International Youth Conference 2022 – For Democracy and Against Authoritarianism
The overall assignment during the International Youth Conference was to develop tangible proposals for how to empower people and innovate democracy. Too many citizens of the world are unheard or excluded from representative democracy, while authoritarian regimes cynically manipulate and roll back democratic processes. Today’s societal challenges, be it the Iranian regime’s merciless treatment of protesting women, Russia’s outrageous attack on Ukraine, the climate crisis, global migration, nationalism and populism, or digitalization and social media developments, must be met with the persistent strengths of an open, lively democracy that actualizes citizens’ political equality, empowerment, participation, and emancipation in new ways.
Young minds are indispensable when innovating democracy for a brighter future. The specific goal was to end the last conference day with a preliminary report and convey the gist of such report through a live, ten-minute slide presentation at the public hybrid event Gothenburg Democracy Talks, as well as capably respond to questions in the open floor discussion that followed.