Visionaries in Action

David Ives: “Inspired by Albert Schweitzer: his ideas, his work, his legacy”.

Prof. David Ives is director of the Albert-Schweitzer-Institute, perpetuating the work of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Albert Schweitzer. The lecture was held at Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Heidelberg in August 2012, during the Mannheim Visionaries in Action Conference.

I am life which wills to live and I exist in the midst of life which wills to live” concisely lines out fundamental aspects of Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy: our interconnectedness and compassion for all living things, and more generally the impact every one of us has on our world. The Albert Schweitzer Institute with David Ives as its director perpetuates his valuable work in the areas of humanitarian values, health and peace. Even having passed away in 1965, there is still much to be learned from Albert Schweitzer’s visions for current political conflicts and challenges, led by the resolve to cooperate and respect each other. He was convinced of the need to encourage young adults in expanding their horizons. Additionally, we need to frame aims and obstacles in a global perspective. David Ives will talk about Schweitzer’s and his own visions and how they translated these into actions. Take the opportunity to strengthen your own vision and inspiration through this impressing personality, who always lived the visions he proclaims.

Dear Visionaries,

from now on, updates about continuing initiatives, a ViA-follow-up conference, and new projects and developments concerned with the right livelihood, will be posted on the webpage of our parent-organization The Youth Future Project.

You can also find the YFP on Facebook.

Nnimmo Bassey: “Insigths from the fight against Global Environmental Change”.

Nnimmo Bassey is 2010 Right Livelihood Award Laureate and President of Friends of the Earth International.

Global climate change and environmental pollution has reached the mainstream. Innume-rable media, conferences and NGO’s have specialized on these issues. Yet the problems are nowhere near disappearing: Nnimmo Bassey lifts the veil on the green-washing masquerade: he provides insights from his own fight against oil multinationals such as Royal Dutch Shell in the Niger delta in Africa, where villagers and the environment suffered a whopping 3,200 oil spills between 2006 and 2010 alone. Life expectancy in the Niger Delta is seven years below Nigeria’s average. Nnimmo Bassey and Friends of the Earth International aim to uproot these unbearable circumstances. In his lecture, he will emphasize the need to work against global warming and still provide hope in the face of frustrating obstacles.

Dave Steward: “Challenges for Youth in a rapidly changing World”.

Dave Steward is Director of the F W de Klerk Foundation, representing the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of South Africa Frederik Willlem de Klerk.

According to his speech, the defining feature of our species has been our exceptional ability to deal with change. We are entering an environment of fundamental, ever accelerating and unpredictable change. How did South Africans deal with the need for radical change? What lessons can we learn? What factors will affect the environment in which today’s youth will operate? Even though we cannot predict the future, we can examine the factors that have driven change in the past to help understand the path we are on. These factors include climate, demographic and technological change, as well as the competition between systems. What approaches will young people develop to deal with these rapidly changing realities? Over the years, Dave Steward has been fighting side by side with Frederik Willlem de Klerk and Nelson Mandela in their struggle for democratic values, leading to the first participation of the black majority in the 1994 elections – his experience will be of interest to people of all generations.

At ViA 2012, Alyn talked about his fight for nuclear disarmament and the potential of non-violent conflict resolution. When he left in between, it was to open the Basel Peace Office where he’ll be working on the abolition of nuclear weapons and peaceful security mechanisms to replace nuclear deterrence – engaging students, youth, academics, parliamentarians, mayors, government officials and others in our projects. Continue Reading →

As we’re wrapping up the Visionaries in Action Conference, we will continue to update this blog. Stay tuned for more photos and videos of our laureates as well as anything related to our follow-up process.

Valentin Niebler, one of our participants, talked about the power of visions. Disagreeing with former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who once said “Those who have visions should see a doctor”, Valentin argued that visions are not a disease but a powerful force that drives social change.

Check out the video below for the full talk. It’s definitely worth listening to ;-)

The Power of Visions from Youth Future Project on Vimeo.

This is YOUR space! With the beginning of the Visionaries in Action Conference,
we encourage you to use our media corner and share your impressions.

Additionally, we invite you to join the digital dialogue on Twitter using #ViA12 

Less than 48 hours to go before we officially kick off our conference. Our conference… for a long time, this project has been our baby. It has accompanied us through ups and downs and during internships abroad and exchange-semesters, we even took it to the far corners of the globe. Now it is about to become your project, too. It is you,  we’re thinking of when we carry 20 kilo bags of rice or 100 kg apples. It is your projects we envisage, when preparing workshop-rooms and lecture halls. And it is your smile we have in mind, when arranging flowers, decoration and chill-out areas. The crowd of helpers, that is gathering in Mannheim at the moment, is getting bigger and bigger and the school-compound is buzzing with excitement. 

Tomorrow, the moderators will arrive for their coaching, the laureates will board their flights, and we, …we will carry some more stuff around.