Wednesday 9 October 2013

Social Justice Conference

In accordance with the idea of experiential learning, from the 23rd - 25th of September, we had a Social Justice Conference at AC. Basically for the whole week, lessons came to a standstill as all the 2nd years went off for challenge camp and all us first years attended a three day Social Justice Conference. I was looking forward to the conference, not just because we had no codes, could wake up and hour later and had sosh on a Wednesday after the conclusion of the conference, but because the many of the second years had said that out of all the conferences they had attended, this had been their favourite. 

On Monday, we started the conference with a talk by a guest speaker from UWC USA. I am very ashamed to say that despite the great impact she made on me, I can't remeber her name. I would argue though that that shows how good a speaker she was - that though her name has been misplaced so deeply in the bank of memories in my head, her message remains at the forefront of my mind. During her speech she made a number of extremely important and relevant points. But the one I feel was key is her belief that 'to have social justice, you have to pay attention'. 

Following that, we were split into groups and then went for student-led (in this case 2nd year-led) activities. My group first played a few icebreakers and got to know each other better, because believe it or not, I still can't remember some of my co-year's names. Following that, we shared a bit about our views on social justice and what it meant to us personally. The wonderful thing about sharing is that it gives you so many different and unique perspectives on something that seems unbelievably simple. The next task was for us to write a poem on where we came from. We all set off, pens a-scribbling  to let flow our river of thoughts on our homelands. Afterwards, we were invited to share our poems with everyone in our groups. My group members were all pretty spontaneous and I had the privilege of listening to everybody's poems. They were all so good. The beauty of it was that by neglecting the need to put extra effort to the rhythm or rhyme of the poem, and rather just being brutally honest, the poems all turned out so good. In each of them, the raw emotion and honesty could be felt, bringing out the true power of the poems.

Afterwards, we attended another talk, this time on the social justice of the cyberspace. The speaker (whose name once again I fail to recall) was an ex-journalist and television reporter and presenter. With his highly media-based background, he was able to share his clear, inside view on the role of the internet on our lives and the need to guard ourselves against the follies of the world wide net. We discussed topics such as government surveillance, highly dangerous websites and the power and danger of online campaigns, especially in conflict-ridden countries. 

The following day, we started with a project known as a Marketplace of Ideas which was very aptly conducted in one of the most modern venues we have on campus, the Glassroom of the St. Donat's Arts Centre. The concept of the Marketplace is that anyone has the freedom to go up and propose and idea for discussion. And just like a marketplace, the 'customers' are free to decide to who and what they want to spend on. I attended three different discussions during the three hours we spent there. They were on the North and South Korean conflict, the Fukushima Nuclear plant and finally internet piracy. I also led a discussion on the importance of rehabilitating veterans and the need for proper compensation (albeit not just monetary) for their fallen soldiers families as well.


The final two sessions were on talks held by a variety of speakers. I went for a talk by a representative from Save the Children, an organisation who's mission is focused on protecting the rights of children in countries caught in conflict. I was greatly moved by the charity and will include a link to a song by Ellie Goulding called I Know You Care which you can buy and the money will be donated to the organisation. The next talk I attended was held by second years who were involved in the S.T.A.R. project that my school works in conjunction with. The S.T.A.R. talk dealt with the idea of refugees and asylum seekers, the huge amount of suffering they go through and how misunderstood they often are. Having been greatly moved by the talk, I have resolved to signing up for the Jordan Project which will see me going to a Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) camp in Jordan next year to help teach the refugees some basic English and other skills. 

On the last day, each house did a presentation on a social injustice in the world. Personally I thought Powys had a good shot at the 1st prize, but ultimately it was PK who won. I will again attach the link for my house's video on the topic of Infanticide of girls in India and please take a look at the video and start spreading awareness on the issue as well. I would love to go on, but I fear this blog has already run too long. 

Link for I Know You Care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BRdY0NR08g

Link for Infanticide video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp3jVVDwDS0

'I know you care, I know it is always been there. But there is trouble ahead I can feel it. You were just saving yourself when you hide it' - I Know You Care, Ellie Goulding