Views

Young people and the otherness: aspects of cultural (de)contamination

One of the key topics in our country for a while that swords are crossed for are the multi-ethnic relations, of all sides and aspects that they can be researched from. It is constantly mentioned that that they are constantly disturbed, although it is not often mentioned how it is possible to disturb them when we say they are at the very bottom. Lately, there has even been an opinion that these problems would not exist, if there were not any relations among the different ethnic groups. Rushing towards making conclusions and theories, we do not pay much attention to the real reasons that lie in the very base of this problem.

If the young people are every country’s future, I do not believe that our future will be much brilliant. Dreams of approaching the big European family may sound sweet, but the reality that we cannot reach an understanding with some thirty nations is bitter, if we are in hot water to achieve it between ourselves.

It is a general impression that in today’s society there are not many people who take care of the youngsters and our perspective. Instead of the politics to take care of the young people, the youngsters prefer dealing with politics and standing out in front of their idols. I am convinced that it is not our fault, that is, we have nothing else to do except for becoming politicians as well as the rest of the two million citizens of Macedonia.

Since we were children, we have been listening through the media how the others are very bad, how everything would have been peaceful and nice – only if we had been alone in this climate. Parents spend more time convincing their children that they should be further than the others, thus being secure and on the right way, rather than worrying whether their children go to school, or dispense justice in the streets. Friends and schools are becoming single-national clubs, close each other in ghettos, with cordial help by the political powers and movements of pupils who support this trend pretty spontaneously.

In spite of the fact that we are all full of energy and creativity, we have quite similar wishes and objectives, we fight for a better life or fulfilling the dreams far from the borders of this country – we still cannot understand each other and find common ground. It is understandable that we cannot find it when we are totally excluded from the others who are somehow different from us, with a lot of unanswered questions and dilemmas, with a lot of prejudices and big resistance. The figures that result from the various researches are crushing, so we can easily conclude that there is hatred to a large extent and in due course it results in violence between young people. The contamination and hatred are just consequences of the longer resistance and distrust that we have for one another, where the political and economic factors have influenced too much, and the schools have not done their task. In due course differences grow – thus decreasing the chances for sharing the living and working space.

For a longer period of time we have been living in a society where there are not any values, where we have lost the old ones and have not acquired any new ones, where there are not any rules or they are broken more easily.

Two years ago we witnessed destroying a lot of visions and dreams, in the best case – it should be our milestone about how things should not be developed. It was a failure for the whole society, starting from the parents and educational institutions and the civic associations. This does not mean that no one tries to decrease the hatred, but it does not impel thinking about the mistakes and how to build a system of respecting differences. The family should point to the gains of mutual knowing each other and not to be the first in building prejudices. It would be good to talk sincerely about how far we have come in mutual relations, how we can solve disputes and reach bigger involvement. The civic associations are the ones that can mostly contribute in this way, with bigger involving youngsters and raising the public awareness for these problems. I am convinced that we would achieve some bigger cultural and language familiarity, if everyone was given an equal chance for expressing creativity and skills – instead of endless lectures that end as such. The effect is much better if everyone convinces himself and reaches his own conclusions, instead of taking part in aimless debates on how things should be. The honest approach and direction towards a bigger group are the key aspects that the civic associations should start from, always bearing in mind that better organizing and coordinating brings better results. The ideas should come from the young people themselves, where the youngsters are contents, not only a mute object of research.

We should pay more attention to activities that involve and are created directly by the young people, rather than continuing the old schemes where activities imply sticking up posters or an ordinary concert. Yes, they are better for affirmation indeed, but the disadvantage is that the problem remains after their termination. There should not be a vision that the problem will be solved after the termination of a certain project, it is there and requires an honest approach and a will to start its solving. We are the ones who should start this process in a concrete way, by affecting the youngsters, only if it does not end on paper only, but to initiate making a space of expressing the attitudes of each young man.
 

(The text was an introductory presentation at the panel-discussion “Young people and the otherness: aspects of cultural (de)contamination: at the NGO Fair, organized by OSIMF)