On the occasion of the World Youth Day, which is celebrated every year on August 12th, the Center E8 used all its potentials and mastery of digital technologies by making a special show to celebrate this holiday.
The new, digital age that marks this, not so long, century has become primary when it comes to the current social an
d health situation due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this regard, the celebration of Youth Day was accompanied by physical but not social distance.
What is Youth Day anyway? In different countries and different social contexts, Youth Days have been celebrated since the middle of the 20th century and serve to mark youth uprisings and the importance of youth as a social group. In 1999, the United Nations established August 12th as Youth Day, and the first organization that started celebrating Youth Day in Serbia was the Center E8, under the slogan “let’s be seen – let them hear us”. Each Youth Day had its own theme, from gender-based violence to cyber violence – with the CTRL + S campaign, forums, conferences and public actions of Be a Man clubs throughout Serbia. During Youth Day, citizens of all ages had the opportunity to meet the volunteers of the Center E8, learn the differences between gender and gender, learn interesting and important things about sexual and reproductive health, as well as to express their opinions and join joint efforts. towards a healthier and safer society. We also remember the Youth Week in Vranje, the SUPER Youth campaign and all the other activities during which we tried to do what we do best – educate and discover the super powers of heroin and the hero of youth.
Which brings us to the present moment, and the way we celebrate this Youth Day – online, separated, in completely different circumstances. Apart from the standard challenges and problems that young people regularly face – such as uncertainty, insecurity, insufficient political information, insufficient information on sexual, reproductive and mental health issues, this year we all face an even bigger challenge – a deadly virus epidemic, social distance and danger to physical and mental health. This is a time when a whole generation feared for themselves, their loved ones, and their future more than usual, and thus for their youth. Small and large graduations, entrance exams, driving exams, online schooling and endless lack and stress marked this year. Despite all the obstacles, the young people managed to hear their voice this year as well – not to be thrown out of their homes, to express political dissatisfaction and to be on the side of the truth, in their worlds and on the streets. And they paid for it, with arrests and broken heads, but they resisted the pressure. That is why today we are talking with activists who did not stop when the whole world stopped, and with people who have been fighting for bigger and wider youth spaces for years. Stay with us and find out if everything is easy when you are young and what are the special vulnerabilities of young people. Because young people are not just an age, but an important social category.
The show had several different formats: from several appearances from the field with Marko Panajotović, who passed the last exam at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade that day and personally marked his youth and this holiday, to talk about the short feature film “Dog days” with actor Nikola Pavlović and the streaming of the film itself. During that conversation, the topic of the position of young people and whether their departure from the country was a need rather than a desire was raised. The hosts and editors of the show, Tamara Urošević and Jana Šarić, also had a panel on which they raised the topic of the work of the youth sector, the Ministry and the law when it comes to young people with various representatives.
The entire show went live on the Facebook profile of the Center E8, which was saved on their page and recorded with the support of the Young Man Initiative and CARE International.
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