IFLRY’s Istanbul boot camp, titled “Taking Ideas to the Streets”, from 1-4 July was IFLRY’s first in-person event after an entire year of online webinars, mainly due to the rising threat of the COVID19 pandemic. Therefore, there was a lot of consideration to safety protocols, including temperature checks and sanitization, along with the filling out of questionnaires. While vaccination against covid wasn’t mandatory for participation, it was a relief to see that most of the participants had received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, which subsequently increased the safety profile of the event as a whole. As for the masks, all participants had different opinions on this matter and there were no mandatory mask policies in place by the Turkish government at the time of the event, therefore, wearing a mask was up to the participant’s own will.
The Event, the Exposure:
Participants from different Member Organizations (Mos) and even independent activists gathered at one spot. This meant that there was a wide sharing of ideas, knowledge and expertise.
“The event in Istanbul gave me the opportunity to learn about activism in other countries from the stories of participants, presentations and lectures. In my opinion, I have heard many points that I will be able to implement in the activities of my organization and in Ukraine” –Rusalana Bolkun (European Youth of Ukraine)
Apart from the general discussions we had during coffee breaks, lunch and dinner, there were expertly tailored interactive sessions that further accelerated said idea sharing. One example is when the participants were asked to act out different roles in a political society (pro-government media, anti-government protestors, the public etc.), each group had multiple participants having different backgrounds, coming from different countries and everyone had the chance to share their ideas and experience to create a fun little script.
The Educational Sessions:
The educational sessions were unlike the formal ones that we usually see in universities and colleges. The participants had the chance to express themselves fully thanks to the informal nature of the event. During one session, Ghena from the Future Youth of Lebanon explained the art of public speaking, the ability to convert ideas into words. Similarly, Ragib Zik gave his thoughts on topics surrounding advocacy, such as persuasion.
The Experts:
IFLRY brought in experts from Turkish civil society, and from other renowned liberal political groups, including Ronald Meinardus from the Fredrich Nauman Foundation (FNF). The experts shared their knowledge and experience about the situation of liberal activists in Turkey and also explained their viewpoints on civic activism in general.
Open Spaces:
The open spaces session was dedicated to the participants of the boot camp and allowing them to take the stage and speak about subjects related to the boot camp. As someone who was part of both the speakers and later the audience during the course of the open session, in my opinion, it was a healthy way of building the confidence of the participants, particularly those who are willing to take up roles in leadership and public speaking.
The Fun, the Games, the City:
A lot of the topics that were discussed were quite serious, however, the IFLRY team is good at keeping the mood light. For example, as an IFLRY tradition, we had the ice breaker session in the very beginning that was focused on memorizing the names of each participant by correlating it to their favorite edibles. Moreover, there was a cruise trip through the Bosporus, where those new to Istanbul could admire the brilliance of the city and the fact that they were sailing in between two different continents. Apart from that, most of the event was tightly scheduled and therefore the event administrators recommended that those who wish to explore the city should either arrive earlier than the date of the actual event or delay their departure after the event.
Choosing Istanbul as the Venue for the Event:
Istanbul is a city that has a history of street activism and a city that witnessed street power first-hand during the attempted coup in 2017. Therefore, choosing Istanbul as the host city for the IFLRY event “Taking Ideas to the Streets” was an excellent decision indeed.
“Istanbul is a dynamic city and I think is a great place to talk about the topic of activism. I say this because of the political situation in Turkey that is kind of autocratic. In this point of view, I think that a lot of work is done in terms of civic activism. To make it more concrete, during the event in Istanbul we had the chance to join a protest addressing violence against women. This was a great example of civic and street activism in Istanbul” Adi Dafku (Executive Director Youth Activities Center).
“I thought it was a great idea (o host the event in Istanbul)! Istanbul is a city of diversity: one part is in Asia, the other one in Europe, some parts are very secular, some are more traditional. The city is a concentration of coexistence of different people and religions” – Cyril Amoursky (Liberal Democratic League of Ukraine).
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