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