The voice of young people is not usually taken into account.
In many situations, it is silenced.
Criminalisation, invisibility, stigma...
Who defends the diversity of our voices?
What voices can broaden
the collective imagination of young people?
How can the link between academia and activism help?
This week, Barcelona hosts the first Youth Act Forum.
Today we are in Lleialtat Santsenca, on the first day of the Forum.
An event with activists from around the world.
They will discuss the importance of memory
and the connection between the struggles of yesterday and today.
We talked to the protagonists so they could tell us what it was all about.
The Youth Act is a project promoted by Barcelona Youth Council and the International Civil Service.
It aims to ensure a space for reflection and discussion aimed at action.
It was structured in two phases.
The first was the Agora of the 100: where there were 50 young activists
and 50 academics.
They shared common challenges in youth struggles.
Solidarity between peoples, anti-fascism,
climate emergency, defense of the territory…
April - June 2021 Agora of the 100
50 young activists + 50 young people from academia
30 specific proposals for the public policies of Barcelona City Council are developed.
December 2021: International ForumI. June 2022: International Forum II
In order to create spaces
where public administration is present
to collect what is generated,
what these debates share.
We need to find a way to translate this
into future proposals and public policies.
Youth Act exists because often
we young people don't feel heard.
It's important that institutions and politics listen to us.
Young people are facing global uncertainty,
climate change, the future of their states…
It is time for them to unite and stand
as a demanding political actor that demands changes
in the institutions, that change policies.
It is a project for young people,
but it also includes young people.
This is very important.
We are at "Ateneu Popular 9Barris" in Barcelona.
On this last day of the Forum,
young people from all over the world explain to us
how repression affects them
and how dialogue is key for achieving democracy.
All this from young people and for young people.
Initiatives like these respond to the discomfort,
to the questions generated by this discomfort.
And so begin to shape possible solutions
Alone, in a small place, we can make a change,
but if we want to transform the grassroots and make a radical change,
this change will only be possible with internationalism and solidarity.
Changes come if we are all together, everywhere.
To all the situations that occur today around the world
we need the involvement of everyone, especially young people.
The youth should be able to engage, participate, and bring in social changes
Not only in our own regions, but also around the world.
It is very interesting because it allows you
Not only in our own regions, but also around the world.
formed by young people, who suffer similar experiences
and at the same time develop specific alternatives
that may be useful in other contexts.
It has already been a good opportunity to meet international and local speakers
who often do not have this space for expression,
and today they did have it.
I was a moderator,
and it has been a pleasure listening to them.
It is a space that greatly enhances the participation of very diverse people.
It is a very dynamic space that allows exchange
between different regions, different points of view,
profiles of people who would not have met in other spaces.
It must become a tool to connect organizations,
struggles and their activists beyond the duration of the project.
Therefore, it has a vocation to last and to be a useful tool later on.
The process of changing public policies always goes hand in hand with social movements such as this
that's why we always have to have these connections with other sectors.
with young people, with workers. With everyone.
Institutions and social movements must always work together.
However, this is only the first piece of gear
which is born in the "Agora of the 100"
and that is evolving and taking shape in the coming months.
The Forum created a strong alliance with young activist groups in Colombia,
which will result in a trip to meet the Youth Councils there
and materialize the partnership of Cali Youth Council with Barcelona Youth Council
The second International Youth Act Forum was organized in June 2022,
this time with a clearer advocacy goal.
If the first forum wanted to bring struggles together,
months later they would meet again to establish concrete proposals
and weave together a strategy of action to face common challenges.