juntos en accion - together in action - agir ensemble

Background

We (the IYCW) are an international movement of young workers, who need to define ourselves as a movement of action and formation in our globalised world .

India is a nation changing rapidly and is immersed in the culture of globalisation . It is relevant that we will be there for our World Council in 2008; a council to evaluate our action, its impact, and how to strengthen and develop this in the future. We need to become fully aware of the environment in which we are meeting, in India as well as in our home countries, and make the connections between our reality, our action and this globalised society.

As a movement, we need to see how we live a positive alternative form of a globalised world: to define ourselves as a global MOVEMENT as distinct from a global corporation.

• A council that is a process of strengthening the action – as part of the day to day work of the national movements – with a strong process of preparation towards the council and for the implementation of the decisions after the council.
• A council that is creating/struggling towards a horizontal coordination: a coordination that creates space for greater participation of leaders at the base, that creates a greater sense of a being an international movement among the national movements. This needs to become the future direction of the movement, not only lived throughout the council
• A council that reflects also the local community (India) – giving attention to the reality of women workers and dalit reality in India, India as a new global actor within globalisation, and IYCW as an international movement. We want to see how the council can raise awareness towards YCW India, towards the society of India, and towards the delegates of national movements in the Council, of the reality of the people of India and the link with work.

Our Priorities...

Action: We want to change society!

• We want to be a counterforce to the type of globalisation we see. We want to LIVE this counterforce through our action, our activists, our type of movement – our spirituality.
• We want to discover what defines us, what motivates us to become this “counterforce”, in a POSITIVE way – a living alternative form of global movement. This will give us a basis for other discussions we so often confront within our movement and among other organisations, and sets ourselves with a vision for our future to define ourselves clearly within the Church, in relation to the role of Adult Suporters etc.
• We want to focus on a participative process through action, and not to see the Council as “just another meeting”. The council needs to be seen as a process of strengthen in the action – not as a separate structural meeting. We want to avoid a council that is simply structural.
• The action needs to develop on basis of our strengths – on the basis of the evaluation of what we have done.
• We see the need for women as leaders in society, active in the YCW, and able to fully participate in the IYCW. We see this needs to start with the IYCW commitment to this (perhaps working towards a “Charter for Women Workers within the IYCW” is a step in the process we could define more clearly during the Council)
• We need to give attention to the lived reality of young workers in the informal economy: A huge percentage of young workers are part of this sector: 90% of the African economy is organized in this way.
• We need to talk about our VISION in our campaign demands, and not about the PROBLEM. For example, our action campaign is not “Informal economy” but “Social security for All”. We want to be practical in our approach, with positive campaign demands as the 'title' of our campaigns
• Finances – it's a key-issue for our future. We have to make sure that finance is really linked to the action. We want to see more finance directly linked with the plan of action of our campaigns, rather than the linked directly with the activity of regional/ continental teams and coordination structures.
• We would like to invite a reference from India to be like a patron of the council: Metha Patkar (Indian woman activist leader of the anti-big-dams-, globalisation-movement) is someone we have identified who could motivate and inspire action using her own lived example, and who could give a face and draw media attention to the council.
• It's important to be very clear which kind of plan we want as a result of the council.– what we have now is a very specific world working towards a plan of globalisation that exploits, and our plan needs to tackle this reality.
• It's important that we develop ownership for the plan among the movements and have a clear process with them towards developing this plan. Even more importantly, we want a plan that is clear, specific and able to be clearly implementated within the national movements.

Coordination: towards a horizontal coordination:

• We see the need for a coordination that develops the links between national movements, - that is dynamic, young, that is relevant to the action of national movements, that promotes confrontation and dialogue between the movements themselves. What we see currently is a structure of coordination that gives a sense of “hierarchy” and a “vertical” link from base to international team which is lacking important connections BETWEEN the movements that give them an international identity. We need a coordination that facilitates the dialogue and action of the movements, the strengthening of a dynamic interaction between national movements
• We are forced to reduce our current coordination in order to continue to function. We see that we need to also adjust our organisational structures according to developments in the society – such as technology in communication.
• We see a need to elect “international leaders” and need to reflect on what this can mean – perhaps based more on the need in the action and campaign and its direction, rather than to represent the region in which the coordinator is coming from.

Results that we expect from this council:

• Positive demands and campaign titles
• Clarity of our movement as a “counterforce” and our spirituality within that
• Confidence and strength in our method of work
• Coordination plan that fits the reality, that is linking national movements: “horizontal”

Means for these results:

• We need an analysis and understanding of India, the dalit reality, young women workers, workers in the informal economy etc. We need also a process of preparation. India YCW has already started a process to elaborate their analysis, which will be developed together with the international movement.
• The international team and national movements need to do a in-depth evaluation of the coordination in order to see that we adapt our coordination to the reality of our society and our movement. We want to refer also to outside references that could help us discover new ideas, vision, means, etc.
• We want to accompany the national movements to elaborate a description of their action with a questionnaire, with all aspects included such as the training process, the steps in the action, the task of education, the use of the method of review and plan of action, the finance. With this information we develop the foundation of the Council and share the reflection with the movements with the question: “what is the implication of this for the international movement?” A form (questionnaire) for the preparation of the national movements needs to include a question of the future plans of the national movements. We ask for the continuity of the actions – the plan can only be developed after the council!
• We want to develop the capacity of the leaders to engage with media and utilise tools (such as website, press, promotional items) in order to have a mass outreach as a movement and to publicise the council and our vision.

Bridget Rauch
Secretary General of the IYCW