Happy New Year
Dear all
Finally, a post in 2007! I have to say that it is very dark and wet and dreary in Edinburgh at the moment. I don't know if any of you had white, snowy Christmas or New Year...I suspect many of you won't! But it would be good to hear how you are getting on.
And yes, I am bringing up GlobalEyes again. It would be good to have a theme for the next issue before I head to Malawi in February. Then when I come back in early March I will pull it all together.
So - any thoughts? It can be anything to do with democracy and participation. I think the two big themes here at the moment would be voting - we have an election in May, and many people in Scotland do not vote. The lowest turnout (the areas where fewest people vote) are often the poorest and most deprived areas, where there is high unemployment. Young people in Scotland, and the UK in general, also do not vote. While many young people feel very passionately about some issues - the war in Iraq, the environment, and so on - they are not engaged with party politics.
We did cover this theme in Issue 3, but it might be interesting to hear about it again from a wider group.
The other major theme for everyone seems to be climate change. After all, we are all global citizens, and even if we don't feel passionately about party politics, we may be very engaged in the wider debate about the environment. One person's actions, whether in Scotland, Denmark, Hungary, Egypt, Argentina...can have an effect on people on the other side of the planet.
So it might be interesting to hear what is happening in your part of the world. What are your governments doing? Are they providing leadership? Or is the push for change coming from NGOs? From young people? Are people voting for Green parties?
It would be good if we could decide by the end of next week. I think I will cheat and email this to everyone as well...
Let me know how things are - and post some pictures of your Christmas/New Year/anything you like!!
Chris
Finally, a post in 2007! I have to say that it is very dark and wet and dreary in Edinburgh at the moment. I don't know if any of you had white, snowy Christmas or New Year...I suspect many of you won't! But it would be good to hear how you are getting on.
And yes, I am bringing up GlobalEyes again. It would be good to have a theme for the next issue before I head to Malawi in February. Then when I come back in early March I will pull it all together.
So - any thoughts? It can be anything to do with democracy and participation. I think the two big themes here at the moment would be voting - we have an election in May, and many people in Scotland do not vote. The lowest turnout (the areas where fewest people vote) are often the poorest and most deprived areas, where there is high unemployment. Young people in Scotland, and the UK in general, also do not vote. While many young people feel very passionately about some issues - the war in Iraq, the environment, and so on - they are not engaged with party politics.
We did cover this theme in Issue 3, but it might be interesting to hear about it again from a wider group.
The other major theme for everyone seems to be climate change. After all, we are all global citizens, and even if we don't feel passionately about party politics, we may be very engaged in the wider debate about the environment. One person's actions, whether in Scotland, Denmark, Hungary, Egypt, Argentina...can have an effect on people on the other side of the planet.
So it might be interesting to hear what is happening in your part of the world. What are your governments doing? Are they providing leadership? Or is the push for change coming from NGOs? From young people? Are people voting for Green parties?
It would be good if we could decide by the end of next week. I think I will cheat and email this to everyone as well...
Let me know how things are - and post some pictures of your Christmas/New Year/anything you like!!
Chris
posted by Christine at 10:43 AM
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