Bahrain Conference Part Two

Reflecting back on the Kiev 'World Movement for Democracy' conference and the UNESCO one I am currently attending, I've come to the conclusion that one of the facets of such conferences is the issues of status. They have well defined pecking orders, and are in many ways an opportunity for people to demonstrate their status to others. The declared purpose of these conferences (building democracy in the case of Kiev and reducing the violent radicalisation of youth in terms of Bahrain) is in some senses secondary to this status agenda - and creates problems of congruence - conferences on democracy that are not run democratically and conferences on youth where young people and their voices are absent (even when they are physically present).

This latter point is interesting - as the youth who attend these events are already the elite - and exceptional also in the sense that most young people would not put attending conferences very high on their list of priorities! Even still, this group is nonetheless marginalised and somewhat patronised at the conference. For example on the programme, the names of all the auspicious presidents and sheiks are highlighted. The youth contributions are only labeled as 'youth testimonies' - and when the programme got tight, it was these that were sacrificed.

So the key to attending such events is to be aware of these dynamics and to make them work for you. The best moments are generally the meetings between people outside of the formal sessions, and the contacts made and developed. It is also (given the status issue) a great way to get your work into the sigh-line of influential people - or at least into their peripheral vision.

Another interesting tension in Bahrain (and Kiev) is the relationship between the local and the global. One young Bahraini activist complained articulately that local organisations were largely absent from the event - apart from the local iterations of global franchises (Young Enterprise/Injaz, AIESEC, YAL and so on). On the one hand, such high level meetings have to filter, and cannot possibly include every organisation (either local or otherwise), and so will move to what is familiar and what has 'global' reach. As a global conference, in some senses the local context is less important, and for the global 'brands' the local factors are minimised in favour of shared elements. However, again in terms of the espoused theme, local knowledge - particularly in terms of the realities and norms of young people's lives, is essential to the reduction of extremism or the engagement of youth.

In Bahrain Contemplating Conferences...

I'm in Manama, Bahrain - a place I knew nothing of until a few weeks back, for an international conference, hosted by UNESCO and entitled 'Youth at the Crossroads - a Future Without Violent Radicalisation'. Manama is hot and dusty, but otherwise could be anywhere as the delegates are from all over the world, the courteous and friendly hotel staff are mostly from the Philippines and the hotel is a fairly standard 4 star with rooms much like hotel rooms anywhere else I've been to (thought better than Kiev!)..

I'm not ungrateful for the opportunity - UNESCO are picking up the tab, and have asked me to present for 10 minutes (which just got cut back to 8!) on our work at a session with 4 other groups (more on this tomorrow).

Still, I have been doing a lot of thinking recently - about the amount of time people like me spend traveling around the world (HUGE carbon BOOTPRINT - I know!) attending these events. I can't help thinking it is an enormous waste. The most useful things that come out of them in my experience are (in order of impact) - meeting other people with whom you want to work (somewhat random in terms of who you actually meet), the occasional speech or workshop that give you new ideas or perspectives, and the chance to understand other cultures and perspectives better.

I suppose the experience of our 'Contested Spaces' events over the past few years have left me impatient. There are better ways to achieve the outcomes that most people value these events for. A lot of the time you are waiting, bored or listening to poor translation (or good translation of poor stuff!). Why not focus on the meeting of people, the development of ideas and maybe even putting some of the huge resource expended on flights and hotels into collaborative projects and work on the ground?

Anyway, got to get dolled up to meet His Excellency Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa - the Minister of Foreign Affairs! I'll continue the rant tomorrow...