Now for the first informal report about the important meetings.
The Global Young Greens were established in January 2007 with a founding congress in Nairobi, Kenya. We have our own charter, a sweet logo (above) and our own organisational structure. Official congresses are the only body that can make binding decisions, and they are held only once every three years - so the meeting on 29 and 30 April this year was more of an informal sharing of ideas - and contact details.
April 28 saw a lot of the Young Greens arriving in the São Paulo Hostel Downtown - run by the YHA, and near the defacto centre of São Paulo. It was great having everyone in the same place - and I knew straight away that I struck lucky with my roomie. We met a few of our new friends, had a few drinks, then slept off the jetlag.
The first day of planned activities was 29 April, and we got a room in some local Government building. We did introductions with those who were there - and quickly found out how many Taiwanese had come (over 20). There were people from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and other places - but this was only the first group. There were more to arrive for the second day, and unfortunately not many Africans were there as they were having important African Greens meetings - though there were a couple represented. And of course we had lots of brilliant Brazilians showing us where to go. This day was really just workshops - sharing ideas, facts and thoughts on things such as Carbon Trading, deforestation, indigenous rights and so on. I took notes if anyone's interested.
That night about six foreigners, and like all the young Brazillians went to Bar Brahma, for dancing to live music and drinking.
Next day saw us move to the basement of some old church building on Ave Paulista (photos are ready to put up when I'm able). This day had more people and was more formal. We even got to start wearing the interpreter headphones, which magically translated any foreign languages. We shared what we are doing in our countries, our opinions on certain issues, and then crafted a draft point for the Global Greens 21 actions for the 21st Century about young people. It was a crash-course in consensus decision making (of which I have mental notes that I can share if anyone's interested) and we came up with something pretty good in the end.
After another fast and busy day, we went back to the hostel and then went to a Samba club, which I blogged about in my last post. It was on this day and night that friendships really started to be consolidated - after only about two days. It's so great that people from all over the world can become friends so quickly - and share a similar, but equally diverse view of the world. We were definitely a shining example for the older Greens.
Speaking of which, the next day we started to mingle with them. Some of us were delegates, others merely representatives supporting our delegates (such as myself) or people with other groups. But we always had each other to rely on for friendly conversation, and scheming plans. And to party with. And therefore to be late to the conference with the next day. We even shared a cold amongst most of us!
The Global Young Greens meeting itself wasn't the most organised affair in the world - but given the distances involved in communication, and the fact that it was all free and all organised with voluntary labour, those involved did an amazing job and I'm eternally grateful to them. However, any lack of organisation should be a cry out for those who are interested to get involved in a fledgling but immensely important group. You make amazing friendships, learn a lot, and most importantly can contribute to the change in the climate politics and the global paradigm shift we so desperately need. Just remember that "Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. Everyone must play a part." (Thanks Gil Scott Heron for that quote).
I will blog about the Global Greens side of things another day, as it's getting late and I'm hogging the computer.
