When addressing global religious issues, typically the conversation is left to the religious leaders. While there is a need for religious leaders to convene on vital topics, the long history of this format of interfaith dialogue has revealed its shortcomings.
When religious division becomes communal violence, this breakdown usually is a product of youth mobilization. Even with older leadership, those who commit acts of violence in the name of their God are generally young people who have been marginalized and misled to believe that violence is the only method left for them to become stakeholders in their communities.
The response to such violence is typically inadequate, with yet another joint session of religious leaders, whose agreements and discourse will rarely make any real impact in the communities they represent. In short, old people talking will never combat young people taking action.
Recently, there have been strides forward in youth mobilization. Eboo Patel has become a pioneer in amplifying the voice of youth regarding religion in the public sphere through the Interfaith Youth Core, and many other organizations have developed youth networks to mobilize behind interfaith missions. There are even a growing number of young social entrepreneurs launching their own initiatives, such as Joshua Stanton from the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. I consider myself a part of this movement, with the youth mobilization that fuels World Faith, the interfaith community service organization I lead. However, all of us youth have felt either patronized or completely disregarded when it comes to actual representation and real discourse in addressing the vital issues we face.
A prime example of this occurred just three weeks ago, at the annual United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a youth participant, I was was impressed by the presence of youth in their programming, including a Youth Forum in the days leading up to the conference. The UNAOC has made youth engagement a focal point of its mission, and it has even supported youth causes through the Youth Solidarity Fund. Being that the United Nation's Year of the Youth is about to begin, it all seemed appropriate.
The youth recommendations from the Youth Forum were to be read during the main plenary session, addressing the present world leaders, such as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, President Lula da Silva of Brazil, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, and several others. In their speeches leading up to the recommendation, they all heralded the voice of the youth, and how we must be heard amongst the stakeholders addressing religious and cultural division.
So it came as a bit of a shock when the decision was made to cancel the youth recommendations at the end of the session. To reiterate my point, these world leaders essentially said, "We need to listen to the voice of the youth," and then blatantly ignored it only minutes later.
While this sort of disregard for the youth has never shocked me from high-level policy makers, other youth participants were furious. A group of us banded together and drafted a press release, which essentially shared our frustration regarding the cancellation of the youth recommendations. We agreed to make the statement as young professionals, rather than to openly demonstrate in a way that would only make the youth look more juvenile to those from whom we were demanding respect.
By the time the recommendations had been rescheduled the next day, it was too late. Fifty youth participants had gathered in the main hall and began demonstrating. While several of us refrained from taking part, a majority of the youth present shouted and marched, amid confused delegates and unimpressed journalists. While I believe this did nothing to improve the image of youth to those who ignored us, it raised a relevant question: Are we not shouting loud enough, or are you just not listening?
I think the answer lies with our elder allies. Until more non-youth leaders turn to the youth as equitable partners in addressing religious and cultural tension on a global scale, youth involvement will be limited to unproductive demonstrations instead of powerful world movements.