“All the News
That‘s Fit to Print“
No 3
CROSSING THE BRIDGE
Wonder and excitement: two words
that describe best what delegates
irradiated while waiting for the buses
in order to take the Bosphorus boat
trip. The adventure started with a
practical dinner : a chicken sandwich,
a piece of fruit and a pack of juice.
More than one thousand delegates
crossed from one continent to the
other. People at the port stared at the
young crowd heading to the ship,
wondering if the boat would fit that
many people.
Istanbul, Wednesday, August 4, 2010
By Andrea Arzaba from Mexico
The WYC delegates were dancing
and singing in many languages while
entering the ship and during the
whole trip.The trip started in Eminonu
next to the Galata Tower (Europe)
and from there through the coast of
Uskudar (Asia), finishing in Beykoz.
When the boat approached the
Bosphorus Bridge, words of excite-
ment were heard around the boat
as the bridge changed its color from
blue to green and then to orange.
The lights along the coast were
shining brightly, while strong Turkish
voices and Puerto-Rican drums were
rocking through the boat.
Some of the important places seen
during the trip:
IN ASIA…
The Beylerbeyi palace that was
constructed by the Ottoman Empire;
Kuleli Askeri Lisesi, one of the most
important military schools in Turkey;
the beautıful Boğaziçi and Fatih
To change the world,
change your lifestyle first
By Veerle Joanna Vrindts, Belgium
The images of the Climate Change
conference in Copenhagen in 2009
(COP15) are still fresh in the memory
of many of us: the shivering activists
holding banners before the closed
gates of Bella Center, the arrestations
Free copy
Sultan Mehmet bridges,bringing two
continents together; Anadolu Hisari,
constructed by the Ottoman Sultan
Yildirim Beyazit in order to conquer
Istanbul.
IN EUROPE…
Dolmabahçe Palace, where famous
leader Ataturk had his last breath;
the Ortakoy Mosque, a symbol of
late Ottoman architecture; Çırağan
Sarayı, constructed as a palace and
used as a hotel.
during the peaceful protest,the expec-
tations for ‚Hopenhagen‘ followed
by the complete lack of a binding
agreement.
Continued on Page 2
2 No 3, Istanbul, Wednesday, August 4, 2010
“We need a network
between youth
and the government”
By Wojoud Hasan Mejalli
and Sana‘a from Yemen
Unemployment and political misrepre-
sentation are the major issues facing
the youth, Adrian Bazavan from Roma-
nia said during Monday’s round table
discussion on national youth policies.
These policies and their imple-
mentation are among the issues
being discussed at the World Youth
Congress as most of them are facing
challenges during the current econo-
mic conditions.
“Although Romania has been an EU
member state since 2007, red tape still
prevents young people from working
in other EU countries,” said Andrei
Ionita from Romania.“You need to file
a huge number of documents to get a
job in the EU.”
Adrian Bazavan said policies
should not be only written in docu-
ments as a claim of support but they
should be taken into consideration in
reality and be applied.
Another delegate,Maria Los Angeles
from Honduras, suggested that “poli-
cies should be made according to the
needs and thoughts of the youth, not
the governments.”
Her fellow delegate, Senegalese
Boully Galissa, said that young leaders
had lost hope in politics : “We need
to change that and start creating
as network between youth and the
government.”
The Turkish Ministry of State for
youth is about to launch several
major youth strategies because of the
too many drawbacks found in the
previous one, according to a Turkish
official participating in the meeting.
In the latter’s opinion those drawbacks
include the lack of surveying for
youth issues as Turkey does not have
a national youth survey program. He
added that youth NGO‘s in Turkey lack
funds compared to those in wealthy
countries.
Golda El-Khoury, the Chief of the
UNESCO Section for Youth, Sport
and Physical Education, said there
are a few important questions to be
answered, including how to coordi-
nate between different ministers in a
country to implement youth policies
and have them regulated.
Continued from Page 1
After the COP15,which is referred to
as a ‚catastrophe‘ by commentators,
a lot of young people lost motivation
to fight for a climate change agree-
ment.Why would COP16 in Mexico,
or even Rio+20 in 2012, bring any
results after the failure at Copen-
hagen? During the round table on
the post-Copenhagen challenge,six
panellists shared their outlook on
the future of climate activism and
strategies to save our generation
from the worst consequences of
global warming.
Should we have put our hope on
the Climate Change negotiations
in Copenhagen? According to
Felix Dodds (Stakeholder Forum),
we should not: “The expectations
for the COP15 were too high to
begin with. Even though there
are many great examples that UN
conferences have worked, it is still
the goverments and memberstates
who make the decisions. It seems
like all of us have forgotten how
the US government works. The
NGO‘s should have focused on
the climate scepticism triggers,
like FOX News, to bring a change
into the American public opinion.”
Luis Davila from the United Fra-
mework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) agrees that
young people should know the
position of their own country on
climate change in the first place
and question if it is reflecting what
the people want: “If the govern-
ments think people do not care,
they will not see the urgency of
taking action.”
The youth represented in the
panel tackled the issue on a some-
what more practical level.“As youth
we have to start from ourselves,”
says Vu Lam (Vietnam). “Just by
making small changes in our own
lifestyle,like avoiding air travel and
turning vegetarian, we can con-
tribute without having to wait for
political agreements.” Sarah Came-
ron from the UK sees the problem
in the Big Lie of our society:“We are
brought up to believe that posses-
sing more ‚stuff‘, like iPods, laptops,
cars and daily meat and animal
products makes us happy.This is far
from reality.If you look at the Happy
Planet Index, you see it is not our
consumption of energy,meat or con-
sumer goods that increases our self-
perceived well-being, but having a
close connection with other people
and nature.” Joao Scarpelini from
Brazil agrees: “In the early 2000‘s,
people did see climate change
as a scientifıc thing. The media
attention around COP15 managed
to mainstream the topic. People
are becoming more aware that
climate change is not just another
neglectable threat. Climate change
is about people and how they live.
It is about behaviour, about lifestyle
change,about human rights through
climate justice, about gender and
emancipation of minority groups
in global negotiations. People start
to realize the connections between
their personal choices and the
consequences of their actions, for
example by understanding the link
between factory farming and global
warming.It is up to us to embody the
change we want to see.”
Paradoxally, it is exactly this
kind of ecological awareness
that is lacking during the World
Youth Congress 2010, according
to the panellists. “It is up to the
youth to give the good example
by organizing carbon neutral
events.However,this Congress is not
carbon neutral at all”,states Jeeban
Panthi from Nepal. He reminds the
audience of the glaciers that are
melting in his country, while we
keep barbecueing, using several
plastic water bottles a day and
predominantly go for the non-
vegetarian option at lunch and
diner time. “Of course people do
not like to have to feel limited in
their‚ freedom to consume.” But
is that an excuse for not taking
a personal step to reduce your
own carbon footprint?” says Sarah
Cameron from UK.“Life is not only
about sustaining your own wants,it
is about finding a way to live that is
sustainable for seven billion of us.
This earth has enough resources
for all of us, there is still a way to
prevent the worst consequences
of global warming. A change in
lifestyle is the least we can do to
prevent ourselves and the next
generations from real disasters.”
No 3, Istanbul, Wednesday, August 4, 2010 3

Astonishing Saman IMPRINT

General Media Coordinator

By Audry Maulana from Indonesia Cemil Yücel

The Indonesian dance has thrilled
the participants. Monday evening
Indonesian Delegates performed
two traditional dances from their
Editors in Chief
singing too. And as if that was not delegate from Yemen who attended Maria Kuchma, Russia
enough, the dancers were clapping the performance. “It is something Irina Shuvalova, Russia
their hands to make the atmosphere amazing, because they do not do it Editor Assistant
more energetic. with music at all, only with singing,” Robert Schmidt, Germany

home country at the Sports Hall. “We practically had only two she added. Layout
This was part of the cultural and nights to practice it,” said Shania, Saman Dance was not the only Dumitru Iovu, Moldova

social events. One of them was the
Saman Dance, a traditional dance
that comes from the farthest west of
Indonesia archipelago, Aceh. From
the region that became so popular
because of the shocking earthquake
and tsunami back in 2004 comes
an astonishing traditional dance
that has been here for more than a
thousand years.To perform it, fifteen-
twenty dancers dance in a very
rapid yet harmonious movement.
The Saman Dance needs no music,
there were only two main singers
and the dancers were sometimes
the program coordinator.“While all
other delegates were partying at the
tent, or sleeping in their warm room,
we practiced the Saman Dance at
the Fen Edebiyet Fakultesi building,”
she added.“It was really a hard job,
doing this, but we finally managed
to perform it in front of other dele-
gates coming from all across the
globe” said Shania with a smile.
The result was totally worth it.
“I was fascinated by the timing
the dancer had, it was so fast but
they manage to do everything in
the same time,” said Aarej Haidar, a
performance, all the Indonesian Proof Reader
Cecile Guezennec, France
delegates were also asking the
audience to get up from their chair Photo Editor
Liza Smith, South Africa
and get together with them. They
immediately did the Poco Poco Photographers
Anna Morawiec, Poland
dance together, another traditional Davıd Hiss, Germany
dance from eastern Indonesia. Irina Shuvalova, Russia
Many delegates from the other Facilitators
countries were excited to do this Dumitru Iovu, Moldova
Emre Çalışkan, Turkey
dance. According to Anna Lenna, Fatih Muslu, Turkey
a delegate from Switzerland, it was Mühtan Sağlam, Turkey
very amazing to see many people For more articles and media go to:
from many different cultures doing www.virtualwyc.net
the same dancing together.
All articles do not necessarily repre-
sent the opinions of the magazine.

TRENDS OF CONGRESS:

Tradition vs. Modernity

THE BIG DEAL
By Irina Shuvalova, Russia

All of us, depending on the country

of origin and its culture, have not the
MUHAMADU SANI, GHANA:
In my country, tra-
GABRIELA GUERRERO,ARGENTINA:
In some cases it may REPORTERS
similar point of view on the problem of
saving national traditions and peculi-
dition is very much
respected, we need
be useful. Tradition
has to do with the
WANTED
arities themselves. We tried to feel the to preserve it and past,and every nation
trends by just asking several people keep it for the youn- needs to know its
from different continents,whether it is ger generation.Today past, the roots of that Are you a journalist
or just a participant?
necessary to save traditional culture a lot of people are society. We are very
Do you have a voice?
in modernity and how to make your losing their traditions, especially in the individualistic, and culture can join the
national identity, especially if your Western part, and for me it is not the nation.But that can be tricky,using tradi- Do you have a story to tell?
parents are of different origin. best. But in Africa, I think, we are trying. tion in a weak way can result something Or you just want to say
The world today is becoming a global like Hitler,something very extreme – you how you feel to everyone?
MARIA PIA ESPINEL, PERU: village. But this is irrelevant, because remember, that all just started with If Yes, then become our
First of all I think that we are now one – and it should be one romanticism! SPECIAL REPORTER
it is important for global tradition for everybody.
everyone to have a IGOR DOBROSAVLJEVIC,
Send your materials to:
cultural background, LENKA POLCEROVA, MACEDONIA:
wyc2010@youthpress.org
to know where they CZECH REPUBLIC: I think, it all depends
come from, what to It is quite a difficult on the location of your or better
stand by. In my case, question for me, country, is it in rural bring them to:
I have two types of culture: the ancient because we have of or urban areas. But house C on the map
Library
one about the Incas and also the modern course some traditio- generally the role of 1st floor
culture, the one I have at home, in my nal celebrations like traditional culture is
country and city of Lima. Besides music Easter and Christmas not bad,it depends on Plese make sure your articles
and arts,there are ways of doing things, everywhere, but we how people perceive it. It may be some- are signed with your
Name, Surname and Country
different types of living.If a person is born are not so keen on keeping tradition,as thing unique a country has.It is nice to see
from parents who come from different for example Muslim countries. But we the tradition of the country where you go.It and we will make sure
to find space for them in
cultures, it depends on how they teach still need to be keen on ourselves, our is good for people who are interested.For The Congress Times
a child and where they live. history.If we forget,it is bad for our future. me it is not something exciting.
4 No 3, Istanbul, Wednesday, August 4, 2010

How To Survive on Campus (TIPS THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE DELEGATE HANDBOOK)
By Louise Tan from Malaysia

than you realize. It is the equivalent of

So,we have been here at the 5th World
Youth Congress for five days already,but
most of us are still trying to adjust to life
in a completely new place.Turkish nati-
onals and those from around the region
get on just fine, but the majority of the
delegates here come from countries
and cultures vastly different. However,
even for those familiar with Turkey
and Istanbul, frustration has become
a familiar emotion while on campus.
Despite the organizers’ best efforts, the
problem is that it is extremely difficult
to coordinate, feed and give water to
1,400 people. And so, in order to avoid
the inevitable odd temper tantrum,the
Young Journalists have come up with a
guide intended to help all the delegates
survive - and enjoy - the remainder of
our stay on campus.
BE EARLY
... for EVERYTHING.This is the first and
most important rule if you want to avoid
hair-pulling moments on campus. So
do not just be on time; make an effort
to be ahead of everyone else, be it for
workshops, Aile meetings, buses and
(most important of all) MEALS.
Because if you have not seen the
queues here at mealtimes, you either
do not need to read this guide or you
are a camel. And with relevance to
this point, the next most important
rule of campus survival is...
DO NOT MISS THE BUS
Because campus is just that big. By
now you are probably aware that the
distances between buildings are not
short. If you like long strolls that is fine,
but this is inconvenient when you have
to get to your workshops on time; so
you either catch the bus (be prepared
to squish) or get used to walking.
WEAR YOUR TAG
EVERYWHERE
Your delegate tags are more useful
a Turkish identity card. They simplify
introductions and, when necessary,
help ensure that your name is spelt
correctly. Outside the campus, they
help explain locals what you are doing
in their country. That is one whole
minute of your time saved.
PAY ATTENTION
TO ANNOUNCEMENTS
Informing people of changes in the
congress’ timetable is quite difficult
because of a huge number of dele-
gates. So do pay attention when
announcements are being made, as
well as to pieces of paper pasted up
everywhere. Nobody likes having to
repeat themselves. It would save the
organizers a lot of headache,and make
them a lot more cheerful and willing
to run the congress.
BUY A TURKISH SIM CARD
It would make communication bet-
ween you and your friends, your Aile
members and your leaders easier.
LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE
Preferably Turkish, in this instance.This
is especially useful in emergencies,
especially those involving the bathroom
- which,by the way, is tuvalet in Turkish.
MAKE FRIENDS WITH LOCALS
It works the best.Besides,Turkish people
are incredibly warm and welcoming.
Being a secular state, this also makes
them a lot more open to religious and
racial differences.Be interested in their
wonderful country and historical nati-
onal figures, immerse yourself in their
unique culture, make an effort to learn
their language and communicate with
them. In return,these awesome people
are the ones who will help you when
you need to find something specific,
direct you to your destination and read
the signposts for you. They can also
tell you where to get your necessities,
the best bargains and what places you
must visit.
But the golden rule of survival is this:
SEE THE GLASS AS HALF
FULL
Need we stress what a unique situ-
ation we are in? How many times
in our lives are we going to find
ourselves in one place in a beautiful
country with dynamic young people
from almost every country on the
planet? Do not focus on what is going
wrong, focus on what is right.
Be nice to everyone, and be cheer-
ful all the time. Because appreciating
every waking moment of your time in
Istanbul is what can really help make
your time at the WorldYouth Congress
seem less like a survival boot camp,
and more like one of the best times
of your life.

THE VIRTUAL CONGRESS IS GETTING STARTED!

Several Pictures, Blogs, Videos and Radio Podcasts are already available on the platform.

If you can manage to find an Internet connectıon somewhere, the team of the Virtual Congress would be happy if you could upload your
photos, videos, PowerPoints or Outcomes of your Workshops or whatever that is related to our Congress. Moreover we would be thrilled if
you could write a little blog post yourself or comment on the posts of others.

If you can’t manage to find Internet our doors are open. Find us in the Jumanji something building, (you might know it as C) in room
number D214 on the ground floor where we have several computers that are connected to the Internet.

So get started and check out the Virtual Congress @ www.virtualwyc.net or write to us @ virtual@unitedgames.org