1. Project Background
Since 2011 CDN has been committed to exploring the process of Digitalisation and youth participation, digital rights, online and offline activism and their correlation with democracy and inclusion. Many of our former participants contributed to the establishment and remained active in CDN’s Digital [x] working group. This project is an initiative of the working group, too.
The phenomenon of digitalisation is global with severe implications in many European countries, directly and strongly affecting young people. Young activists have seen personal information as well as confidential sources exposed. Youth rights are endangered by populism and authoritarianism and these in turn result in crackdowns on civil society, a disruption of public discourse, a monopolisation of media, and the sowing of distrust of information coming from civil society. The centralisation of information and impoverishment of public discourse are one of the reasons why so many of the countries in the area see a huge outflux of young people, who simply see no way in which they can be heard and effect positive change in their countries. In the same vein, those who do stay and engage in the new and emerging civil society organisations often find it difficult to engage with their target groups. The most important media channels are controlled by those in power, and in the new media (e.g., the internet) young people are – due to filter bubbles – hard to reach and – due to distrust sown by state media – even harder to convince.
1.1.What will we do and why?
Informed by the above-mentioned context, and the idea that today’s ubiquitous digital technologies should be used to the benefit of democracy, we aim to build the capacities of young activists in Europe inorder to stand up for their rights in the digital environment based on the values of democracy and inclusion. We want to learn to use Online tools in combating Disinformation and reaching out to Target Groups by creating more inclusive environment through youth participation. We outline three largely interconnected focus topics and our overall objectives:
- Raise awareness among the young activists and youth workers regarding digital space as a transformative political space and how it affects democracy and civil society both online and offline by facilitating new forms of participation enabling individuals to claim, construct and express selves and political demands.
- Explore information war, hoaxes, dis- and misinformation, and equip the activists with knowledge on how to critically analyse the news because it is young activists who can be the most effective multipliers.
- Find and promote new, creative ways of engaging with the public online.
- Last but not least, to foster cooperation between the digital media professionals and young Green activists in order to actively promote youth participation in internet governance.