Youth has long been the buzz word connecting to the uprisings in North Africa and in the Middle East in the spring of 2011. A demographic shift, we’ve been told, combined with economic and social conditions, resulted in a new resistence culture with new strategies and goals for their respective countries. Tunisia was one such country, where the median age is 30, and multi-lingual, interconnected youth played an essential role in spearheading the pressure that would lead Ben Ali to flee the country. Now they are also an important part of safeguarding and assessing the changes that are taking place. On today’s podcast, we sit in a part in Tunis, together with 3 young people working in the field of non-profit watch dog organizations. In our 40+ minute conversation you will hear from Amir Kamergi, Khaoula Mhatli, and Yosra Mkadem, regarding the work they are doing and their individual and collective experiences and opinions regarding what is up with Tunisia today, how far we’ve come, and what to make of the future.
“It’s like shock therapy. Something happened that we never expected… it’s getting better each day, people are growing up… and that’s the great thing about our revolution… we know what we want.” – Yosra Mkadem
Gent Thaçi is a rare bird in Kosovo, even he would admit it. At 17 years old he devotes most of his energy to making Kosovo a better place, specifically through the cause of Free Software. He knows not everyone understands and he is interested in engaging people, regardless of age or ethnic background, about what may very well help them in the workplace and at home in the already difficult reality for this struggling nation.
While sitting in a corner of an Albanian tavern Gent and I recorded this discussion, as I asked not only about what life is like for teenagers and young adults in Kosovo but also about relations between ethnic groups. We manage to touch on the past, present, and foreseeable future when it comes to work, family, and conflict resolution. Even when Gent doesn’t know the answer to my various questions, he doesn’t pretend to know, but reminds us of what surely becomes clear- he is open and listening to anyone with a good idea.
Now it may not qualify as a global concern or even under reported news, but a big part of my youth revolved around music. As a French Horn player since the age of 10, throughout high school I was a very active member of the marching band. It was a very important part of my adolescent development, a place and a group of people that made high school – a very traumatic experience – more pleasant.
If you had similar experiences or are simply curious of what is actually a very complex, multi-layered world, I highly suggest the latest edition of On Point that looks at Marching Bands in the US, their function and their great rise over the past decades.
If you’re not interested at all, tomorrow we can get back to Burma, Chavez, Trade Agreements, and all our usual favorite issues.
Standing at the nightclub this evening, my eyes are scanning the crowd. going from face to face.. I keep asking myself.. do I see any differences.. between these kids and the kids in amsterdam.. or the kids in lisbon.. or the kids in new jersey?
Most would say there is no difference. They dress the same. They drink the same. They party the same. (?)
But I always see one difference. History. The history, not so much of these children per se, but that of their families. My mind starts wondering all sorts of crazy questions… how many of their parents were in the military… fighting in the war against Yugoslavia/Serbia, a bit more than a decade ago. How many have gandparents who can tell stories of Yugoslavia under Tito, or world war II when the Germans invaded. Each of these kids has a family history that would probably blow my mind. Yet here I am, having a drink side by side with them, and they seem less obsessed with the turns of history than I am.
I think it is truely interesting to be living in an ex-anything. Ex- GDR in Germany, ex-Soviet Union in Estonia, ex-Indochina in Vietnam, and yes.. Ex-Yugoslavia in Croatia. I guess every place on earth can claim to be an ex-something.. but being at a recently turned EX, I somehow see it in every piece of sidewalk or trainstation. A combination of an over active imagination and a quest to know as much history as possible, crammed into a few late night reading sessions and conversations with kind locals.
Eventually the boom-boom-boom of what seems like the same DJ Ive seen all my life broke me out of my deep thoughts. Time to move on, brave the below zero temperatures, and head back to this warm hotel.
