What do
you need for a successful European Student Congress ?
The IPPNW European
Student Conference 2003 in Berlin
First
of all, you
need a pleasing atmosphere, for example the idyllic Berlin suburb
of Lichterfelde. Next, take
about equal amounts of German students and
students from Estonia, Romania, Norway, Finland, Ireland, Denmark,
Russia,
Great Britain, Austria, Sweden und Greece. For that special something,
add some delegates from Palestine, Egypt
and
Marocco and let the whole thing devlop under the hot sun for a couple
of days.
For the content, engage some excellent guests from different fields.
With all
of this, you should be able to reach a good mixture of real work,
interesting
debates, enriching exchanges of ideas and opinions, new experiences
and, of
course, loads of fun. But all of this will only work, if you have a
well
prepared team of organizers, which have already worked for months to
make such
a meeting happen.
And how does a
regional student congress like this look? After taking a boat-ride on Berlin’s
Spree-river on
the first day, the second was already filled with real seminar-work.
The
different delegations presented their acitivites back home and the
entire
Thursday morning was spend with an exchange of experiences ans ideas.
The
Norwegian students told us of their projects to include themes like
„Fugitive
aid“ into their curriculum. The work of the Russian students was
tightly
associated with St. Petersburg
anniversary this year – the planted trees in the city and pointed
towars the
health benefits of a greener city. Finland
presented their’Peace Test’, with which the examined the general mood
towards
topics like human rights or peace within the younger generations. The two Irish
students explained their plans to realize a „Cycling for Peace“ through
Europe
and the Romanian delegation introduced us to their MASH-Project
(Medical
Adventure Seminar on Holiday), where
medcial
students can gain practical experience in mountaineering and first aid.
The
German National Student Representative presented the project „practice
and
engage“ and some German IPPNW-student groups told the delegates of
their local
events.
This was followed
by a colorful workshop program. Amongst others, the problem of
illegalized,
paper-less immigrants in Germany was adressed, the Euratom-contract was
explained and critically observed, a Berlin physician held a workshop
entitled
„From physician to visionary“ and the Palestinian guests explained the
current
situation in their home country. Concrete projects were also created:
The
Middle East-workshops culminated in the beginning of an international
refugee-camp-project, as well as a student-exchange project between
German and
Palestinia student groups. The Swedish 'Nuclear Weapons Inheritance
Project '
was also presented and discussed.
The problems of
illegalized immigrants in Germany,
who have no access to the national health system were also the theme of
this
year’s ’street action’. On Saturday, the students roamed the city in
small
groups, acting out short role-plays in which they approached passerbys
as
asylum-seekers, paperless immigrants or simply people looking for
medical aid –
every one speaking only in his native language (Russian, Arabic,
Estish,
Gaelic, etc.) The rest of the group stayed in the background and
observed the
reactions of the people. In the right moment, they joined the actor and
explained the situation to the ’victim’.
They also asked him about his
views
and foreigners in Germany
and distributed informative leaflets, concerning the msising
health-care for
paperless immigrants in Germany.
After a few hours, the groups shared their experiences with he others
and found
that the’street action’ had been successful, not only in informing some
people
about a little known group of people on the edge of society, but also
in
slipping into the shoes of paperless, illegalized immigrants and
realizing
their situation.
The social program
of the seminar consisted of the movie „Beautiful People“ about Bosnian
refugees
in England, getting to know the German „Gemütlichkeit“ (state of
comfort and
relaxedness) while sitting and talking in the nice garden, bathing in
the
nearby lake, lots of singing (Estonia – twelve points Le’estonie doux
points!),
as well as exploring Berlin’s vibrant nightlife. Saturday evening
culminated in
a barbeque with small presentations of the different countries.
To sum it all up,
the seminar was a totally unique experience and a one-time-chance to
meet so
many fascinating people from all different countries, attend
interesting
workshops, be part of fruitful debates and – and this should not be
forgotten -
have a lot of fun. The delegates especially praised the (for Germany
apparently not so typical) flexibility. Thanks a lot to the organizing
staff
and to all th people who donated money for the groups coming from far
away. It was definitely worth
it!