“Peace in the 21st century in the eyes of youth” – 2018

The city under the hills of Ural mountain, Perm, Russia, hosted a great international conference  “Peace in the 21^st century in the eyes of youth.” ICG was represented by Stevan Gajić, PhD, politics and international relations advisor to ICG, and Marija Gajić, culture and art manager.

The conference was divided into two sub-forums: “Europe and the world” and “Asia and the world.” The key topics to cover were the following:

• Pan-European values – history and the modern age;
• European identity and globalism;
• 100^th anniversary of the end of the World war 1, war outcomes for Europe, the EU and the rest of the world;
• The inseparability of safety in Europe;
• No visa regime for civilians born after 9 Nov 1989 (fall of the Berlin wall).

We discussed the conference on the Youth forum in Perm, on Sep 9, 2018, in the industrially organized cultural center of Shpagin. Representatives of both youth and government pointed out what the world of today is like, the challenges the young people face, and the ones that will inevitably come on the way. We heard experiences from Serbia, Nepal, Turkey, and FYR of Macedonia, and once again realized that the majority of global issues have a different form yet are of the same essence.

The goal of the conference was to design an action plan aimed at youth, to form their attitude towards achieving peace and stability.

What was evidently noticeable is the fact that after centuries of brute force, and adaptations to the so-called soft power, the world has finally realized the importance and the value of the so-called smart power.

Investments in education, establishment of multilateral relations, friendships, familiarization with traditions and customs, as well as people from different parts of our world, openly show how similar we are, how closely related, and how our mutual differences at the same time shape our world and make it an amazing and a beautiful place to live in.

Additionally, what should evidently be the next step, in my personal opinion, is to put emphasis of the new concept of youth integration and preventing prejudice and xenophobia through what I would personally call the youth power. This is partly a new concept which no longer imposes power but rather offers an equal approach with equal responsibility and equal rights for all people at the moment and in the times to come. It is a transition from bilateral or multilateral relations to the creation of a unique system of values and a unique system able to accommodate all its members.

The power of youth lies in their ability to reorganize priorities and set the global peace to the top of the list. Only peace and stability can give room to everyone’s potentials to develop and it is only through friendly relations that something new may emerge instead of being destroyed.

The essence of the future, as pointed out by Andrey Klimov, the deputy president of the International affairs committee of the Assembly of the Russian Federation, is on the individual micro level, on the level of personal friendships and relations, on the level of humanity and appreciating deeds rather than words.

What we have to do for the future is to live this philosophy and to set an example of love, friendships, and exchange of activities, on the micro level, which is to confirm the old catchphrase that where there is a will, there is a way.

Marija Gajić, MA

Culture & art advisor at ICG