Thank you. I am very grateful for this gift and for the opportunity to stand
here today. I admire how ACS values peace, and has encouraged people like you
and me to think about its meaning and implications. I am glad to be here and
look forward to sharing some of my work and beliefs with you.
I love cows. Cows are beautiful, simple and admittedly lazy animals. In India
we have two cows named Luxmi and Gowri, along with their calfs Rosemary and
SuperStar. I used to rise early in the morning to milk the cows in my spare
time together with a Tamil woman called Martha. It was not always an enjoyable
task due to Luxmi's short temper and the pleasure she found at kicking us.
But every day, we managed to get a few litres of warm fresh milk.
I value my time in the cow shed. I value it not because milking cows is a
useful skill, but because I was able to spend time with Martha. Martha's life
is very different from mine. She barely has enough money to send her kids to
school and lives with a husband who frequently beats her. In the cow shed,
we used to chat about the latest Tamil music from the films Padaiyappa and
Ninaivirukkum varai. We used to prepare the cows for the festival of Mathu
Pongal, a day where the cows are decorated and honoured. This illiterate woman
has been in some ways my teacher. Martha is one of my friends and has opened
up my world.
The life-long process of peace boils down to relationships. Relationships
in which we recognize the forces that draw us together as the human race, and
the preciousness of our differences. Many people define peace as the absence
of conflict; the opposite of war. For me, this isn't accurate. The essence
of peace is reciprocal kindness. It is an attitude which starts within each
of us, whether we work in a cow shed or in the United Nations.
The work I am involved in falls under what has largely become known as the
Youth Movement. The Youth Movement is an avenue for young people to take part
in the process of peace. With the help of some revolutionary technology, youth
today are uniting to take an active role in shaping the future of their planet.
My involvement began about a year ago, when I attended the Junior Summit 1998
hosted by the Media Lab of MIT. It was an event which brought 94 kids from
54 countries together for 5 days. The Junior Summit was set up to allow young
people to express their hopes and visions for the future. Six months prior
to the climax in Boston, we were connected through the Internet, where we were
divided into different "topic groups" ranging from child labour to
nuclear warfare, from ozone depletion to racism. We formulated action plans
of what we, as kids using technology could achieve. At the end of the week,
we presented these plans to the United Nations General Assembly and an assortment
of business, intellectual and political leaders. We believe that technology,
accompanied by careful planning, extensive thought, and lots of committment
and follow-through CAN make the world a better place.
The Junior Summit left me with several prominent impressions. The first is
that there are youth, right now, taking positive action spontaneously in their
part of the world. It was inspiring to hear the story of Hamida, a girl who
lived in a slum area of Dhaka Bangladesh, getting trained as a photo-journalist
and going around publicizing child labour in her area. There was Nick in Melbourne
Australia, coordinating a network for young teenagers, who published a book
about how to "dive into" the Internet. There was Sasha in the Ukraine
and Yi-ting Li in China and Jaqueline in Canada and Nicole in Jamaica, all
working on ways to improve their parts of the world.
The other feeling I had was utmost awe. Here we were, sitting in Boston with
different hair styles, different skin colors, different backgrounds, and different
amounts of money in our pockets. And yet at the end of five days, we were the
best of friends, crying as we flew home to every corner of the planet. What
was the magic that brought us together like that? It was the realization that
we all belong to one species. Even youth from supposed enemy countries like
India and Pakistan became best of friends. We had understood something very
important: that the key to cross-cultural relationships is friendship based
on reciprocal kindness.
If there was one theme running through all of our action plans of the Junior
Summit, it was that there is power when you connect young people together.
We had experienced it ourselves at MIT, but that was just for a couple of adrenaline-packed
days. What if we could connect people from around the world in a more permanent
way?
When I was in 4th grade, I remember designing my "dream house" in
Art Class. It was the most radical-badical awesomest coolest house in the world:
with swimming pools, elevators, and phantom jets designed by Calvin & Hobbes.
This is similar to what we are doing now: designing our "dream network." The
big difference is that I know Nation1 can and will happen, but I'll probably
never have an airport on the roof of my house.
Let me try to illustrate what one area of Nation1 could look like. Suppose
that there's a sixteen year old girl sitting in the middle of Mozambique. Thanks
to her school, she has an Internet connection. The girl loves to read, and
has recently heard about some nasty old debts her country has to big Western
Nations, which have been preventing the provision of better education facilities.
She wants her voice to be heard about that, and also is a little bit lonely
in her small school.
One day she hears about Nation1, and signs up.
After familiarising herself with the ways of the country, she decides to dive
right into the debt issue. By typing in a few words and clicking a button,
she soon discovers that there are already several active youth-led campaigns
to end third-world debt. With the click of another button, she joins one of
the groups. They are just about ready to launch a major opinion poll throughout
Nation1. Within the next few weeks, tens of thousands of responses are tallied
automatically, resulting in an almost unanimous voice of young people calling
for the cancellation of the debts. The results funnel into the international
press. Then, with the help of some professional lobbyists and experienced adult
activists, the group sends out the resolution to various corporations, NGOs
and well-known personalities through their Nation1 liaisons. After gathering
many endorsements, the petition passes on to the United Nations and to different
government headquarters. By this time, the girl has made very good friends
with a person sitting in Indonesia, and together they go off and start another
project to set up a homeless center for war victims in Mozambique and East
Timor.
The scope of what the Nation1 network can provide is mind-boggling. I just
gave you a simple example. The possibilities of the support and empowerment
technology can provide are enormous. From major referendums, to actual finances
available for local projects, from joining schools together to finding an adult
mentor, Nation1 will be a powerful tool. But the essence is relationships.
The Junior Summit was a big gift for me. Why? Not because I got a free trip
in a big jet plane, but because I made some wonderful friends, people who share
my passions and interests. Nation1 is being constructed to allow those girls
in Mozambique and Indonesia to become friends, and work together with thousands
of others to take positive action.
That's the dream. Where are we now? Our constitution, which I drafted, comes
into effect July 1st, 2000. There's nine months between now and then. This
month we are working on a major outreach to youth, youth organizations, programmers,
adult mentors, and financial sponsors. When I attended The Hague Appeal for
Peace last May, it was surprising to find so many youth groups sharing similar
goals, all working separately. If youth are going to gain a say in the world,
it is imperative that we join forces. During these coming months, people from
all areas of the youth movement will come together to create the blueprint
of our dream network and then transform it into real programming code. Calvin
and Hobbes had their transmogrifier machines (aka cardboard boxes) to make
their phantom jets fly. Luckily, the combination of technology and youth energy
will suffice to enable our visions to take off.
The network's first real use will be at the International Youth Parliament
to be held one year from now in Sydney, Australia. Nation1 will provide the
means for delegates to be chosen, to "meet" before-hand, and to follow
through commitments made at the two week conference on young people's role
in poverty, culture and conflict. There is also a possibility that Nation1
will provide the networking aspect of the first Children's United Nations to
be held in New York next year. At the present we are working with MIT's Media
Laboratory, OneDay Foundation, UNICEF's Voices of Youth, Oxfam Australia among
others. This list will grow as we collaborate with many more people committed
to making this network happen.
I believe in Nation1 and I believe in the youth movement. It is my hope that
the first electronic nation ever will enable human beings from all over the
planet to share, learn from each other, resolve conflicts, have fun, and grow
into more sensitive people. If there's anything I've learned from the friendships
I've made in the youth movement, it is that world peace boils down to relationships.
Relationships sustained by reciprocal kindness. Whether you work in the United
Nations, or in a cow shed.
Thank you.
