Inheriting a
Different World
Youth Perspectives and Outreach
On
May 9th, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear
War (IPPNW) hosted an open discussion, led by a mix of medical students
and doctors, on the "Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Program," an IPPNW
project that both brings students and physicians in dialogue with
decision makers as well as with each other. The program trains
interested students around the world in issues relating to nuclear
weapons, then sends these students to schools in other countries to
share their knowledge and opinions with other students in order to
educate the next generation about the world problems that they are
about to inherit.
Danish student Caecelie Buhman noted that the Nuclear
Inheritance Program, which started with 4 students, now spans 3
continents with about 200 trained student moderators and has reached
out to about 2000 students. The discussions that they facilitate enable
other young people to question their world and their assumptions.
According to Inga Blum, a student from Germany, these
discussions have been immensely successful. Many students that they
talked with were pro-nuclear weapons at first, but then slowly began to
shift their opinions as others expressed their perspectives. Students
changed from being reserved about their opinions to actively engaging
in discussions. After Inga's account, the four students engaged in a
mock discussion where three of them pretended to be nuclear weapons
supporters from Pakistan.
They first stood firmly to the line that
Pakistan needed nuclear weapons to prevent India from invading, but
after many questions from the participants, which mainly consisted of
other young people, they started questioning their convictions,
eventually agreeing that everyone should disarm at the same time.
The mock discussion gave an example of how to make people
question their worldviews without imposing one's own opinions on them.
Students Stefanie Berkmann and Jenny Immerstrand pointed out that one
needs to find common ground with others in order to sustain a
productive discussion. Questions like "what does security mean to you
personally?" and "how is that different from what the government and
mainstream media label as security?" help reach for common values from
which to begin.
As
Dr. Gunner Westberg, co-president of IPPNW,
believes that the success of the Nuclear Inheritance Program lies in
its emphasis on independent learning. For him, traditional teaching
methods, such as lecturing, were unsuccessful because they maintained a
unidirectional teacher-student relationship, one that does not
encourage students to think for themselves. He noted that while facts
are forgotten quickly, emotional experiences of learning are never
forgotten. The ensuing discussion was mainly carried out by young
participants, and covered many issues relating to interpersonal
communications about political issues. Participants talked about ways
of being inviting instead of imposing in conversations about nuclear
weapons, how to or whether one should broach such topics with
disagreeing or uninterested friends, and the effectiveness of students
educating other. The older people in the room affirmed that these
interpersonal issues are relevant to all activists, regardless of age.
The conversational tone during the entire event was friendly, as
participants let their guard down, speaking with other participants
instead of speaking at them. The success of this type of discussion in
Conference Room E sparks hope that programs like IPPNW-Students can
convince future generations to reject their nuclear inheritance and
seek ways to free their world from the scourge of nuclear weapons.
Hongwei Chen (WILPF)
Other student activtities during the NPT:
NWIP workshop “Training the next generation
of
disarmament leaders”
“Is
disarmament still on the agenda
for young people”? NWIP, the Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project tries
to bring
it back to the youth.
The goal was to show how
disarmament education can
serve as a method to engage youth in disarmament work and how member
states can
contribute to an international process of disarmament through
encouraging more
disarmament education The discussion was based on the experience of the
Nuclear
Weapons Inheritance Project (NWIP).
How does IPPNW as an NGO
support the student movement
and encourage student disarmament work? The new concept of the
Inheritance
Project, which approached the issue of disarmament education
differently,
proved to be key to its success. Instead of more experienced members
teaching
the youth, the students involved in NWIP educate themselves – learning
by
doing, act responsible (one student is member of the IPPNW board of
directors)
and are in a constant dialogue with the ‘older generation’.
May 1st
demonstration
An estimated 40,000
gathered on Sunday to march the
streets of New York City,
calling for nuclear disarmament. It was attended by activists from all
over the
world, including about 1,000 Japanese from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
At the end there was a big peace rally in Central Park, where not only
a human
peace symbol was formed but also various renowned speakers (e.g. Mayor
Akiba
from Hiroshima, Helen Caldicott, and hibakushas) addressed the
crowd.
Meetings with at the
embassies of Sweden and
Germany
IPPNW members from Sweden
and Germany
had the opportunity to meet at the embassies with their delegations.
Participation in the
International Youth Panel
At
the end of the first week, the IPPNW students got
the chance to participate in the international youth panel, presenting
the NWIP
in brief as well as the newly launched Target-X project. The panel was
held by
the german Aktionsgruppe and included student groups from France, Italy,
Japan, Australia, Sweden
and Germany
who presented their projects.
NGO morning caucus
/Abolition 2000
A
morning meeting for all NGOs to plan the days
activities, including workshops, presentations and arrangements of
working
groups.
General Assembly
One ticket per NGO during
the first day of the
conference. Kofi Annan and Muhammed El Baradei (head of IAEA) spoke
with no
taken seats at the gallery! This problem was solved the next day and
all NGOs
were able to go into the gallery until it was filled.
Jenny Immerstrand (NWIP)
