Go Ryuhei! - Global Young Green activist wins election in Japan

TOKYO, July 30 KYODO

Activist Kawada set to win seat in upper house. Ryuhei Kawada, an
activist known for his fight against the state and a pharmaceutical
comp...

Ryuhei Kawada, an activist known for launching a lawsuit against the
state and a pharmaceutical company over tainted blood products given to

hemophiliacs like himself, won a seat in the House of Councillors in
Sunday's election, final returns showed Monday.

Kawada, 31, was infected with HIV, which causes AIDS, through a blood
product approved by the health ministry and given to him during
treatment when he was a child.

''Many individuals took action,'' Kawada said after his victory was
projected. ''I would like to work on issues related to the Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare.''

Best wishes to Ryuhei and his whole campaign team.

Marie, janna, christine and sarah

sarah, janna, tim, rogier and rit

sarah and janna

Impressions from Paris

As it is often the case, the talks at the sidelines of the conferenceare the most interesting. Most striking were the discussions withAfrican participants over the question raised by many of them whetherWestern democracy works in Africa and whether it would not be betterto return/incorporate traditional ways of ruling. After a heateddebate fuelled by a delicious cup of ice cream (on my side) and somewine (on the side of my African interlocutors), I was given a copy ofKenyattas famous book "Mount Kenya" describing traditional ways ofliving in one of Kenyas tribe. While the reading was interesting froma antroprological point of view, I'm wondering whether the majority ofKenians really wants to return to a way of life which very strictlydefines everybodies role and leaves very few individual freedoms.
Another interesting debate unfold with a representative of thePan-African Youthforum. While not yet completely grey as otherrepresentatives of this organisation, it became clear that he seeshimself rather as government servant then servant of youthorganisations. Declaring that he does not believe in civil society, heset out to explain that the president of his country of origine,Senegal, while being more than 80 years old, would have excellentplans for the development of youth in his country. At the same time,the brave man had never heard the term "Economic PartnershipAgreements", free trade agreements currently negotiated which willmost probably have an enourmous impact on the future economicdevelopment and thus prospects of youth in Africa.
I was most impressed by talks with representatives of the Africandisaspora and some - mostly female - young Africans. Many Africansliving in Europe for a long time know both realities very well and arebetter than others equipped to analyse the problems of Africa and findinnovative approaches for solutions. After having talked with some ofthem, I'm convinced they could play a vital role as bridge andmediator between both continents. However, their potential seems to mestill underexploited by politicians and NGOs of both sides.
These are some first impressions from the conference. We will soonsend a more detailed report and most important the draft conclusionsorginiating from the consultations to the mailing list. I'm very muchlooking forward to your comments on them.
Janna

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The Asia-Europe Foundation and the Danish Youth Council are pleased to invite your organisation to propose candidates to participate in the 2^nd Conference for Young Political Leaders, to be held in Denmark from 24-28 October 2007. The Conference will gather up to 85 representatives from each of the 45 ASEM partners and the organisers will select the participants so as to ensure political and geographical balance.

For more info email p2p.projects2@asef.org

GYG blog from Paris Youth Consultations of European and Diaspora on the EU-Africa Summit

Dear Greenies,

Here is our second live-blog from an international event the GYG are participating in. Sarah from France, Tim from Germany and Christine from Kenya (Douglas will hopefully join us soon when if he gets his visa) are currently in Paris to discuss with youth representatives from all over Europe the future of EU-Africa relations. Apart from some criticism about the process and organisation of this conference; interesting debates have started during but even more at the sidelines of the conference. You will hear more from us tomorrow as I need to termine my work as rapporteur for good governance and democracy before the computers are closed down at 1am :))