by Ines Caloisi
The project was an extremely interesting stimulus to look at the stories, the stories of the new young Europeans, it opened our eyes to realities that we did not know, highlighting the human aspect and the resulting political and social difficulties. We realised that Europe is increasingly changing, young Europeans come from every country in the world. The stories they tell of parents who have always come to Europe with the idea of living a better life. It is no coincidence that, on paper, we, as Europe, are an example of respect for rights, certainly more so than many countries in the world, including the USA, a great democracy, where the death penalty still applies in some states. Young people see Europe and what the EU represents as an opportunity, although we do not always respond adequately to these expectations. In fact, differences between States in the management of young people with migration backgrounds have emerged, differences that make us reflect and are well illustrated in the Manifesto that young people have drawn up and that they have brought to the attention of European, local and national institutions through this project.
For our part, we will continue to seize in European programmes an opportunity to promote European policies also aiming to strengthen their action, to involve young people to make them architects of their lives, placing ourselves, as adults, and for this I thank all those who have participated in developing this project action, as references, continuing to put ourselves at stake, to listen to young people, and as observers to carry out instances, together with them, to provide tools to the most interested so that they can be architects of their path and can assert their rights and achieve their aspirations.
We all believe that Europe is an extraordinarily rich ground, but we also hope that Europe will begin to open up more, that it will act both as a beacon and as a bridge to promote projects with the countries of the East too, because it is a time of contamination, because the laws of mobility bring young people together at global level and we must be prepared to accept the consequences. A “contaminatio” of Latin origins, which creates communion of knowledge between people beyond geographical and cultural affiliations.
The experience of #covid19 that we are living through raises questions for us, it is clear that, beyond the political-institutional barriers, it is a problem that has involved everyone without exclusion, I personally believe it is crucial to open ourselves to a new communion between peoples by redefining the concept of East and West, built on a history and geopolitical balance of superpowers totally redefined.
We will therefore write and promote new projects in which our Ambassadors can continue to have their say. We hope that Europe will follow us.
An ebook about RAYSE project will be available soon!