Young blood

The outgoing National Youth Council president, Cory Greenland, says youths can break with traditional frames of mind and be active participants in democracy. He spoke to Massimo Farrugia.

Being young is being at once rebellious and a follower, enthusiastic and lazy, fashion-conscious and anti-conformist, generous and a spendthrift, idealist and down-to-earth. A youth is thought of as a friendly, sincere and lustful egoist whose words should not be taken too seriously.

Endless clichés are associated with every age group. For example, in the mind of a 20-year-old bubbling with hormones it is absolutely unthinkable, improbable and highly unlikely that his 55-year-old parents still have sex regularly. But those who fall within the youth category are probably tagged with the most contradictory labels of all. Some are simply commonplace fillers used on television talk shows by come-of-age blokes saying they've "been there, done that". Others, however, are embedded in the collective mentality and justify the need to have a youth lobby in the first place.

Last year's debate on pensions reform was a classic example. As unions, employers and the government were busy discussing pension reform, the youth category - those that will be most affected by the changes - was not involved enough in the debate carried on by the authorities.

As the National Youth Council (KNZ) had rightly pointed out, youths and civil society were the least consulted on the matter.

KNZ president Cory Greenland said the youth council has worked hard to drive home "the importance of consulting young people on issues by counteracting common stereotypes laid upon youth in most western European societies".

The former communications and international relations student who hails from the General Workers' Union Youths thinks that an autonomous organisation like the KNZ is especially important where youth groups often belong to larger, traditionally opposed organisations.

Mr Greenland is a soft-spoken and well-mannered young man who goes to work clad in a suit even if he has been involved with leftist political groups during his student life and is a trade union man by profession.

"I was involved in a number of student and political organisations on the left. I feel that left-wing politics integrating workers and people from the lower ends of society is at heart. Having read for an MA in European Studies, I work in the international section of the union. This has always been my favourite subject. The world is becoming smaller with globalisation and that field promises interesting prospects and contacts with foreigners. I feel this is very important for me."

Mr Greenland was elected on the KNZ executive council in February 2005, along with vice-president Leonard Caruana from the Nationalist Party's youth movement (MZPN). Jonathan Dalli, from the University Students' Council (KSU), is the secretary general.

Mr Greenland praises both of them for the unity and support they have given each other in the past year. Their term will end soon when the youth council holds its annual meeting between February 17 and 19.

"In the council we do not carry our organisation's agendas. One has to make it clear that we all have different backgrounds but once we walk into this office, we shed our differences and work for compromise since our foremost priority is the interest of youths. Once we are elected to the council, we seek to bridge differences and we have always managed to work well together. The KNZ's stands make a great impact since it is made up of so many different organisations. Besides, all the youth sections can lobby in their respective organisations and bring about change from within," Mr Greenland said.

He strongly believes that youths are capable of agreeing on the third way, and that the KNZ - with over 30 member organisations - is fostering a culture of collaboration between youths from rival political parties, trade unions, students, the Church and other specific-goal organisations.

"Imagine if this mentality is transferred to other forums in the country. It requires a lot of sacrifice and sometimes it keeps the council from taking an absolute stand on a particular issue, but the effort itself is worth it."

Abroad, youth organisations campaign against drugs, lobby for the emancipation of the poor, for youth empowerment, and speak of healthy and responsible sex - such issues which in Malta still sound somewhat controversial. Does the KNZ ever discuss hot issues like divorce or stem cell research?

Mr Greenland says there are differences in the way Maltese youths look at particular issues. "In other countries, youths have more progressive views on certain issues. But discussion here at least is leading to an acceptance of different views. This is a culture change and a step towards the better. As KNZ, we always try to create the basis and let the organisations follow their own beliefs," he said.

And it really takes guts for a youth group to say something which not only fails to tow the line of its mother organisation but blatantly defies its fundamental views. Imagine, for example, a Catholic youth group publicly declaring itself in favour of stem cell research or in-vitro fertilisation, a PN youth group mocking Malta's European Union membership or a pro-Labour organisation saying that Alfred Sant's partnership was a bad joke. Do youths have to tow the mainstream line for their own survival?

"That is not something which you can identify with youths or any particular age group for that matter. It is a mentality which has reigned traditionally in Malta. Youths tend to conform, and they have to associate themselves with a side or another. Look at villages for example, where people are divided between band clubs or on the basis of political parties.

"However, that is changing. In years gone by, no one spoke of floating voters. Until a few years ago, we used to speak of people as 'belonging' to particular politicians. In traditional organisations, it may be more difficult. These will take the longest time to change in this sense but people are becoming more open."

Unlike certain institutions which are always in the news, the KNZ has kept a low profile during the past year, Mr Greenland said. "We have been working on beefing up this organisation while spearheading a number of initiatives, most notably the European Youth Pact. This speaks of youth employment, education and social cohesion, and is an extension of the Lisbon agenda in a way which applies to youths. The Youth Pact urges the government to consult youths in taking decisions related to employment and education in order to ensure that policies are youth friendly."

He thinks youth participation can be fostered if the importance of the civil society, including the KNZ, features more prominently in the school curriculum.

"I remember being taught about Maltese presidents as a schoolboy. For active citizenship to happen people need to know of the existence of non-governmental organisations and the civil society, besides the traditional democratic institutions and the political parties. If students know of these mechanisms before they enter sixth form or university then they would know that they have a right to organise themselves. MCAST students, for example, would know that they have a right to form a students' council."

During the past year, the KNZ has also been kept busy with the youth local councils, the Commonwealth Youth Forum and the youth Parliament - initiatives aimed at encouraging participation. Youths are often spoken of as apathetic, but has the level of participation dwindled when compared to, say, 20 years ago?

Mr Greenland replied that participation has remained more or less the same. "Before, you had mass gatherings of youths protesting or lobbying for certain issues. These are hardly ever seen today because youths have many interesting distractions such as television and the privatisation of entertainment. Youth entertainment used to be organised by youth groups themselves, and therefore youth involvement in youth centres, hobby clubs and religious groups was more evident. Today entertainment is a whole business. Yet participation depends on initiative, and the lack of that is not necessarily linked to youths. There are pensioners who do not know that there is a pensioners' association."

Mr Greenland said the KNZ has also been discussing the setting up of a government agency for youths which is contemplated in the national policy on youths.

"We are also working on a memorandum of principles. Based on these underlying principles, the council would be able to take stands on, for example, the entitlement to free health and education. These would really enable the KNZ to take strong stands and to contribute to the democratic process."

Mr Greenland believes limited resources will somehow always be a problem for Malta. "Thanks to the Education Ministry we now have another person working in the council's administration, which brings up the number of full-timers to two. Yet, our European counterparts have a great advantage over us. There is no comparison between our resources and what they have available. As executive members, we remain volunteers while abroad they are employed full-time.

"Imagine what an advantage that is. It is already practically impossible to read all the legislation issued by the European Union. Probably this is even a problem for the Maltese government. I doubt whether any organisation finds the time to read all the EU documents and write feedback for all of them. This will remain a problem for Malta unless we share resources with other countries."