Monday 3 November 2014

Is there space for a NEW politics- a Generational Political theory?

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As our understanding of the difference between generations expands, how will our political and social thinking respond?

 We all know well now of different "established" political schools of thought - left wing vs right wing, capitalism vs communism and identity and issue politics such as class politics, race politics, green politics etc. But could we ever develop a credible political framework that can decipher and govern policy based on Generational Justice or age politics?

 I have no finalised plan here, but there MUST be a new way of answering old questions. (there needs to be!) This i don't know, but what we do know is, we face:
  •  a growing demographic unbalance
  •  an inter-generational values gap globally
  • young people remain the primary victims of war, poverty and corruption
  • youth didn't cause the economic crisis, yet we're too often the first to shoulder the burden 
  • paternalistic and oligarchic systems where formal political structures are unwilling to share power
  • a society that continues to vilify, demonise, patronise, underestimate and misunderstand youth 
  • The significant majority of the world's youth are found in developing countries
If we do need new and fresh solutions. We must empower youth! If we do need innovation and agile thinking. We must empower youth! If we do need a revolution of long-term thinking and future-focussed ideas. We must empower youth! And if we do need optimism and genuine leadership to overcome growing global dilemmas in the world, then surely young people are an obvious place to go!?

 I personally believe there is no such thing as a "youth issues" - simply people issues viewed through the eyes of being young. Many politicians and events talk about "youth issues" - but in my experience what this gradually and invisibly does is pigeon-hole our passions. Youth issues sound far less important than political issues or 'adult' policy setting. It means that psychologically there is a disassociation from all other policy areas. Youth are fiercely passionate about the environment, economic justice, technology or human trafficking! These aren't youth issues, these are issues! There is a similar problem with the term "Youth PARTICIPATION" - we already can participate. What is needed is power. "Youth EMPOWERMENT." Participation has no standard of quality - no pre-requsite for genuine and meaningful involvement through the transfer of power. Yes I am calling for these rights to young people, but remember, this also means we accept the responsibility of civic-hood.

There's many great examples of where Governments, local authorities, IGOs, businesses, charities, media outlets, trade unions and others do effectively engage youth. Lets celebrate these examples - build upon them, scale them and make them the benchmark of what is acceptable. However most fail one test. When asked how they engage or think about youth, it tends to be a list of pet projects they rattle off, or simple quote a misleading investment number, and expect us to be grateful. 

Change won't come from small projects and being bought off by the occasion CSR grant - we need to develop a holistic, cross-cutting and idealistic philosophy that puts generational justice and inter-generational sustainability at its heart. This could be revolutionary. Its being done nowhere! Imagine if we redefined the paradigms of how we hold decisions accountable. We could demand a higher class of public service, demand more transparency in our politics, fairer distribution of our globe's resources and an overhaul of social attitudes. 

Young people's political memories lie in the future. We are not burdened with outdated grudges, vested private interests or a poverty of aspiration. Our natural language is technology. We are idealistic without being ideological and all the evidence shows we are in many parts of the world the most likely age group to volunteer or protest. Youth have social justice as a higher priority and feel repeatedly let down by political decisions around war, rigid education, nuclear weapons, international equality and social issues like gay marriage, abortion laws, gun controls and racial justice. 

This new political movement doesn't have to be just done BY young people, in the same way that people who are not Karl Marx can believe in Marxism, or people who are not an racial minority, can extend empathy and understanding to take action to tackle the systematic disempowerment of certain races. 

So a Generational Justice (crap name i know!) approach would :

- View all policy decisions through the paradigm of how will this impact the existing and future generations to ensure generations justice?

- Always set as its highest maxim the responsibility to empower the next generation through economic opportunity and equality, social mobility, environmental preservation and personal temperance. 

- we would overall education system to not just in- build trainee exam-passers, but build the core capacities of citizenship, creativity, personal confidence and leadership, critical analysis and social competencies. REAL life skills. Education needs to for the first time in our planets history - be universalised. A free, quality, empowering education for EVERY child on earth is not an impossibility. This is surely a cornerstone of generational justice. 

- All citizens, including young people, and not just elite institutions would be empowered in society. We need to challenge top-down and corrupt leadership models and institutions. Ways we would do this is look at how we spend our resources and how we set our budgets. We would radically overhaul how and who gets to vote in elections, and throw open the doors to crusty old buildings or ivory towers such as our fortress banks, palatial parliaments or mogulised media. We need to transfer power.

There is of course much thinking to do here, but is it really that impossible to credibly think we can govern society and set policy by allowing generational sustainability and keeping pace with the high aspirations of today's generation? In fact, i suspect it is already starting to happen.

I am not calling for some youth revolution utopia, rather for us to matter more credibly in decision making, to be equal citizens and partners in change. I also say to young people, we must remember genuine power can never be given, it must be taken. 

Wednesday 15 October 2014

What CHOICES will your ATTITUDES drive today?

22:16 | Posted by | Edit Post
Good morning everyone!

It's 06.12am and I haven't been able to sleep! Frustratingly, this is all too common for me. I am so tired however the moment my head hits the pillow I completely wake up! Every thought in life seems to run through my head.

However tonight and this morning, I have been thinking about how we lead our lives, the choices we make and the attitudes we hold. WHY do things happens the way they do, and why we do what we do? Life is the ultimate behaviours we adopt, stemming from the CHOICES we make. We need to understand we are the architects of our own attitudes - or at least we can be!

Choices. A simple word - but do you genuinely ever stop to think about what are the choices and decisions you have to make today? This week, or year? Do you understand HOW you make the decisions you do? Or do you ever reflect back on the ramifications of the choices you've made in the past? For most the answer to the above questions are NO.

I've realised, my life has been one big long string of choices - some good, some not so much. I chose to campaign aged 11 against racism and volunteer in the OAP club. I chose to move away from home age 15. I chose to get active in politics. I chose to go on a reality TV show. To stand for Parliament and Chair the Youth Parliament. I chose to move to London. I chose to quit my job and start my own company. I chose to write this after months of not blogging! All choices I've made. That I haven't really probably thought about enough. But I do know I've made choices, and not been afraid of failure or looking stupid - from failure we learn. Only from a risk of failure can we ever truly seek and find originality.

Well choices change the world. Your choices change your world, and probably hundreds if not thousands of people around you without even realising! Even the choice to smile at the pensioner on the bus, or make a coffee for a colleague could make a huge difference to their emotions that day!

It too easy for us to get bogged down in an unproductive pit of negativity - trust me - I catch myself doing it ALL the time. We get worried about money. We get angry at politics. We feel let down by people. We hate our job. We feel fat. Or dumb. Or unsuccessful by comparison to the next guy. Or don't see our parents enough. Or let the negative attitudes of others define your self worth etc etc etc. Well I believe its a positive mindset that genuinely enables us all to make FREE and PROGRESSIVE LIFE CHOICES! It's about attitude.

If we change how we look at the world and ourselves, and make good choices from that, theres nothing that cannot be achieved and no barrier that can't be overcome! Take risks. Help people. Go first. Lead life. Risk failure. Thats what life is about right? 

Ive made the choice to sit up after a negative 2 hours of frustratingly ignoring my phone, pretending I'm tired and trying sleep. I changed my attitude. I thought well lets use this time in the hope something makes sense in my brain, or someone else reads it and feels inspired.

So maybe we can all try just remembering today if you do read this :

1. What is your bedrock attitude right NOW in life? Is it positive, optimistic and realises how amazing you are and what you're capable of? If not, change it!

2. What choices will you make? It was Mandela who said "may your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears." Agreed! Make the choice that makes you feel alive, that helps you and others, and one you can look back on and defend.

3. How do you facilitate failure? Be willing to fail! Failure is good. Even a fear of failure is good - as long as it doesn't defeat your elements of positivity, hope and ultimately stop you acting on your thoughts.

4. If you are able to believe it, you CAN achieve it. The biggest barriers we'll ever face, are the ones we put up for ourselves in our own mind! Thats the whole Dare2Lead philosophy! That my life philosophy and what my choices have taught me - we CAN all realise our goals!

Im now choosing to try catch a wee bit sleep eye ;P night.

Follow me : @JohnLoughton

Thursday 22 May 2014

Founder John Loughton addresses issue of "Youth and Peace" at UN World Conference on Youth in Sri Lanka

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Here is the speech from John Loughton ( @JohnLoughton Twitter) delivered on May 7th 2014 in Colombo Sri Lanka during the United Nation's World Conference on Youth.

The completed communique - the Colombo Declaration - will go forward to the United Nations with recommendations guiding the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals and wider post-2015 development agenda.




Realising Peace, Reconciliation and Ending Violence.

 John Loughton, Keynote Address to United Nations World Conference on Youth, 2014 – Colombo, Sri Lanka. May 7th.

Ayu Bowan. Vannakam. Good afternoon. Maggi nama John. Mama UK. My name is John from the UK. It is a pleasure to return to the beautiful island of Sri Lanka and to address the issues of realizing peace, reconciliation and ending violence.

Now compared to many in this room, I am no direct expert on this subject, however I do think we need vigorous and ambitious youth involvement in realizing a state of global peace and reconciliation.

Every conflict demands some fundamental choices.

War or Peace.
Conflict or harmony.
Violence or tolerance.
Ignorance or acceptance.
Division or unity.

Yesterday President Rajapaska of Sri Lanka spoke about this countries’ long civil struggle and shared how he “had defeated terrorism and brought peace and reconciliation.” I found that a very interesting position ahead of todays deliberations.

And it made me REALLY think what does that mean? It is one thing to end violence, war and halt the bombs and bullets. Surely it is quite another thing completely to address the causes and motives of violence and WHY the bullets were ever fired at all. It is ONLY in addressing the root causes of “why” that we can sustainably realise peace and set to true reconciliation.

My three arguments today are clear :

-        Conflict and violence hit women and youth harder than any other group
-        Policy must focus on conflict prevention, not merely responsive measures to ceased conflict or post-war states
-        Young people must be at the heart of any genuinely global sustainable approach to halting the systematic causes and driver of violence, subjugation and post-conflict recovery

We all know it obvious that violence and conflict is a scourge on humanity and social justice by its very nature, however we must understand some of the DNA, the core characteristics of modern conflict, in order to address it.

Firstly, without exception, any form of extreme conflict, is extremely preventable. Confllict – be that social unrest, political upheaval or indeed declared violence and war, has a huge gender and generational in-balance and women and children suffer the most. These groups, making up the vast majority of the world, and most often the most socially powerless, politically voiceless and far more dependent on state provisions such as health care systems, welfare support, education and security services to live safe and free.

Conflict significantly increases inequality, generates poverty and creates and embeds exclusion. Conflict in any form is an additional challenge to economic growth (evidence suggesting on average GDP 2 percentage points per annum.) It almost always ruins our natural environment and is a direct attack to our wildlife and planet. And in some form, conflict always is rooted in some form of greed, corruption, extremism, terrorism, racial and religious tensions and also in itself caused by poverty, political exclusion, fear and a sense of hopelessness.

In short conflict and violence is the enemy of broader sustainable development – be that education, environmental, economic or gender – and makes realizes the Millennium Development Goals in their final hour almost impossible to realise. Surely a peaceful existence is the core foundation, the humanitarian bedrock on which everything else must rest. We know most conflict is not new. On average, conflicts in Asia for example span over four decades, most repeat and are cyclical and increasingly the World War model of two or more states engaging in a country to country battle is being replaces with internal-state and non-geo warfare.

This all means we must redefine the paradigms of peace. We must hold governments to account to ferociously – seeing them both as a remedy of conflict but also recognizing governments and states as often the primary culprits of violence. When a government faces violence and evil, that regime MUST be held to a higher moral standard than whatever militant or political group it aims to combat. We need progressive political weapons, not simply response state-sponsored terrorism and death.

An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. A bullet for a bullet leaves everyone dead. And I say this also to the USA, UK, Russia and other leading powers too who too often undermine their own values at aid of hurridly attempting to impose peace at gunpoint.

Any genuine solution must realise and respect the spirit and expectations of youth. If we look at Libya, Egypt, Turkey, even here in Sri Lanka, its often the oppression of a demand for change and some form of authoritarianism and exclusion that allows an escalation to serious violence. Again preventable should the right early intervention steps be taken through tolerance and good governance. National, regional and global Policy needs to look at long term behavioural and attitudinal change to end violence. Prevention is better than cure. This means peace-building and ending violence, actually occurs most in times of peace by ensuring open government, promotion of inclusive values, good education and economic opportunity. Simply having reactive conflict policy, through reconciliation, negotiated agreement, military response is a costly sole strategy. Lets stop sending the fire engines to the flames, and get into the business of smoke alarms and fire safety if you like.

And just think of the real real real impact violence has on children. On young people. It is not ok that we bare the sharpest end of the failure of adults to cohabit. Internal and cross border displacement of kids is widespread. Imagine being born with no birth certificate, no safe birth, basic medical access or the complete wipeout of your family. Imagine a daily climate of fear, deep social and political exclusion, a suspension of a justice or security system, military recruitment and children soldier exploitation. And the extensive practice of rape, abuse, abduction leading to the life-long mental and emotional wounds.
This is not ok. Violence and conflict is a fundamental failure to tomorrow’s generation.

And I say to the young people in my generation in this room right now who I know suffer daily in war zones and conflict – Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan and elsewhere – we are afforded one advantage as youth. The ability to realise our memories are in the future. Our grudges and ideologies and scars are not as stubborn and inflexible as our parents. Through generational solidarity, we can help one another make the choice to endeavor to see a tomorrow brighter than the darkness of yesterday.
For hope to defeat fear.
For freedom to defeat control.

I truly believe youth and women as the primary victims of war, can become the chief architects of Global Peace. And not because it is a tasty soundbite, but because it stands to reason.

To unlock sustainable peacebuilders across generations. This generation, my generation, our generation.

We CAN unite across old boundaries.
We CAN eradicate borders.
We CAN dream full colour, and not simply look in black and white.
We are not mindless sheep following the tracks of our fathers, rather showing we are idealistic without ideology.

President Rajapaska also said yesterday and I quote “Youth’s minds are extremely sensitive to influence.”
Well yes correct. So governments, stop failing in the nurturing of young minds and allowing the allure of extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism to control the aspirations of too many. This is what happens when you don't invest in education systems, when youth cant sit as diplomatic partners in decision making, when we don't feel the fruits of economic growth, when so many youth still face poverty, when governments refuse to become transparent, provide employment or invest in the future. It is no wonder youth feel isolated, and too often turn to alternative forms of expression. This requires genuine inter-generational dialogue.

For example, every time I see one of thousands of children soldiers existing around the world, be that the middle East, Africa or elsewhere, I see not a perpetrator, but a victim. An impressionable and powerless child failed by society.

In closing,
As the global community through the United Nations looks to the inception of the Sustainable Development Goals, Peace and tolerance and cohesion really is the bedrock on which any other Aim must sit.

While reconciliation and conflict responses will always have a crucial role, lets invert our energies and focus on prevention.

And engaging youth effectively across society not only helps prevent conflict and unrest, but their very involvement and empowerment will help generate more successful solutions long term.

With equal stakehold in this world, youth WILL choose
-        Peace over conflict
-        Hope over fear
-        Freedom over control
-        Transparency over deceit
-        The future over the past

And it is us in the room, the leaders of today, the youth of the world, to make the rest of society meet the demands of our vision.

Thank You.

Saturday 3 August 2013

Dare2Lead Founder records Video Blog on our First Birthday

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Exactly 1 YEAR AGO I started Dare2Lead. We have worked in 6 countries, run over 50 workshops, employed 12 people, given over 30 Keynote speeches, won contracts with 14 clients, turned a 6 figure number and helped almost 6000 people!

Its tough. We started in a deep recession with huge youth unemployment and public sector retraction. People said it was a silly idea to start my first business but I was determined to succeed.

To say Happy Birthday, WATCH MY 1ST EVER VIDEO BLOG - ITS ROUGH, UNEDITED AND HONEST. WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, WE REALLY CAN ACHIEVE WHAT WE MAY THINK IS BEYOND US.THANKS DEEPLY 2 EVERYONE, ON THIS JOURNEY WITH ME :)

Follow me on Twitter @johnLoughton and please subscribe to our Dare2Lead Youtube page
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