One week after Armenia – some thoughts

The airplane landed at 3 in the night at Yerevan airport’s surprisingly modern airport. Modern and well built, but a little faceless as all modern airport buildings are. Our first encounter with real Armenia did we have immediately when I discovered a hedgehog living in the trunk of my taxi. These taxis became a daily experience of our trip as we rode on the backseat of old Ladas, without seatbelts, hoping our trip would go well.

Yerevan downtown is a modern, almost west European city and you could mistakenly believe you are somewhere southern France, but when you come into the outskirts you notice this is a poor country and when you see the countryside you think even the Banlieu is rich. Whilst Yerevan is full of white and black SUV and large Mercedes limousines on the countryside you can see people residing in what are mere shacks. Houses that are little more then a tin roof and some bare walls.

One of the youth centers we visited was opposite from the state security service so we were not allowed to take any pictures, as not to endanger the security of the Republic of Armenia, but I guess they have little trouble with anti social behavior of youth around the place. „One week after Armenia – some thoughts“ weiterlesen

Stadt plant Ende der KuCa Barracke für Ende 2014

Diesem Blog liegt ein Schreiben des Baubürgermeisters Dr. Haarg vor, in dem dieser die Kündigung des Pachtvertrages für das Gelände auf dem jetzt die KuCa Barracke steht, für Ende 2014 ankündigt. Bis dahin will er sich aber auch um eine Konfliktfreie Lösung und neue Unterbringung Einsetzen. Ich hoffe dieses Versprechen wird auch eingehalten werden. Ds Foto ist das Schreiben.

Pressereaktionen auf Äußerungen des DV zur Wahlrechtssenkung

Inzwischen ist unsere Pressemitteilung von gestern, von diversen Medien aufgegriffen worden:

Südwestpresse: Kabinett beschließt Wahlrecht ab 16 – Das Kabinett hat der Senkung des Wahlalters bei Kommunalwahlen zugestimmt. Gesetzliche Frauenquoten lehnt der Innenminister ab. Autor: ROLAND MUSCHEL | 07.11.2012 (…) „Dagegen begrüßten der Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte in Baden-Württemberg sowie Grüne Jugend, Jusos und Julis den Beschluss.“

Schwaebische.de – Jungen Menschen eine Stimme geben – In Baden-Württemberg sollen ab 2014 schon 16-Jährige die Gemeinderäte wählen können – Von Stefanie Järkel: „Der Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte begrüßte die Pläne von Grün-Rot. „Ich sehe das Ganze positiv, weil man damit junge Menschen ein bisschen mehr am kommunalen Geschehen beteiligen kann“, sagte Sprecher Marcel Wolf der Schwäbischen Zeitung. „Überall wird immer von der Politikverdrossenheit bei Jugendlichen gesprochen, aber das stimmt so nicht. Man muss die Jugendlichen einfach frühzeitig beteiligen.“ Wolf, der sich auch in der Schülerunion engagiert, sprach sich zudem dafür aus, das Wahlalter bei Landtags- und Bundestagswahlen ebenfalls auf 16 Jahre abzusenken.“

Pforzheimer Zeitung – Grün-rotes Kabinett beschließt Stimmrecht für 216.000 Teenager –  Autor: Andreas Fiegel: „Sowohl der Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte Baden-Württemberg als auch die Grüne Jugend und die Jungen Liberalen (Julis) begrüßten die geplante Änderung des Kommunalwahlrechts.“

Badische Zeitung – Grün-Rot beschließt Wahlrecht für 16-Jährige in Kommunen: „Dagegen begrüßten der Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte in Baden- Württemberg sowie Grüne Jugend, Jusos und Julis den Beschluss.“

Wahlrecht ab 16: Reaktion des Dachverbands der JGR

Nachdem es schon vor dem Wochenende in die Medien geleakt wurde und die Landeseregierung es heute offiziell als Kabinettsvorlage beschlossen hat der Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte dies nun auch in einer Pressemitteilung kommentiert.

Pressemitteilung des Dachverbands:

Ja zum Wählen ab 16, aber Jugendbeteiligung ist mehr!

  • „Ohne eine flächendeckende Einführung von Jugendbeteiligung ist dies nur ein erster Schritt!“
  • Beteiligung braucht ausreichend Mittel um funktionieren zu können
  • Es bleibt aber noch viel zu tun für die Landesregierung: Einführung einer Beteiligungspflicht für die Kommunen an allen jugendbetreffenden Fragen

Mehr: 20121106_PM_DVJGRBW_Wahlaltersenkung

Dazu die Pressemitteilung der Landesregierung:

Entwurf für neues Kommunalwahlrecht – 06.11.2012 Die Landesregierung will junge Menschen frühzeitig in demokratische Entscheidungsprozesse einbeziehen. Daher soll jetzt das Mindestalter für das aktive Wahlrecht auf kommunaler Ebene von 18 auf 16 Jahre gesenkt werden (mehr)

Ja und so eine Pressemitteilung kann einen auch von der eigenen Organisationsentwicklung richtig weiter bringen.

Day 3

This morning we had a very interesting talk and discussion about environmental campaigning and issues in Armenia by one of its foremost advocates. Later we went to KASA foundation again to get some more insights into their work and also visit a theatre group, who do a lot of forum theatre to rise awareness of social, political and gender issues.

It is late and I tomorrow we will go to see Armenias second city Gymri. However it was good to have some time off in the afternoon to get to see a little bit of the city as well.

 

im Prinzip ja, aber

On the photo you see Andreas Bender, chairman of the umbrella organisation presenting its work and structure.

The first two days of our study visit to Armenia are over, its long past midnight as a write these lines, but I promised to report. We had two very interesting meetings today, one with the Armenian Ministry on Youth and Sports the other one with representatives of the Youth NGO, both of them were on the topic of youth in Armenia.

The Ministry for Youth explains the youth report

Youth research and statistical data is not widely available in Armenia, as there have been only two reports on the situation of young people. Which are defined differently from how we do it here in western Europe, as people between the age of 18 – 30. And their views on issues like genderrelations, marriage, divorce, politics. For me striking was, that more then 11 % of all these people sampled were member of a political party. Which the experts explain that some people do not know that they are member of a party and others are only member because its good or expected for their career. When we asked on the views and situations of people below that age, the Ministry people could not give any answer, as apparently they have never done a survey on this. „im Prinzip ja, aber“ weiterlesen

On the Finnish Local elections

(Yerevan / Freiburg) As the first reports of the results of the Finnish Municipal elections have reached me, some of them by Facebook, some by sms others by phone, it has become clear. Some amitious youth councilors, who ran can now be called councilors. My heartfelt congratulations for Henri Haaksiala,  Ilkka Sasi, and Jerry Träskelin.  Just to name a few.

I’m very glad for them, being in the city council of your home town is a great experience, I have never learned so much and had the ability to work with so many dedicated people as when I was in the city council of the city of Freiburg.

Others were not so lucky, the voters have choose to give them back their freedom. It is difficult in this system of elections, that often disadvantages against people who have not yet a name or a fancy job title to get elected.They can now return back to a normal life. From my personal experience I know that you also make a lot of scarifies when you are in the city council and try to do go work.

on the way to Hayastan

Right now I and three other people from the umbrella organisation of youth councils in Baden-Württemberg are on our way to Armenia, or as the natives call it Hayastan. We will go there to study youth participation and informal education. The trip is financed by the youth in action program of the EU and organised by the Polish Fundacja Civis Polonus. I hope to gain many insights into this country in „wilder“ Europe.

Whilst preparing I found this quote from a book about the Caucasus:

„Given all these problems, can one ever really think of the Caucasus as Europe? To conceive of Europe as a place that does not stop at the Oder River or even the Bosphorus became possible once Europe refashioned itself as a set of values rather than a self-evident set of boundaries.

Seeing things in that way has required a gargantuan effort to forget, to shove into the dark corners of the past those values that have most often defined Europeanness: nationalism, chauvinism, and a penchant for the authoritarian state.

In other words, it requires that today’s Europeans and those who wish to join them continue to do what they have done since 1945—to engage in a collective rethinking of the past that enables a creative, liberating, and humane imagining of the future.“ King, C. (2008). The Ghost of Freedom:A History of the Caucasus. Oxford University Press, USA.

It summs the situation, as far as I could gather from books, up very well. Now I’m eager to see the real thing. I’ll keep you updated here on my blog and also on my twitter. I hope to show you some pictures as well.

We will fly out there tonight arrive very early in the morning in Eriwan and then have parts of monday off, the meetings will start on tuesday and we will all be back on monday the 5th.