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Jessica Rojas Alegría Mexico en español ACTIVE CITIZENS WORKING FOR DEMOCRACY? (A PERSPECTIVE ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUTH CITIZENSHIP AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION) Social participation and the exercise of citizenship constitute key dimensions in the inclusion of young people in society, since through them young people express our potential as well as our aspirations for the construction of a shared future.   In this area, new generations face a problematic situation, as much Institutional as subjective (very far from the utopian movements of previous generations). The reasons and spaces in which young people interact with the public and political have changed radically. Youth's place in politics and disillusionment with democracy as a political regime have changed significantly in the last few decades. We have stopped associating politics and democratic ideals with the idea of   great social change - currently the participation of young people tends to be found in local spaces and away from political parties, taking shape on the small scale, for shorter durations and with more modest goals for change. Today, the "youth question" is evolving in a context of cultural change in the sphere of values, which influences youth political initiatives, lending a generational significance to their vision of democracy, formed accordinng to their own experiences living in a context marked by   prolonged economic, political and social crisis. We can note as a general tendency that young people mistrust Political Institutions and are redefining the idea of the democratic system. This tendency appears to be linked to the idea that the political system, the electoral system, and the parties do not represent our demands, nor do they show dedication to the promotion of greater equality. Young people value democracy as a space to design our own projects, but we do not see formal democracy as a sufficient condition for this. The most obvious form of rejection is manifested through a lack of participation in elections and the rejection of the vote as an instrument for citizen participation. Surveys (such as the 2005 National Youth Survey, undertaken by the Mexican Institute for Youth), show in general that young people participate little in student movements, syndicates, political parties and community organisations - areas where the participation of young people in previous generations was largely concentrated.   Though young people continue to imagine a strong connection between association and politics, participation in Political Institutions is its least attractive form. In fact, the great majority do not identify with any party, and of the minority who have politico-ideological preferences, the percentage of activists is minimal. Though young people show mistrust towards traditional political organisations, we highly value participation as a mechanism for self-realisation and acheiving success. What we reject, rather, is the type of political practice and the way in which it makes us feel manipulated by others, for ends with which we do not identify. We can affirm that, just as the key word in public policy for children is protection, and for those linked to women, equality, in the public policies for youth the key word is participation. Currently young people tend to be more sporadic and inconsistent in participation: we generally involve ourselves in specific activities, during certain periods, without committing ourselves in the long term. However, since the Study on Youth Citizenship (1), young people are percieved as "duly authorised persons" (or "subjects of rights"), where their fundamental problematic status is recognised by the State and by society, through their active participation in the formulation of youth policies. Young people are considered to be agents of social change; attending to the aesthetic dimension, youth politics are integrated into public policy and youth initiative is stimulated in its various forms. We should understand that politics is something more than participation in political parties, the act of voting, or the sacramental nature of an election.   Politics regards participation in a public space, it is the process through which we contruct the common good (the common interest). In this sense, we can state that political participation can be defined as "all citizen activity directed at intervening in the designation of its governors or influencing the formation of state policies. It includes actions that may be collective or individual, legal or illegal, of support or of pressure, through which one or many persons try to influence the decisions regarding the type of government which should rule a society, the way in which the State is run in said country, or specific government decisions that affect a community or its individual members". (2) Thus, we can speak of a disconnect between the political sphere and young people. The evidence indicates that there is a marked gap between young people and the main public institutions (political parties, congress, the judicial system and the police). From this emerges the controversial issue of the real or supposed apathy of young people, in particular our political participation. Everything seems to signal that this situation is related to the disenchantment produced by institutions that function more and more bureaurocratically, perceived to be inert or routine institutions, which contrasts with the predominant desire of young people, who want to be witnesses and participants in short term and profound changes. Whenever we talk about youth, we think of the future, perhaps because we remember those first years of this stage of our lives where we still imagined the years to come; that tomorrow which has already become today. We know by the same token that this time will not return, that its impact is forever in our lives and that the actions we undertake at this stage influence not only our personal environment, but that by acting as generational links of social change, we broadly impact the great changes experienced by our entire society, even at the global level. Nevertheless, it is necessary to abandon the paternalistic gaze through which young people are seen and promote a perspective of citizenship, and of individuals as protagonists not only of a personal history but also a collective history, to value and stimulate their participation as citizens and in matters of political order.   To concretise a policy defined by the promotion and realisation of rights and not by viewing young people as problems. Young people have a great deal of energy which can be transformed into a powerful force of change: we aspire to employment, educational activities, spaces for participation, the security of a better future. As active citizens who work for democracy, it is our duty to keep careful watch in order to reach that better horizon we hope for. Public policy should be a great equaliser of opportunities. It should offer effective options for the millions of young people our countries will hold (36 million by 2012 in Mexico alone, the highest figure historically in our country). (3) Young people don't want democracy to be divorced from the search for freedom, inclusion, justice and equality. From my experience working with youth for the strengthening of democracy in my country (Mexico), when we consulted young people on their interest in participating in such organisations, the response was extremely positive, which shows that they reject the practices with which such organisations work, and not their ends or concrete objectives. This is very relevant: young people want to participate (and we do so   when the calls to participate are transparent and shared) but we don't want to feel manipulated. And maybe it will be here that we find an indication of why we should encourage young people to be full time active citizens who work for democracy in their own countries.   In my experience as a young person who participates actively through organised civil society, working for democracy and involving other young people in this praiseworthy and important work, I can say that since 1996, when I began to be involved in youth electoral observation of local and federal processes, to develop and implement different intiatives regarding the participation of young people in politics (meaning in a broader and richer sense than just in the electoral field), civic education, citizen participation, and the strengthening of the culture of democracy seen from the perspective of the youth sector (principally because of the question of generational identity), I can affirm that although the work is permanent and the commitment undeniable, the strengthening of democracy requires more than an individual commitment and one which influences our peers.   We should fight for the establishment of participative democracy around the world, in which the exercise of democracy is much more than a simple form of government, and becomes a way of life, appropriated by active and participative citizens who sustain the principles of co-responsibility, transparency, plurality, legality, honesty and dialogue. In this sense, the integration of young people is relevant and necessary in the development and implementation of a strategy - emerging from, with and for youth - that promotes the greatest participation of this group; not just seen from the perspective of the electorate on the day of voting, a quantative and numeric situation which is by itself worth considering, but re-evaluating the fundamental role that young people play in the current political sphere by: - acting as generational links between adults and a generation of children which adopts the norms and beliefs displayed by youth - the characteristic capacity for mobility of the group, which allows us to establish codes of communication between partners inside the social groups through which we develop ourselves (youth organisations, school, clubs, community, etc.) - having greater access to communication and skills in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which favours the automatic gathering of information, etc. By involving ourselves in citizen participation initatives, we will be truly active citizens, contributing to the strengthening of participative democracies in each of our communities or in the corners of the world where we find ourselves. We will all be winners: not just those who have great opportunity to participate in gatherings such as the 5th Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy; the institutions will also win by gaining the confidence and trust of young people towards their operations; those working with NGOs will win through the generation of citizenship and the development of young people's interest in becoming envolved with public issues, but, most importantly, together we will contribute to Global Society winning by strengthening citizen participation and by the positioning of young people as strategic actors in the strengthening of democracy in our world. Investing in young people isn't just necessary to guarantee the replacement of the work force and increase the productive potential of national economies. More than that, it is imperative for advancement towards societies that are more inclusive in access to well-being and citizen participation, and in the productive use of knowledge. Acting for and with young people is key if we want to project more inclusive societies in the future; the inclusion of young people is key to ensuring sustainability for the culture of democracy in our countries. The different forms of socio-economic and political exclusion threaten future governability, and in this, young people can be as much victims as they can be disruptive in terms of social and democratic coexistence. (1) Study developed by specialists from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) (2) Conway, M.: La Participación Política en los Estados Unidos, Ediciones Gernika, México, 1986. Pág. 11-25. (3) Source: Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud www.imjuventud.gob.mx