Global Natives have superpowers: Each other. 

Young Global Natives are going to play a powerful part in future politics. 

They think politically. On quite different terms and in great numbers.

The Fridays for Future movement showed us all what activism can achieve.
And where its limits are. ​The kids quickly learned: For real results, it takes politics. ​

The young are still in education, so they team up with experienced, active politicians ​and thought leaders ​in our community for mentoring. 
They offer their own opinions and experiences
​and are learning the ropes in the process. 

Here's how:

They intend to make a major impact. See what some of them have to say:

We're from all walks of life. Literally.

We come from all walks of life. Many of us know hardship and even poverty from personal experience, there is ​nothing elitist about our community. We were raised to be global citizens, open-minded and cooperative, with a genuine interest in other societies, cultures, beliefs, and in the history behind them.
We've become extremely good at mutuality. This mutuality gives us strength. 
​The pandemic made us see that clearly.
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How about inventing the wheel?

People are constantly looking for solutions that already exist. 
But inventing the wheel yet again wastes so much energy and time. ​
It merely serves individual egos: "This was my idea!" 
I have an extremely cool grandma, she is an expert for ​solution sourcing.
​Gran speaks six languages and spends a lot of time online. Companies, organizations and even governments pay her good money to find out if there is already something that might solve their problem before they invest into research and building prototypes and so on. How cool is that?! I'm going to take this one step further by setting up a network of Global Native solution finders. I already made a start with allies in three generations!
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Us-vs-them is toxic, toxic, toxic.

​Bolsonaro, Duterte, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Trump, Johnson, Putin, Kaczyński, Orbán, Lukaschenko, Salvini and many, many more: Populists, nationalists, bullies!
Their most toxic component is their us-vs-them ideology. Spotting and denouncing 
it is essential. A functional democracy does not need authoritarian leaders and
it does not build identity ​by defining enemies.
​Getting more young people and more women into politics makes a lot of sense to me.
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Americans are so terrified of socialism! ​Why ?

In Sweden, we often wonder "What seems so terrifying about our way of life?
Many Americans make socialism seem synonymous with the end of the free world!" 
But ever since I've been to the United States myself I have come to realize that
their idea of socialism is galaxies away from the way we actually live. 
So I tell myself: Always question everything you find worrying. 
Probably you just don't know enough about ​it yet.  I am ready to fill in the gaps.
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Peer superpower: The best thing since sliced bread! 

We talked a lot about politicians. And what we don't like about the way they work.
The Lockdown Talks made us realize our full potential as a political community! 
At first, we started off wanting to improve our language skills.
Now, we're going to change the world! I don't think there is a network anywhere
else in the world which gives you access to motivated peers, on all continents,
with such a diversity of backgrounds ... If we add up what we know and what
we're ​capable of - it just blows my mind! - who's gonna hold us back?
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Will we dare to question religions?

I have always wondered why religions make such a difference between men and women! For once, I'd love to hear stories of imams telling men that they must not beat their wives or sermons of priests giving fathers a telling off for taking their money to the pub when their families go hungry!
I'd love to hear men of faith condemning those men in whom their women can not have faith at all. But telling women how to dress seems just fine? ​Well, it's not fine with me.  Religions can offer so much for people to hold on to. Religions hold the power to give strength and hope and purpose. I want to dare them all to question outdated beliefs and I call on them that all humans are not only created but also treated equal.
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Everything is global. Climate, nature, humanity, our lives.

Fridays for Future has shown clearly that we need new political thinking.
The people who decide over our future are mainly concerned about the next election. 
Know what? I think, if we wait for them to act we won't live to see the results!
You're hoping for them to take seriously what should rightfully frighten the shit out of them? Don't. They have other priorities. ​Time to take things into our own hands, I say.


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​Old style politics need to go. They're not working for us.

Most of these folks just can't get out of their set-in-concrete ways. Conservatives and liberals, socialists and nationalists ... in the end, only the party matters to them.
​Can they honour a good idea that comes from the opposition? No. Whenever there
is a problem to be solved they'd rather reinvent the wheel for the umpteenth time.
​Every country under the sun has made mistakes others can learn from and has found solutions that will also work elsewhere. We're ready for community-sourcing best practice. Saves precious time and the tax-payer's money.
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East and West. Two sides of the same coin.

When I was a kid I used to watch American and British series a lot. They seemed pretty cool to me and helped me to learn English. At fourteen, I had the chance to go to Europe and two years later I went to the US. My disappointment was overwhelming. Most people don't know a thing about Asia, let alone the Far East.
​But then, back home at school, I started asking people what they knew about
"The West". My conclusion was: Complacent ignorance is truly universal.
​If we want to be real global citizens, we still have a lot of work to do.

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Pragmatic crowd-sourcing. Just my thing.

We all have our own agenda. Every one of us.
We will be managers and mayors, run ministries and sit in parliaments.
We are eager-to-learn, keen-to-do-better, unorthodox new politicians, we are future scientists, business people, educators and more; we have fresh thinking and the declared will to do an excellent job. 
​This interface for bright minds - totally independent of political orientation, creed or nationality - lets us give each other a hand. Here's my part:  I'm studying psychology and this is what I will do with my team. Establish a strategy, quite likely supported by an app, for giving and accepting constructive criticism. 

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Finally, a "we" that includes everyone who is like me

Being a woman does not come with the full package of chances in life anyway.
​Being a woman in Africa has a few additional challenges. That doesn't mean they can't be tackled. Until this spring my thinking was: African women have to show much more solidarity. They're already pretty good at it, you know.
But now I feel I've got active solidarity on a global scale! This makes me very happy.
​This makes my mother very happy. It makes us all confident for the future.

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Our circles grow so fast

I've already done a fair bit of research. My plan is a reform of our national education system, it is obsolete and unfair. Through my peers and their families I can access information on school systems of 58 countries worldwide! More than that, they
will filter out the relevant bits and pieces - all the best practice models - and ​translate
​them into English for me. For free.
I wouldn't stand a chance on my own. And of course I'll do the same for them.
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Where I live, everyone takes everything for granted

I have this thing in my mind. I've always had it. It's because of my mum and my grandpa. About the Haves and the Have-nots. They both told me - really, ever
since I can think - that people who have, carry responsibility for those who don't.  Noblesse oblige.
I agree: Privilege is a moral obligation. My grandparents come from a have-not country. Now we all have, we have plenty of everything. And yet, people around
​me complain. They whinge and whine endlessly. Frankly, that pisses me off.
I want to work for the UN and do my best that the have-nots get at least some health care, that we come up with more intelligent ways towards social equality and that folks who have enough get to acknowledge how fortunate they are. Wish me luck.
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We have an agenda everyone cares about: Generations

We both study sociology and journalism. What we want to establish is a global data bank on intergenerational projects, how they've worked out and what can be learned from them. Before the pandemic we travelled a lot. Backpacking, on a budget.
And we kept asking to talk to local council staff and to people in regional administration, we spoke to the old folks in senior citizens' homes, to people in
care and to families with three or even more generations living under one roof.
We absolutely love what we're doing. Our minds are brimming with ideas. 
​We shall implement and share as much as we can.
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I'm an environmentalist. And I know that people are pigs.

My brothers and I live in a house right next to a major highway. We get a lot of
stuff thrown into our little back garden. Beer cans, cigarette boxes, leftovers from McDonalds, anything really. When I take the Underground, I see rubbish dumped basically everywhere. And when I go online I see the unbelievable amounts of 
plastic waste in our oceans. Why? I was very depressed.
Then came the first lockdown and I saw that so many of us want to become politicians. This is it. Now I know exactly what to do with my life! 
I shall take environmental studies and learn all about waste management
​so that I know exactly what I'm talking about.
Knowing that I am not alone motivates me every day now!
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We're all in the same boat.

You and I pursue the same goals. No matter what political party you're in.
Here's what we agree on: We want to think in generations, not in terms of office.
Not as lone warriors but as a global constructive network. Interdependent.
And we want to think in a global context with every decision that's on the agenda,
regional or international, pragmatic or ideological. Ask: What does it mean for others?

We are all individuals with our own ideas and goals. My credo carries my name.
But the community behind us is our superpower! It drives us, holds us, enables us.

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I cannot hear and I cannot speak.
But I know I'm good at putting others in the picture :))

Together with eleven others I have started an exciting project this October. It runs parallel to our study and research work at university and covers 16 languages (so far). We got the idea from TED talks: we translate by adding subtitles.
But we go beyond the literal content and aim for comprehensive understanding. Our subtitles help other deaf and mute people to get the humour, the gist, the direction and the background whenever a literal translation or sign language cannot live up to the challenge. This is the message: Our handicaps will no longer hold us back.
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We delight in "vice versa mentoring"!

These kids want to be where we are now. ​And they
​want to change almost everything. I'm all for it!

I've been a member of parliament for many years. I know that the young people
are right. In active politics, there are way more folks over the age of sixty than
​under thirty.
You'd never get away with this in a competitive business environment
- lots of people making decisions that will never affect them personally!
On behalf of people who would opt for fundamentally different solutions.
These kids are bright and inspired, highly motivated and prepared to work hard.
All they lack is experience. So it is our job to offer advice and support.
I'm ready.​

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Bolder Bonds! That's how we get things right.

The strategy is brilliant. Instead of putting pressure on politicians to do the right thing young people decide to go into politics themselves. And since that can't be done overnight with kids aged 15 to 25, there is something that is possible straight away: 
Vice versa mentoring with politicians who are ready to listen now. Many of us do, on
all levels, from local communities all the way to national congress and the UN, from the European Union to ​the World Trade Organization. 
We're already tens of thousands of Global Natives parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who hold an office and who, in turn, are also happy to invite other open-minded colleagues to participate. I'm currently talking to four teenagers on a weekly basis - from Japan, New Zealand, Greenland and from Chile - they have strong opinions, extraordinary views and I learn something new from them every time. ​
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Of course, they will make mistakes. So have we.

Wouldn't we have loved to be able to check with others, with like-minded peers,
back when we took our first big decisions and set sails for our own future? 
Wouldn't we have jumped at the chance to get a smart opinion from people
in other countries - from Ireland to Brazil, from Canada to Spain or Australia?
All of it fast, free and friendly?
I certainly would have used all available means of learning from others,
from their successes and from their mistakes.
Very likely that would have saved me time, money and a fair bit of heartache.
And you know what? I make up for it now. I have started to build my own team 
of retired university folks. There are seven of us already. ​
With a growing portfolio of what we can do for young, ambitious newcomers!
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The climate issue is getting more worrying by the day, economic fairness is nowhere in sight, 
women's rights are still miles off track, racial injustice is a crying shame, democracy has taken
some serious blows. 
​Right now, Gaza and Ukraine are showing the world very clearly just how fragile our systems are.


Thankfully, there are growing efforts worldwide to support young people's engagement in politics and society. A beautiful example is
"Join Politics" in Germany. We'd be happy to list similar projects from all over the world and welcome your suggestions: Contact.
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