June 25, 2024
Giving the younger generation a voice – that is one of the Liz Mohn Foundation’s main goals. That is also why it organized a Townhall Meeting on Monday as part of the Zeitenwende on Tour (Historical Turning Point on Tour) series together with the Munich Security Conference. During the meeting, some 150 students from Gütersloh’s schools discussed topics related to current German domestic, foreign and security policy. Four young people – from Städtisches Gymnasium, Janusz-Korczak-Gesamtschule and Bertelsmann Berufskolleg – were part of the panel discussion. They shared their opinions with Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Nathanael Liminski, Minister of European Affairs for the state of North Rhine–Westphalia and head of the State Chancellery in Düsseldorf.
In her welcoming remarks, Liz Mohn, chairwoman of the Liz Mohn Foundation Executive Board, encouraged the young people to become more active politically. “We once again need a shared vision of the world’s future, one in which people live together more peacefully. Help create that world!” she said.
Moderated by TV host Nina Moghaddam, the discussion was facilitated by an arena-style stage. Talking about the results of the European elections, Moghaddam recounted to the young audience members in moving terms how she herself experienced racism in her youth. In addition to society’s shift to the right and how to deal with that among friends and acquaintances, the questions from the audience revolved around topics such as the future of NATO after Donald Trump’s potential election victory in November, and the situation of the countries located in Africa’s Sahel region. The young people took the opportunity to direct their questions to Christoph Heusgen and Nathanael Liminski.
Time and again, a connection was made between the major political issues and the young people’s own lives. For example, Emir Ali, an 18-year-old of both German and Greek heritage and a member of the panel, spoke of how he only really began thinking about the debate on reintroducing compulsory military service in Germany after he received a draft notice from the Greek army. “Something shifted inside of me and I made a connection between the topic of the Bundeswehr and my own life for the first time,” he said. The exchange was not over after the 90-minute Townhall Meeting, however, since the students continued their lively discussion with the panelists and their classmates in the foyer of the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
This year, the Liz Mohn Foundation organized the Zeitenwende on Tour event in Gütersloh for the second time, together with the Munich Security Conference. The event series has been touring Germany since 2022, allowing people across the country to engage in an open discussion of German security policy. The unique feature in Gütersloh is the age of the audience, since the Townhall Meeting there is designed explicitly and exclusively for young people in order to give them a voice as equal partners in the series.
