Is the PINK function working? Fabulous!

So I am not sure if I am just trying to procrastinate from catching up on schoolwork or I just had an unfulfilled need to blog in pink, but here I am. 

While I was sitting here back in San Antonio and my "normal" life, I was reading Julia's entry and I began to realize that the United Nations and my experiences there are a lot like NY's public transportation network. Like the UN, some people take the bus because they are forced to (e.g., the US), others take the bus because they are trying to better themselves by seeking opportunities (e.g., G77), and some people take the bus with much less aim. Like the UN, in the New York City metro you find the homeless, the destitute, the middle class and the wealthy all lumped together. There are distractions (fights and rats) and celebrations (performers) that carry on at all hours. However, most people on the subway can carry on with their agendas-- continuing on their path to work and leisure-- without compromising their plans or goals. But there are some (like the man who helped me carry my large suitcase down 4 flights of stairs in Queens) who stop to take the time to pause and share their assets (a strong back in the aforementioned case) with others.

Sitting in the basement of the United Nations this week was like riding the subway. Most people that passed me were carrying on their agendas, without altering their course of action. However, there were others (like the European and Tanzanian youth delegates and the amazing NGO organizers I met) who stopped and helped us (excited yet green) SustainUS'ers find our way the last couple weeks.

While the Commission for Social Development's stakeholders steadfastly held its course through frenzied and confusing distractions (like the NYC subway) the most important thing (as in public transportation) is that the infrastructure exists... and though this infrastructure is intricate, fragile, yet difficult to update, it can facilitate interactions that can potentially advance everyone who uses it. 

During this trip to NYC and my further travels these past two weeks I’ve taken trains in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, I've taken the New York and Boston subway.  Today I took the Chinatown Bus (Fung Wah, I recommend it), and yesterday I took the NYC Bus.  In two days on my trip from Boston back to Villanova I will be taking Amtrak (which I have never taken before).

I love public transportation.  I love watching other people on their travels (though, it is embarrassing when I accidentally make eye-contact).  I feel connected to the place I live (even if only for two weeks) and with the people there.  Traveling on my own I have found somewhat alienating.  This is what I felt CSocD-45 was like for me.  I got to connect with different people from all over the world.  Some of my favorite people are Bettina, from the European Youth Forum, Claudia, the youth delegate from Switzerland, and Mike, the youth delegate from Tanzania.  

Despite how slowly everything happens at the UN, it is one place where people can come to talk from all over the world on issues that affect all of us. Yours in Sustainability,

Julia

Stinging sleet fell this Wednesday as we made our way to the subway. The combination of city muck and sleet was like walking on brown sugar, but far less sweet.  While the U.S. government shut down temporarily under the weight of winter, the shadow of a world government was in full swing. The ever-present UN security gates were flanked by a horde of snow shovels, all painted in that idyllic UN blue. SustainUS, as undeterred by the weather as the rest of the UN, made its way inside.

In some sense, we should not have been so enthusiastic. We had made little progress in our goals - our policy statement absent from the forthcoming Chairman's report, the U.S. still lacking a permanent youth delegate, and the U.S. delegation still largely unaware, and wholly unconcerned, with our presence.

 Still, we are optimistic. If you read the other posts, Agents of Change are not upset so much because they think we've done nothing and are going nowhere, but rather because they wish everyone shared our enthusiasm! It will take the UN over 20 years to negotiate an agreement on indigenous people, but it took 40 years just to build the capacity where it could even begin such a negotiation. Not to mention thousands of years just to reach a point where every nation could sit down and discuss things civilly (even if some of them are still killing each other back home). We are making progress.

 Similarly, SustainUS has success to celebrate. A few years ago, SustainUS was just an idea, and American youth had one less way, especially such a direct way, to impact UN affairs. Last week, we expanded our reach to a new UN meeting. We have made contacts with national and international NGO's, youth of other countries, and a contact or two in the U.S. delegation. We have drafted a policy document that will have new life in the next CSocD meeting. We have taught a bright and ambitious group of young people the politics of global change, and maybe even instilled in them a love of public service. Most importantly, we have made it that much easier to come back next year.

 And we will be back.

So, I'm sitting in the library of the UN and I am looking out and realized the flags are flying today. Well, actually they were flying yesterday too. I was really surprised when I looked close-up and realized that many of them are more wrinkled than my dress shirts that made the 2,000-mile journey here to New York in my blue suitcase. In my last entry I commented on the underlying humanity of the United Nations, and I think that this has become even more apparent as time wears on.

 In the last few days I have encountered several negative people who seem to exude the attitude"I tried to change things, it didn't work, now we're just doomed and I'm resigned to that." While this sentiment is rather disheartening, I believe that is where my (and Agents of Change and SustainUS as a whole) role is at this Commission (and in life). In spite of the fact that change is unbearably slow (a man this morning spoke about how it has taken over 20 years of debate on the Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples and it still has not been passed), and the future will always look bleak for some (those statistics of despair in the MDG's), the mere fact that there are people who can see beyond these obstacles breathes life into the UN, and the policy-making process. The fear that we too may become hardened and jaded should be channeled to fight for the hard changes. Because even the seemingly-fruitless fight for our beliefs and change must occur for anything to ever happen.

OK so there are my most recent feelings. My biggest pet peeve is when people channel their energy into being negative about the way the world works yet do not do anything to change the process/policy/reality that they complain about.

On a less introspective note, the last few days have been a blur of interesting panelists, some time getting around the city (the weekend afforded some time off), and meeting amazing people from around the world. I have been most inspired by youth from the European Youth Forum and my peers in Agents of Change.

I also attended a side event yesterday that really struck me. The panel was focused on the development of regional social and economic policies. During the entire commission I have heard a lot about best-practices and prescribed solutions and examples of what is going on around the world concerning "Full employment and decent work for all." However, there has been little mention of the subtle differences between cultures, economies, and social networks in each country. Mr. Wong, a man from Hong Kong who studies the international relationships, specifically between Hong Kong and its bordering cities in mainland China, addressed these subtleties. Instead of speaking of universal solutions, Mr. Wong elaborated on some of the difficulties Aisan nations face in participating in regional commissions. He pointed out some obstacles for Asian countries, including self-reliance, the value of reputation, and a worry that a regional commission would create power imbalances between Asian nations. However, he concluded by highlighting the recent partnership between Hong Kong and its neighbors that allows for fluid social benefits between the two, using this example as a solution that is carefully thought-out and executed.

I found this particular presentation to be inspiring -- governments working for small solutions given their own circumstances and beliefs, where in the end people win! 

So those are my thoughts for Tuesday, Feb 13th afternoon.

 Love and Sustainability,

Laura

One thing that I’ve always tried to be aware of is the difference between talking and doing, between thinking and action—simply understanding an issue, simply talking about it, doesn’t mean that it will change. 

Being at the UN this past week, it has been only talk. And not dynamic, fresh, and inspirational talk—it all maintains a given sphere of discourse—because no one wants to “rock the boat.”

The phrase “Full Employment and Decent work for all” is literally repeated ten or fifteen times per plenary, and it is discussed almost solely in economic terms.  All testimony, as would be expected, is fact-based, and it is delivered slowly so that translators can effectively communicate it to the non-English constituents.  Fundamentally, the sphere of discourse is closed—everything must be accomplished within that limited frame.  One gets the sense sometimes, sitting in a plenary session, that no one there really understands the implications of their words—why they are an important part of the policy process, or how they will affect the constituents that are supposedly represented.  To use the words of a doctor that we met, who hosted a side event, one often has the sense that “No one in there really gives a cuss.” 

And, again, it’s all ‘talking,’ and seemingly no ‘doing.’  But the distinction is that, (and I have to continually remind myself of this,) in international policy-making, talking is doing.  All of the talking at CSocD will directly affect the policies that governments adopt, despite the slowness, the dryness, and the limited discourse of the system.  It’s a necessary system, but it takes a long time when you try to represent the interests of every country in the world.