentsummit.org)

The Earth Charter Initiative and
The Boston Research Center for the 21st Century
(With the Support of Taking IT Global and the Youth Employment Summit) Present:

Youth reflections on the Attacks of September 11: Acting on Realities, Confronting Perceptions.

A Youth Workshop hosted by the Boston Research Center Wednesday, October 24 2001

¡§Our response to this tragedy will largely define the way we will be citizens and leaders in our world; citizens of a different world. A world whose shape will be affected by the decisions we make today and the perspectives and ideologies we develop together across the various divides of nationality, race, and other differences.¡¨- From the invitation letter to the Workshop.

About the Youth Workshop
Immediately after the attacks on the USA in September, the Internet was a hotspot with people from every country sharing ideas, stories, insights and perspectives. Perhaps, now, more than ever we can begin to realize and appreciate the other strengths and potential of the World Wide Web and the potential it holds. Within hours, ideas were being shaped, explanations crafted, resources to support victims were mobilized. Thanks to the Internet and an innovative online youth community, two youth in Boston connected and planned to launch a session of constructive dialogue amongst young people in the Boston area with the goal of increasing youths¡¦ understanding of the issues at hand. The workshop focused on the present realities and the helped to develop a perspective of the future in a world continuously affected by loss. It enabled each one of us to identify what role we can play in promoting a positive transformation. It was also an opportunity to ask questions and to help one another identify where our common ground lies.

Purpose
The purpose of the workshop was to bring together young people from in and around Boston to share our experiences, thoughts and views on the terrorist attacks on the USA. The workshop was a forum to ¡§deepen and expand¡K dialogue¡¨ that would empower youth to respond to the effect of September 11 as agents of positive change. Based on the Earth Charter, the workshop¡¦s aim was to
a. ¡§Promote a culture or tolerance, non violence and peace¡¨ and
b. ¡§Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among youth¡¨ and through giving them the opportunity to develop ideas and plans of action to ¡§implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict.¡¨
(Earth Charter, Principles 16a and 16b)

Summary of the workshop
The workshop was held at the Boston Research Center for the 21 Century in Cambridge, MA. Thirty-five (35) youth attended representing a diverse range of organizations and some as individual participants. The workshop opened with a presentation on the Earth Charter with an explanation of how the Earth Charter was to form the basis of our discussion. Three presentations were made by an American Youth, an Arab Youth (from Egypt) living in the U.S.A and another youth from Canada. They each shared their experiences with respect to the September 11 tragedies from different perspectives: as individuals, as nationals of different countries and as humans living in the same world.

The first presentation was made by Chris Moon, a recent graduate from North Eastern University in Boston and a native of Wethersfield, Connecticut. He touched on the themes of patriotism, fear, anger, pain, and ignorance. He was personally affected by the September 11 tragedy as his best friend¡¦s father died in the World Trade Center incident.
Moon mentioned how during the period immediately following the attacks he found himself feeling patriotism for the first time in his. He pointed out the irony of the fact that this patriotism on a national scale emerged only in times of pain and conflict. But more than patriotism he expressed the general feeling of anger than was prevalent in the USA and in him too. The real trouble was getting to grips with it and understanding what it was all about. To whom was it directed? The terrorists? Osama bin Laden? The USA Government? These were all questions that he was struggling to find answers to, as was the whole nation.

Moon pointed out that there was a need to address the pain and the fear. Most importantly, he felt that there was a great level of ignorance amongst American citizens- something he felt needs to change fundamentally. According to him, ¡§Americans cannot afford to be ignorant of their actions anymore. We need to pay more attention to our foreign policy and its implications on the rest of the world.¡¨ He shared of how going through most of high school he was unaware of the events taking place in the Middle East or around the world. Such ignorance puts people in a very bad position to participate effectively as global citizens.

Ahmed Hussein from Egypt and also a recent graduate of North Eastern University made the following presentation focusing on his experiences as an Arab living in the USA. He spoke of being identified as a terrorist or one affiliated to the terrorists because of his ethnicity. He also told of the various incidents of racism that he had been subjected too ranging from ¡¥looks¡¦ he received on the subway to blatantly being turned down at various job searches because he was a foreigner and of Arab origin.

A lot of Hussein¡¦s friends returned home after September 11 out of fear of being victimized here in the USA. He too was left full of fear and anger. He too was wrestling with the question of ¡§to whom should these feelings be directed towards?¡¨ His presentation also touched on the Middle East crisis and how, to the Arab world, the events going on in Palestine have a strong connection with the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. and reflect an urgent crisis that remains unresolved and fuels more pain and sadness in the world. He also made calls for action against ignorance and led participants to think of practical ways they can all work to address it.

The third panel presentation was made by Melinda Moriarty from Canada who spoke of the perceptions that normally exist regarding Canada as an extension of the USA. Living in Boston is the first time that she has lived outside of Canada. She touched on several issues such as the fear that gripped the U.S following September 11 and the increase in incidents of racism and stereotyping. Before she left for Boston, Melinda attended an orientation period with other Canadian youth that were going to take internship positions abroad through the same organization. Most were given some form of preparation for dealing with terrorism and its effects but it wasn¡¦t perceived that she would encounter anything of this nature living in the USA. Ironically, she was the one to be closest to the epicenter of it all.

The biggest struggle for Miss Moriarty, as a foreigner, was in finding the best way for one to fit in amidst the commotion, hurt, pain and confusion. ¡§How does one deal with the fear and the wide range of mixed feelings that exist in the country?¡¨

Participants
35 participants representing different organizations and others attended as individuals participated in the workshop. They came in from Boston or areas surrounding Boston and represented a wide range of countries such as Egypt, Greece, Canada, the USA, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, China and Zimbabwe.

Process
The workshop was facilitated by Dumisani Nyoni, Youth Coordinator for the Earth Charter Initiative and the Youth Employment Summit. After the introduction, the facilitator (and Co-organizer, Emily Kumpel) spoke of the three initiatives behind the workshop, namely the Earth Charter Initiative, the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century and Taking IT Global. Thereafter, the three presenters for the evening were introduced and each went ahead to share of their experiences and realities during and beyond the September 11 aftermath. (Summaries given above)

Themes emerging from the discussion
The following themes and questions were repeatedly brought up in the large group discussion and they formed the focuses of the smaller group discussions that followed:

Anger, Fear, Hatred-where does it lead to? Who is it directed to? What is driving these emotions?
Patriotism-what does it mean?
What should we as youth leaders be doing to effectively address these questions?
„h Ignorance
„h Confusion
„h Stereotypes „± how should they be addressed?
„h Racism
„h Revenge
Dialogue-there is need for increased dialogue to raise awareness of these issues and to promote discussion that will lead to practical solutions.

Another idea that we looked at was that understanding the differences between realities and perceptions; using the presentation given by the three youth we identified several perceptions that had grown from the whole terrorist crisis and balanced them against the realities we were experiencing.

We also looked at the differences and similarities between a response and a reaction and reached a consensus that as youth we need to develop a positive response to the effects of the terrorist attacks. With that in mind, the workshop was split into four working groups each tasked with developing practical responses to the following themes and questions:

Questions
Where do we go from here?
How do we move on?
What roles do we (do I) play in this response?
What am I going to do about it?

Themes
Anger
Fear
Racism
Ignorance

Results
Group 1
1. There is a need for more dialogue to combat ignorance; but how do we facilitate it?
2. We need to deal with the new face of racism and ignorance as a society.
3. We need to realize that we choose our responses and are responsible for them„±we can make ourselves agents of change
4. We have to use ourselves as sources of information.
5. Who is the real enemy? What/who are we at war with?
6. To address fear we, ourselves, have to stop fearing-for each other and ourselves.

Group 2
1. It¡¦s time to move ahead with our lives
2. Racism cannot be used as a background for action.
3. Address the ignorance, as it is what prevents people from understanding the effects of the terrorism.
4. Promote dialogue as a way of sharing ideas and actions we can take.

Group 3
1. We need to develop a response forum for young people; a space for people to interact
-time and location, something for youth-artistic, musical.
2. We need to act as mentors-infiltrate each other¡¦s groups and educate people, share views (not preach to them but inform).
„±Respond to peers who have questions.
„±Help to develop an understanding of diversity.
„±Stop spreading ignorance.
„±Maintain awareness of politics, especially in issues such as foreign policy and its effects.
„±focus on the positives
3. How can we work to influence educational curricula so that if makes the necessary impact? Some schools have banned dialogue over the issues of the terrorist attacks and that is not working to help reduce the ignorance that already is prevalent.

Group 4
How do we as individuals and members of groups/organizations respond to terrorism and these events as a whole?

1. We need to realize that we are leaders at different levels-from family to school-and must find way to make a positive influence in those areas.
2. Before trying to educate others on these issues, ensure that you are well informed.
3. Find information from other sources from around the world-not only giant US media corporations like CNN. Read perspectives from around the world.
4. Find the history of other countries, e.g. Palestine, and their sentiments.
5. Be careful on the language we use, e.g. word like ¡§Crusade¡¨ and the impacts they have.
6. We need to recognize that we need tangible action and can have a positive effect.
7. Ask for professors and people you feel have different perspectives to speak at your school to allow your own opinions to develop full of information.
8. Realize that each one of us has a responsibility to act.
9. Confront our own fears.
10. Be involved in events that will produce positive results such as fundraising for Afghan children
11. Point people in the direction of meetings such as this one.

Uses of outcomes of the workshop and next steps
The outcomes of this workshop will be disseminated to all the participants through the report. Each participant or group will develop an action plan and send a copy of it via email or the Internet to share with other youth what action they are taking based on their participation in the workshop.
The outcomes will also be passed forward to various organizations, asking them to consider ways they can support youth to take action on their ideas and recommendations.

Organizations and projects represented
Andover High School
Belmont High School
Boston Area Youth Organizing Project
Boston Research Center (www.brc21.org)
City Year (www.cityyear.org)
Earth Charter Initiative (www.earthcharter.org)
Earth Council (www.ecouncil.ac.cr)
Harvard AIDS Coalition
Mayor¡¦s Youth Line (www.bostonyouthzone.com)
Mayor¡¦s Teen and Parent Task Force
Millennial Politics (www.millennilpolitics.com)
Physicians for Human Rights
Taking IT Global (www.takingitglobal.org)
The Food Project
Youth Employment Summit (www.youthemploymentsummit.org)
Youth Voice Collaborative