How Nobel Peace Laureates Inspire Youth To Believe In Themselves

This December, the 18th Nobel Peace Summit will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea, bringing together Nobel Peace Laureates and young people from all over the globe. Nowadays, when the world is shaken by the war in Ukraine and ongoing armed clashes in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, it is crucial to learn from leading peacemakers, reflect on the root causes of conflicts, and act appropriately to prevent them in the future.

I met with Ekaterina Zagladina, the President of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, to discuss the purpose of the Summit and its Youth Program “Leading by Example.”

Julia Brodsky: Are there any standard practices that would allow young people to understand a conflict better and work towards its’ peaceful resolution?

Ekaterina Zagladina: Unfortunately, each conflict is unique and intertwined with particular cultural, historical, and geopolitical circumstances. So, there is no ready recipe, and peacemakers must use their strength, insight, knowledge, social capital, persuasion, will, and out-of-the-box thinking to find a working solution. Wisdom comes in the process of searching for an answer.

JB: Are the young people who come to your Summit already active in peacemaking and come for networking and resource sharing?

EG: That’s not always the case. Many young people come to get inspired. We welcome everyone, and the stories brought to the summit may completely change one’s understanding of world issues. Here is an example. We held our Summit of 2019 in the state of Yucatan. A group of women presented their project – helping inmates who give birth in prison. Babies stay in prison with their moms. You can only imagine the conditions in which these children grow and what kind of education they get, if there is no external help.

And when young people, who are just curious, come to the summit, it helps them in their daily life, too. Many conflicts occur on a personal level. Before you attempt to resolve disputes between countries, you need to learn how to stop quarreling with a loved one, and bring peace to your family. If a person cannot develop inner peace, can we talk about the peaceful coexistence of entire countries? What happens when a person with no habit of respectful dialogue gets into power or becomes a scientist or a teacher? What will a person lacking inner harmony bring to the world? Only what they have inside. The same is true for the nations as a whole.

JB: How should education reinvent itself to ensure less aggression and more peace in this world?

EG: Let me quote Amritānandamayī (also known as Amma), the founder of the humanitarian network Mata Amritanandamayi Math and Embracing the World. She says we look outside for the source of the problem, but the problem is the person’s mind. The world will only become peaceful when human minds learn how to find harmony.

Amma introduces the concept of two types of education: one that allows you to earn a living and another to attain a happy, fulfilled life. Modern education should focus on not just academic skills but a culture of human rights and peaceful coexistence of peoples, the ethics of non-violence. Too often, education is propelled by vanity and the desire for individual success. Over and over, it is just competition, pressure, and a vast amount of information pumped into one’s head without instilling the habit of exploring the future consequences of one’s actions. Imagine a good physics student who becomes a scientist just to invent a bomb that could destroy the whole world. We want a child to fulfill their potential – but stay aware of the outcomes of their choices at individual and societal levels. Ethics allows one to maintain this balance. As a society, we may want to establish ethical think tanks that simulate the future and guide us as we develop new technologies and community practices.

JB: Should the ways of peaceful coexistence be taught starting from pre-school age and reinforced over the years?

EG: Education is a good starting point, but everyday practice is of utmost importance. It is essential to talk to a child or teenager about ethics, culture, the evolution of ideas, about the fact that we are all one – but also give that person a lot of real-life experience in conflict resolution and the opportunity to reflect on it. We cannot shield our youth from risks, conflicts, and frustrations and hope they will be able to deal with such challenges in adulthood. Instead, we need to let young people dive into these issues early on – but provide them with support, guidance, and wisdom along the way.

JB: The Summit is just three days long – what do the participants gain during the Summit?

EG: Following the example of Nobel Peace Laureates, young people from all over the world collaborate, network, share resources and ideas, and launch their own projects. They practice new tools and methods of dialogue, communication, and problem-solving in a supportive environment. The Summit and its Youth program encourage youth to choose peace over conflict, empathy over hate, and open-mindedness over intolerance. And most importantly, these young people get inspired. For three intense days, they interact with Nobel Peace Laureates, people who braved unspeakable difficulties and did not give up, people with fantastic charisma, drive, inner freedom, and incredible life stories. When you find yourself in such a community, you let go of your fears and realize that everything is possible.