YOUTH
DEBATE
NO. 63, WINTER
2000-2001
CONTENTS
- CNJC
at the Catalan Youth Observatory
- Aran
Valley Young People Speak Out
- Meeting
of the European Union Affairs Committee of the European Youth Forum
- Young
People and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
- 11th
of September Committee
- The
Executive Committee of the CNJC
- The
Youth Triangle Works
- Conference
on youth participation and local youth councils
- Barcelona
2004: Educational Project
- A
chance to experience world debates first hand
- KALEIDOSCOPE,
Action plan for intercultural relations in leisure activities
- Politics,
laws and rights versus the reformation of the Immigration Act
- Referendum
on the Sahara Now!!
- Parliament
steps on the rights of gay couples
CNJC
at the Catalan Youth Observatory
In July 2000, the Generalitat de Catalunya's Secretariat General for Youth
presented the Catalan Youth Observatory, an organization that has been
working since 1998 to generate thought on and study and analysis of the
world of Catalan young people. The CNJC forms part of the Observatory
in that its President is a member of the Advisory Council. The aim of
the Observatory is to get to know and understand the reality of Catalan
youth and make contributions through guidance and updating of the policies
implemented and activities carried out by public administrations and society
in general on issues affecting young people.
The Observatory is specifically responsible, through the Centre for Youth
Documentation, for preparing, publishing and compiling studies, statistics
and reports on the world of young people. It also organizes conferences,
seminars and debates on subjects of interest to young people and maintains
a database of youth statistics.
Youth Debate
Aran
Valley Young People Speak Out
On 16 July 2000, the Aran General Council Youth Office, in collaboration
with the Generalitat de Catalunya's Secretariat General for Youth, held
a conference called "Aran Valley Young People Speak Out". The
Conference was structured in three seminars introduced with papers by
Aran Valley young people. The first seminar, "The Environment and
Conservation", dealt with environmental issues. The second seminar,
"Social Issues in the Aran Valley", addressed general educational
matters. The afternoon seminar, "Aran, Occitania, Catalonia and National
Identity", was attended by Xavier Armangué, the Deputy General
Director for Youth of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The President of the
National Youth Council of Catalonia, Dolors Camats, and the Coordinator
of the National Youth Plan, Marc Guerrero, provided information on the
work of the CNJC and the National Youth Plan. The Coordinator of the Aran
General Council Youth Office, Àlex Moga, introduced the main points
of the future General Youth Plan of the Aran Valley.
Aran General Council Youth Office
Meeting of the European Union Affairs Committee of the European Youth Forum
On 8-9 September 2000,
nearly all the representatives of the European Union Affairs Commission
(EUACOM) held a meeting in Sitges. The European Youth Forum (YFJ) has
a number of commissions, whose aim is to facilitate participation and
debate between member associations. The European Union Affairs Commission,
which has the most representatives, is responsible for addressing policies
that affect EU youth. Within the framework of the meeting, the CNJC organised
a round table with Catalan politicians to discuss the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of EU Citizens. Raimon Obiols, PSC Member of European Parliament,
Joan Vallvé, former CDC Member of European Parliament, Montserrat
Riba, Director for European Affairs of the Generalitat, and Catalan Pau
Solanilla, the current President of the YFJ, presented their vision of
the process of drawing up the Charter. CNJC President Dolors Camats chaired
the session and several EUACOM members gave their opinions on the matter.
In addition to other points, attention was drawn to the fact that the
lack of young people's viewpoints in the preparation of the Charter and
the need for the document to address the specific requirements of youth,
just as it covers those of other social groups.
Youth Debate
Young People and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
The fundamental rights
in the Amsterdam Treaty include the principle of equality, the right of
association, the right of religious affiliation, the right to a fair trial,
the right to privacy, the right of freedom of expression, the right to
non-discrimination, etc. But besides the rights on this list, which is
being expanded upon and is based on the fundamental principles of democracy
and freedom, it is also necessary to focus on the perspective of youth.
It is essential not to forget the perspective of children and young people
in these basic rights so that the development of citizens is coherent
and includes all educational and social consequences, and is not based
on a situation of disadvantage (childhood-youth) that leads to one of
privilege (adulthood).
Moreover, the fact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union (which will have no legal value in itself) was approved without
having addressed basic aspects means that there is still a great deal
of work to be done, including promoting the concept that drawing up a
text of fundamental rights should never be treated as a mere formality,
but as a basis for the construction of a common Europe.
Raimon Goberna i Cabanyes
Secretary for International Relations and responsible for the International
Committee of the CNJC
Interview with
Pau Solanilla, President of the European Youth Forum (October 1998-October
2000)
Solanilla explains that, during his term of office, a new way of working
in the European Youth Forum was proposed to make it more flexible and
open. He says that the member organizations were always ready to help
in difficult moments to put pressure on governments and institutions regarding
specific issues. Solanilla explains that the European Youth Forum has
achieved the status of an organization to be consulted by European institutions,
especially the European Parliament and the European Commission. But he
also says there are many things lacking, such as a clear legal basis for
putting youth policies into practice in the EU.
Regarding the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, he
says that the current political battle is to ensure that the Charter is
constitutionalized, i.e., that it becomes binding for member countries,
but this is a difficult battle. In order to complement our institutional
work, we have to be able to encourage a lot of people to go to Nice on
6-7 December. European civil society should be mobilized on a massive
scale to demand a clear commitment from governments.
Albert Garcia
Interview with Joaquim Millan, Sitges Town Council Member for Relations with Europe and New Technologies
The meeting of the
European Union Affairs Commission (EUACOM) was held in a privileged setting:
the Palau Maricel in Sitges. The town council of this city in Garraf county,
with a population of 20,000, is a firm believer in Europe. Although there
are some town councils with members devoted to international relations,
Sitges is the only city in Catalonia and Spain that has a council member
for relations with Europe.
Joaquim Millan feels that as the public administration closest to citizens,
town councils have to participate in the construction of Europe so that
it does not become a matter of only a handful of politicians, a handful
of political parties or a handful of countries. It should be the responsibility
of city councils to explain what the EU is and provide information on
it. In Sitges, market workshops are held to explain the euro to young
people and the elderly. The Sitges Public Library has a European Information
Centre and, at the time the interview was held, Millan's Department offered
citizens the chance, via the Internet, to provide input and participate
in the debate on the different forums on the process of drawing up the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Albert Garcia
11th
of September Committee
The CJNC supported the manifesto and unified events of the 11th of September
Committee to celebrate the National Day of Catalonia. With the theme "For
rights and freedom in Catalonia and the world", for the first time
since the period of transition to democracy after the death of Franco,
the National Day of Catalonia was organized as a unified event with the
attendance of more than 150 groups and organizations.
The day was a complete success and the main event attracted 15,000 people
on Passeig Lluís Companys in Barcelona. Starting at 8 pm and lasting
until well after midnight, the event was a combination of celebration
and an affirmation of Catalan nationality. Speeches were given by Miquel
Essomba, teacher and collaborator of SOS Racism, Margarida Aritzeta, writer
and President of the Association for the New Bases de Manresa, and Josep
Maria Terricabras, philosopher and professor at the University of Girona.
The first performance on the concert billing was singer-songwriter Roger
Mas, who was followed by Titot and David Rosell, the Mallorcan group Antònia
Font, the Alicante group Obrim Pas and the group from Tarragona Els Pets.
Youth Debate
The Executive Committee of the CNJC
With time, the Executive
Committee has been consolidated in terms of content, and also as a meeting
place to present and debate subjects whose importance calls for a common
approach from all member organizations. This is the case of proposed civil
service to take the place of obligatory military service and the National
Youth Plan. Certain issues that require more immediate attention can be
presented by the Secretariat (made up of the Council President plus the
nine Secretaries) and the opinions of the different organizations can
be shared at the Executive Committee, without having to wait for the annual
Ordinary General Assembly.
The last Executive Committee meeting was held on 16 October 2000 and the
Secretariat reviewed the projects in progress for 2000-2001 so that the
organizations could provide their input. The Committee debated the final
draft of the National Youth Plan that was received from the Secretariat
General for Youth. Some of the topics for discussion were the importance
of monitoring execution of the proposal by the CNJC, and the need to ensure
that implementation of the Plan guarantees comprehensive policies that
are interdepartmental and inter-institutional. Regarding the latter point,
mention was made of the need to make a greater effort to involve local
agents in the development of the Plan. Finally, the document "Reflections
of the CNJC on regulating the potential civil service" was presented.
The document had been drawn up from Council discussions.
Oriol Illa
Second Vice-President of the CNJC
On 20 June 1999, the National Youth Council of Catalonia (CNJC), the Youth Council of the Autonomous Community of Valencia (CJCV) and the Youth Council of the Balearic Islands (CJIB) signed a collaboration protocol in Xàtiva that set up the common objectives for maintaining ongoing relations. A year and a half later, it can be confirmed that these objectives have been met. This is supported by the meeting in Palma de Mallorca in November 1999, when the discussion was centred on participation, and the meeting in Calafell in November 2000, when the subject for debate was intercultural relations. The latter meeting, which was called "The Mediterranean as a space for youth exchange: mobility and intercultural relations", included training and another debate based on task groups. One hundred organizations from the Catalan-speaking nations discussed their own experiences on the subject of intercultural relations. Within this framework, the CJIB, the CNJC and the CJCV signed the Calafell Declaration, a text that laid the basic tenets for working within associations toward a society that accepts diversity with the aim of not leaving anyone out, regardless of where they come from.
Youth Debate
Conference on youth participation and local youth councils
At the end of January
2001, the Conference on Youth Participation and Local Youth Councils will
be held to respond to the need that has been detected, not only in the
association movement but also in local public administrations, to establish
a space for debate on the coordination of youth participation and the
role of local youth councils.
In the territorial area of the CNJC, we have been collecting information
in the last few months on what is being done in Catalonia in terms of
youth councils. The conclusions point toward a line of action that involves
making exciting, positive experiences known to provide examples in order
to promote this type of structure. The conference is jointly organized
by the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia (FMC) and the Catalan
Association of Municipalities and Counties (ACM) and basically provides
a chance to exchange experiences involving projects coordinated between
associations in which public and local associations play a part.
Josep Alías
Territorial Officer
Barcelona 2004: Educational Project
From 23 April to 24 September 2004, the first Universal Forum of Cultures will be held. It represents a new challenge to bring together people from all over the world in a specific place for a period of time and invite them to participate in an initiative that has been undertaken with the firm desire to encourage positive new ties between world cultures. The debates will be framed around three main subjects: cultural diversity, sustainable development and the conditions for peace. The Universal Forum of Cultures has prepared an educational project that will attempt to promote and facilitate joint projects between different educational centres all over the world.
Youth Debate
A chance to experience world debates first hand
The Universal Forum of Cultures - Barcelona 2004 will be an opportunity to gain first-hand information on debates and projects from around the world on cultural diversity, sustainable development and the conditions for peace. The National Youth Council of Catalonia, together with the Barcelona Youth Council, has been called on to have our say and participate actively, specifically in the development of the educational project, which will attempt to address the world of education and youth. You can be sure that on behalf of our associations we have a lot to say.
Albert Sancho
Secretary for Education of the CNJC
KALEIDOSCOPE, Action plan for intercultural relations in leisure activities
The educational programmes
available at esplai local social clubs for young people, Scout groups
and casal social centres for young people are little known and under-appreciated
by most immigrant families. Very little material is available to support
the work being done on intercultural leisure relations, and the training
of monitors and directors does not include enough activities related to
intercultural education and the integration of immigrants. That's why
Kaleidoscope was created as an overall action plan to promote intercultural
leisure relations. The programme is sponsored by the Secretariat General
for Youth and the Jaume Bofill Foundation. The main points of the plan
are:
- starting up an information campaign so that immigrant families can learn
about the organizations available to them and appreciate the importance
of leisure spaces as a tool for personal development and a way of integrating
their sons and daughters into society.
- The plan includes four pilot projects whose aim is to encourage participation
in leisure associations for immigrant children and teens in Manlleu, Salt-Girona,
Olesa de Montserrat and Mataró.
- A committee of training schools has been set up with the objective of
jointly debating on ways of working on this subject in training courses
and generating suitable support material for schools.
The programme also involves providing a forum for meetings between members
of the leisure-time educational movements and immigrant groups to encourage
joint thought, the exchange of knowledge and experiences, negotiation
and collaboration among these associations and their commitment to the
plan.
M'hamed Abdelouahed
(Secretariat General for Youth)
Roser Argemí (Jaume Bofill Foundation)
In
search of accessible housing
The real estate market has proven to be insensitive to the housing situation
of those who find it more difficult to afford costs that operate at the
whim of the law of supply and demand. Government intervention is therefore
necessary and should be decisive. Such an important problem for young
people should not be blatantly ignored by the administration. Emergency
measures must be taken so that young people don't have to leave their
town or city because they can't find housing. Commitment and cooperation
are necessary from the key players to solve the problem. Governments at
all levels (the Generalitat and city councils especially) and savings
banks (who have a highly moral obligation) should facilitate access to
young potential homebuyers, to say nothing of access to rented housing,
a situation that is so overlooked by the administration, as is clear from
the lack of policies geared toward this type of emancipation, that it
is in danger of becoming instinct.
Politics, laws and rights versus the reformation of the Immigration Act
One year ago, in December
1999, the current Immigration Act was democratically passed by an absolute
majority in Parliament. Six months later, despite the consensus reached
to pass the law, the Spanish government amended the law to make it as
repressive as the one on the books in 1985.
It might be considered a bit inelegant for a political party that considers
itself to be "democratic" to impose its position on the consensus
of the Parliamentary majority and change the law just because it feels
like it, but it is absolutely intolerable for this party or any other
body to tread all over the Universal Charter of Human Rights when drafting
the new law.
The Spanish Government makes immigrants illegal, which promotes the proliferation
of mafias that take advantage of repressive legislation. From one day
to the next, these foreigners have lost their fundamental rights, such
as healthcare and education, and are now constantly threatening with being
kicked out of the country at any time. All they can do is wander through
the streets of the city where they live, asking for social services as
basic as food to eat and a place to sleep.
Now is the time to write to our political leaders and tell them we want
a plural, diverse society where everyone has the same rights and responsibilities
as citizens.
Sònia Gómez
Young People with Initiative
Referendum
on the Sahara Now!!
After 25 years of forced exile to refugee camps in the Sahara Desert,
the Saharawi people are still waiting to be able to exercise their rights
to self-determination. We at the Socialist Youth of Catalonia feel that
this wait has reached its end. We've had enough of the fact that the provisions
of the Peace Plan passed in January 1992 by the United Nations that provided
for holding a referendum on self-determination of Western Sahara have
not been carried out, either because of the lack of interest of Morocco
or the passivity of some governments and the UN itself. As young socialists
who defend freedom and justice, we demand that a referendum be held to
decide on self-determination in Western Sahara. The Socialist Youth of
Catalonia organized a campaign from September to December 2000 to support
the Saharawi people, with the following objectives: To demand that the
rights of the Saharawi people to live on their land in peace be respected.
To support the process of self-determination and freedom of the Saharawis.
To send humanitarian aid to the refugee camps in Western Sahara so those
people can live in greater dignity.
National Executive Committee of the Socialist Youth of Catalonia
Parliament steps on the rights of gay couples
On 19 September 2000,
the Popular Party (PP) made use of its absolute majority to express exactly
how middle of the road its politics are. In the same Parliamentary session,
PP passed legislation to make the new vehicle licence plates as uniform
as possible from a completely centralist perspective and then ignored
all the proposals of the opposition to regulate the situation of common-law
marriages by favouring the position of those most stubbornly opposed to
the measure.
This law did not make progress in the last legislature because of its
serious deficiencies. It does not include emotional relationships between
gays and lesbians and plans to classify them with different non-emotional
cohabitation relationships when, in many cases, no one asked for these
relationships to be regulated at all.
Gays and lesbians have been demanding that same-sex relationships receive
the same legal treatment as marriages since the 1990s. Today, these couples
are still grossly discriminated against, which is why diffuse formulas
for regulation such as the law of civil-union contracts proposed by the
PP are unacceptable.
Alfons J. Santos
Secretary of Casal Lambda
Catalan
nationality crosses borders: The International Association of Young People
in Catalan Casal Social Centres
The International Association of Young People in Catalan Casal Social
Centres (AIJOCC) was started up by a mixed group of young people who decided
three years ago to join forces to live the international experience in
a very special way. This group is unique in that its members combine the
cultural and social characteristics of their respective countries of origin
with a fervent sense of Catalan nationality. The AIJOCC groups together
associations of young people that meet and organize activities at centres
outside Catalonia, maintain ties with Catalonia and promote it in cultural,
social and economic contexts. In most cases, these associations are called
casal social clubs.
These young people are either descendants of Catalan emigrants who left
Catalonia for political, economic and other reasons over the years, young
Catalans living abroad, and young non-Catalans who highly esteem the Catalan
language and culture, i.e., young Catalanophiles. The Association currently
has members from more than thirty different countries.
Some of the massively attended activities carried out by the AIJOCC include
the Assembly held in April 2000 in Masnou, Catalonia, which coincided
with the 2nd World Meeting of Catalan Casal Social Clubs held in Barcelona
a week later. It was there that some aspects were decided on regarding
the international structure of the Association and the priorities for
the year in the programmes of cultural promotion, cooperation and development,
the debates forum, exchanges between Latin America and Europe and integration.
David Masip
President of the AIJOCC
Prague:
An experience for justice
From 26 to 28 September 2000, Prague was the reference point for the mobilizations
that are becoming increasingly more frequent against economic globalization,
just as Seattle was before it, and Davos, Bologna, Toronto, Washington
and Melbourne before that.
At present, economic globalization is the process that interrelates different
regions of the planet. It could be a positive process, but in practice
it is not, because this interrelationship is merely a way of strengthening
the capitalist system, i.e., maximizing profits in the hands of a limited
few, which further perpetuates inequality, the hierarchical system, exploitation,
the military, police states and weak democracies. The current process
of economic globalization offers the following figures, which speak for
themselves:
5.77 billion people inhabit the planet
1.15 billion live in the North
4.629 billion live in developing countries
1.6 billion are in a worse situation than they were 15 years ago
1.442 billion live below the poverty level (25% of the total)
1.3 billion live on less than a dollar a day
500 million women live in extreme poverty
We propose globalizing human, social and labour rights all over the planet.
As we said in Prague: Let's globalize solidarity. What is generalized
now is the distress produced by the poor distribution of wealth.
This situation should be corrected by institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, but the truth is that they are under
the aegis of weak governments and strong multinationals. The feeling that
strong action is needed to correct these practices is what took us to
Prague. And this legitimacy must remain firm until fairer situations are
generated in the world.
Jaume
Llansó
Works in the UGT Trade Union of Catalonia's Department of International
Relations
Troubled
Times
The defeat in 1939 of the Republican army at the hands of the anti-democratic
rebels is an historical fact that left its mark on the lives of our grandparents.
If we bear in mind that the wheel of their times turns our own, it makes
sense to ensure that their experiences become more than just stories that
have been repeated since our childhood at the dinner table after holiday
meals. Sixty years after the Spanish Civil War, the people who were direct
witnesses of the event are at the end of their lives so their first-hand
accounts will soon be inaccessible: those memories so full of personal
anecdotes that might appear to be of little importance, but were actually
decisive in the lives of the tellers. Writer Estanislau Torres (Barcelona,
1926) has transcribed in his books the lives of numerous anonymous voices
to whom the collapse of the Republic caused great heartache, not to mention
physical harm. The autobiographical books that narrate his memories of
the Civil War include La derrota (Sant Jordi Prize, 1966) and Els ulls
i la cendra (1966). New editions of his documentary books La batalla de
l'Ebre (1971) and La caiguda de Barcelona (1978) have recently been published
by Pagès Editors. Torres remembered, expressly for Youth Debate,
the day that Franco's troops entered Barcelona, which marked the exodus
of most of the more than 40,000 Catalans who were forced into exile.
