Young people should serve on the front lines of political change, said Senator-elect and First Lady Hillary Clinton via satellite to a crowd of 40 student leaders at the School of Management last night.
“If young people are not organized to participate — if they are not organized on their own behalf — then they will not influence the outcome,” Clinton said.
Clinton fielded questions about issues such as education policy and censorship posed by high school student-leaders from around the nation in the opening ceremony for “Tomorrow’s Leaders,” a three-day conference seeking to stamp out indifference among the world’s youth.
Experts on education such as Boston University Chancellor John Silber and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education Norma Cantu addressed students’ concerns about issues such as the uneven distribution of funding for education and the media’s role in making young people indifferent. They also philosophized about the roots of indifference and ways to galvanize youth activism.
Holocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel likened the indifferent person to a hollow shell. The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity sponsored the event.
“Indifference is not only a sin — it is a punishment,” Wiesel said. “Nothing exists for the indifferent person. The whole world is dead to him.”
BU President Jon Westling said while the 20th century was one during which indifference flourished, the gathered activists could enact change.
“It turns out that when confronted with savagery and cruelty, men and women whom we otherwise respected were able to shock us with their indifference,” Westling said.
Calling indifference “the essence of inhumanity,” Silber said political indifference was in part due to the two major political parties economically backing their candidates before the public had a chance to assess them.
“Political parties have changed our democracy to an oligarchy of media and money,” Silber said. “Both parties made it clear they don’t give a damn [about public opinion].”
Clinton said indifference may manifest itself in low voter turnout and that the media has all too much influence on public opinion.
“I am, like you, very troubled that most of our citizens don’t vote,” Clinton said. “Young people need to motivate one another. One of the things I plan to do as senator is look for ways that are constitutional and appropriate to increase voter turnout. We also need to reign in some of the excesses of the media.”
Over the next two days, high schoolers devoted to humanitarian causes, who have done everything from serving on the Red Cross Youth Board to raising money for rural Nicaragua, will meet with experts and share strategies for promoting youth activism.
Through forums addressing issues such as “What encourages young people to become engaged in social change?” and “How do young people overcome barriers such as violence, poverty and family instability?” organizers said they hope to encourage dialogue “between young participants and inspirational role models.”
Participants were flown in Saturday for a three-day “pre-conference” of getting-to-know-you events.
“When boarding the plane in Louisiana, I had no idea of the intensity this conference would bring,” said Randi Schamerhorn, a senior at Simpson High School in Leesville, La. “I have met so many influential individuals. With this conference, we are hoping we can spread our activism throughout the country.”
A number of students said they hope to partner with other leaders and expand their local movements.
Albert Leung, a junior at Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, Calif., vice president of his school’s chapter of Amnesty International, said he hopes by collaborating at the conference to find ways to ship used books to children in Africa.
“My goal is to empower youth with knowledge of the political system in order to facilitate their activism and through that, change how politicians and the media perceive youth,” said Jonathan Camp, a senior at East High School in Lincoln, Neb.
Wiesel told the students they were not just guests, but “allies” as well.
“If asked where is my hope, I would say it is here under this roof, in this room,” Wiesel said.
The conference was the second of its kind. The first, held in Venice in 1995, brought together youth leaders from all over the world to meet with politicians including Clinton. Yesterday marked the reunion of a handful of participants from the first conference, including those who previously sparred with Clinton over a lack of U.S. aide in Third World countries.
According to Conference Director David Phillips, the conference is the first step toward a bigger plan: establishing a “Youth Initiatives Commission,” which would pool the recommendations from the students and disseminate them to policy makers.
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