Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

All of my hopes for the future from this
perspective seem to be an illusion. They
seem to be a remote reality, almost impossible,
almost unrealistic. And what is next? I
still live in the present, and though I am
young, my attitude forces me to create ideas
for myself and for the future. But what is
the reality? Can we create the future by ourselves?
Unfortunately others do that for us.
Others decide on our future. Others have
taken the right to destroy our youth, our
happiness, to determine our path. And
where that path leads to, they do not know.
Have we reached for the future of those
who reach for our youth now? Who will
inherit the future if our generation takes the
path to self-destruction or if we seek happiness
outside the borders of our country?
You will not find the future if you dial 0500,
the future is within every young person.
(The author is a senior
at the Law Faculty)
To be an optimist? I can still do it!
54
We understand the language of hate, but we do not speak
that language, nor do we want to learn it
Sead Dzhigal
When we are asked, "How
do you, the young people, see
your near future-your tomorrow
that's coming up? What do you
expect your life with others to
be like?" We simply stop and
respond to the elders, Please,
gentlemen, we never learned
that lesson and we cannot
respond to those questions!
Only until yesterday the socalled
others were not the others.
They were us. Until yesterday,
when we were starting a
conversation with somebody,
we did not ask, "What are
you?" If we liked a girl, we did
not wonder, "Is she maybe one
of them?" When we made our
teams to play basketball we
never cared about the identity,
when we shopped at the market
we never asked whose kiosk
that was… That's how it was
yesterday, that's how it will be
tomorrow. If we make it
through today.
It is true that young people
are as confused as everyone
else. It is also true that many of
us, not expecting what happened,
have positioned ourselves
one against the other in a
wicked manner of mutual
hatred. It is also true that reason
has the right to speak after irrationality
gets tired. But please,
why should we fail that exam?
We understand the language of
hate, but we do not speak that
language, nor do we want to
learn it. Hate is a feeling that
denigrates both the subject and
object of the hatred. Hatred is
only a transformation of feelings
of ignorance and fear of
knowing the other. And we do
not consider ourselves ignorant
or afraid, closed or speechless.
It is illogical for us to sit in
front of the computer and to
communicate with people hundreds
or thousands of miles
away from us, and at the same
time not to communicate with
our neighbours, colleagues,
partners, friends. That simply
cannot be. We refuse to take
part in that soundless, black and
white movie of hatred. A movie
of the destruction and horror of
human existence. We want to
eliminate that temptation and
we want to spare our children
from it. We want to erase it
without bothering to send it to
the recycle bin.
Youth and crisis, October 2001