The following is a reflection on the 8th Annual YPFDJ Conference in
Ontario. For more reflections, visit your new source for YPFDJ Conference
media: ypfdjconference.wordpress.com
As individuals or even as a collective, we are often forced to respond to
non-ideal circumstances that challenge our adaptability, patience and
integrity. How we choose to deal with such circumstances in addition to how
we assess our progress as an organization should thus reflect our basic
visions and value-sets. As these values outlined in the Eritrean National
Charter in 1994 were developed within a social, political and economic
context much different than to what many of us living in "the West" have
been accustomed, it is often difficult to understand how relevant these
values are in creating our world-view. These six basic visions outlined in
the Eritrean National Charter can be summarized as follows:
1. * **National Harmony.*
2. *Social Justice.*
3. *Economic and Social Development.*
4. *Regional and International Cooperation.*
5. *Political Democracy.*
6. *Cultural Revival.*
With the theme of the 8th Annual YPFDJ-NA Conference being "Developing an
organization on the values of Nakfa," a seminar and discussion was held
titled "Revisiting the Six Principles" in which participants were presented
with brief introductory information regarding each principle, their
Eritrean and "Western" contexts, and their relationship with each other.
This introduction was subsequently followed by a discussion in which groups
were encouraged to apply these concepts by answering the following
questions.
1. *In regards to Eritrea, how have we succeeded in making these goals a
reality? Where have our challenges been? Use policies and outcomes of these
policies as examples.*
2. *How do these goals relate to our communities here? We discussed the
western and global context of what systems these visions seek to change.
How have our communities been affected by these systems and how do we apply
this as a framework for our community organizing?*
The groups who responded to these questions were each told to focus their
discussions on two to three of the visions (four groups). Not surprisingly,
many of the groups in their answers found it difficult to conceptualize
each of these visions in isolation as the discussion forced each group to
recognize that each of these goals are all mutually dependent on each
other. For the most part, each of the groups concluded based on their
assigned goals that although Eritrea has made progress in working towards
these goals, we nonetheless have many challenges we have yet to overcome in
order to make these visions a reality. These discussions more interestingly
sparked interesting debates within the groups as it allowed the
participants the space to critically discuss various policies and outcomes
while at the same time provided valuable insight as to why certain policies
exist.
Moreover, although policies and their social, political and economic
outcomes in Eritrea are of obvious importance to Eritrean youth in North
America, an often overlooked question is how can we use these principles to
identify, understand and solve issues in our Diasporic communities? The
final segment of the presentation was thus used to present a case study
regarding the concept of "cultural capital" and demonstrate how a program
designed organically by YPFDJ chapters in California has responded to the
cultural, social, political, educational and economic marginalization faced
by youth in their communities. In sum, both the presentations and
discussions were useful in that not only did they lead to a greater
discussion of how these visions remain relevant in creating a framework
through which we view Eritrean issues but also in that as Eritrean youth of
the Diaspora, we have a dual responsibilities of making these visions a
reality for both Eritrea and our Diasporic communities.
Temesgen Woldezion
<
http://ypfdjconference.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dsc0976.jpg><
http://ypfdjconference.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dsc1323.jpg>
--
YPFDJ MEDIA
Received on Mon Nov 05 2012 - 14:38:33 EST
