«Youth Dialogue»: a radio programme launched by Pal-Think to promote peaceful dialogue

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies launched the programme “Youth Dialogue” within the project “Preparing Young Leaders”, which aims to build young leaders in Palestinian society, develop their capacities toward the society's development and progress, and enable them to play their part in decision-making — a continuation of Pal-Think's role in graduating a generation of young people versed in the skills of critical thinking and in accepting others with their different views.

The “Youth Dialogue” programme comes to discuss different ideas and views through debates and dialogues, to widen mutual understanding on community issues, especially those of youth.

The first episode on the local Zaman radio was titled “Have the education systems strengthened the values of dialogue among Palestinian youth?”, hosting youth activist Reem al-Khalili, a graduate of Pal-Think's “Preparing Young Leaders” programme, and Dr Bassam Saeed, academic and researcher in community affairs.

Al-Khalili began her dialogue by speaking, as a young Palestinian woman, about the education systems and strategies followed in Palestine, the obstacles facing students, and their effect in denying the opportunity for dialogue among youth — noting that civil-society institutions contribute to solving these obstacles by opening opportunities for young people to express themselves through varied activities and integrating them into community work. She commented on the curriculum's role in strengthening the language of dialogue between generations, saying “the curriculum calls for dialogue in theory, but in practice this is not carried out”, and added that the universities must activate student-council elections, through which the way will open for constructive dialogue among students and for supporting them in carrying their voice to decision-makers.

Al-Khalili also spoke of the role of debates as one of the peaceful means of dialogue, and that this mode of discussion should be followed among all groups.

For his part, Dr Saeed spoke about the curriculum and courses and the practice of the respect for opinions they call for, noting there is constant contention here: we always observe that the dialogues among students themselves and with academics lack an organised, logical method, which obstructs reaching satisfactory results.

He also spoke of the effect of the absence of the culture of dialogue in increasing conflicts and crises; the mechanisms of strengthening the culture of dialogue, acceptance of the other, and cultural diversity across the generations; how to begin strengthening that culture; and the importance of defining dialogue and its foundations to ease the work of strengthening it.

The second episode, titled “Youth political participation”, hosted the lawyer and youth activist Fayeq Mohsen — likewise a graduate of Pal-Think's “Preparing Young Leaders” programme — and Dr Mahmoud Issa, researcher in economic and development issues.

Mohsen began by speaking of his experience in the “Preparing Young Leaders” programme and the mechanisms followed in implementing it. He also spoke of Palestinian society as a young society and the importance of youth's role in political participation and their reaching the positions that allow them to make decisions; of youth mobilisation as a form of political participation; and of the necessity of political awareness for achieving sustainable political development.

In an intervention, the project coordinator at Pal-Think, Sally al-Sammak, spoke of Pal-Think's role in equipping young people with life skills, bringing them to a high level of knowledge that enables them to contribute to decision-making. She pointed to the Preparing Young Leaders programme and its aim, and the debates the young people carried out in all governorates of the Gaza Strip — noting the debates' role in strengthening the culture of dialogue and rational discourse among youth, especially as most young people in the Gaza Strip lack the language of dialogue and reject the other because of the hate speech and fanaticism resulting from the political division; this programme came to instil the culture of peaceful dialogue among youth through debates that teach them the use of logical arguments to build a balanced, scientific discourse.

For his part, Dr Issa spoke of the definition of youth political participation, the right of political participation for youth and its content, the importance of youth participation in political life and its effect on their political awareness and on achieving the society's comprehensive development — pointing to the most important right: standing and voting in the Palestinian elections.

He addressed the foremost obstacles and challenges of political participation, touching on the weakness of youth participation at the level of parliament, the universities, the syndicates, and the municipalities — noting the division's effect in this weakness and the restriction of freedoms, and the necessity of unifying efforts to end the division first, so that activating youth political participation at every level becomes easier, contributing to solving Palestinian society's crises.