The program of the International Students’ Conference balances great diversity with a simplicity that is not overwhelming. We have given each of the five days a focus, for example « Day of Substance » or « Day of Encounter ». The entire conference is based on a number of content-related and structural forms. What remains structurally the same over the days differs greatly in terms of content. Some things run through almost all the days, namely the main lectures, the Pageant Play and the workshops. The four lectures also have four different focuses: ancient wisdom’s answers to the crises of our time, approaches to a more fraternal economy, the art of living and gardening, and questions from young people related to spirituality. As different as these themes may sound, they belong together. Excerpts from the Journey of the Peacemaker will take us all to the Münsterplatz in Basel for an event of participatory storytelling. On the evening of the day of arrival this will already begin by hearing the story in the Great Hall.  In the following days we will work to connect with this important story from the Haudenosaunee nations of the first democracy in North America. It is a story that marks the beginning of a spiritual and political culture of global influence and significance. 

We will start the mornings with singing and dancing to warm up together for the day. We would like groups from different continents to start each session in the main hall with a song that they have brought from their country! In the evenings we will watch student performances from all over the world. These evening performances are program points in which people who are not participants of the conference can also take part. It is also possible to join the four main lectures and the « Fellow Travellers » contribution by young people who are a part of the network of the Youth Section. This is meant to be by the youth and for the youth. The workshops, which are a major pillar of the conference, are also an offering of many young people. Many of them are ISC alumni who are now sharing their skills with us,- from meditation to origami and folk dancing! Furthermore, many workshop hosts are part of Youth Section groups around the world, and are in this way shaping the conference as well as strengthening the worldwide network of the Youth Section.

All of our four main lectures will have an interactive character. The desire to get into conversation with young people from all over the world came from all the speakers, without the organizing team pushing in this direction. Everyone seems to be aware of how important it is for the youth of our world to think and to share these thoughts. Thoughts that are perhaps much harder for an older generation to come up with, because they are thought impulses that are brought down to earth.

This is where one meets the other, youth and spirituality. What is meant with that, could also be described as the spiritual striving of youth, which is the task of the Youth Section to hold and support. I am not talking about a single impulse but of what a generation brings to the world.

The last talk of the ISC, which, appropriately enough, deals with the relationship of young people to spiritual questions, will be given on Saturday by Yecu Barnech, a priest of the Christian Community. Originally from Argentina, he now lives and works in Munich. He has a lot of experience with young people through the organization of youth camps and family camps. The fact that more and more young people today are suffering from conditions such as  depression, communication disorders and addiction, is something I can relate to the idea that this is a more sensitive generation that does not put up with or absorb all the crises, but suffers greatly from them. The best medicine for this feeling of powerlessness can be community. These are thoughts that can just as easily be linked to the topics of the other three lectures. Friday’s speaker, economist Kelley Buhles, who grew up in the United States and is living in Switzerland now, will talk about the value of community in the context of goods. Our whole life is an economy, and economy always happens in community. When it is geared towards selfishness and growth instead of the common good and balance, all other areas of life begin to falter. This lecture will deal with new and old approaches to doing business in a good sense. Experienced gardener Brigid LeFevre will share about the wisdom of plants. As a contributor, founder and initiator of various projects, her journey has taken her from Ireland to England, Scotland, Sweden and Portugal. “In hindsight, life seems like it always had a plan,” she says, “but sometimes you don’t see it in the here and now.” For me, this sentence speaks volumes of trust, which is one of the most important virtues of the heart. The first speaker at the conference will be Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq. He not only talks about the heart, he warms it directly, through clear, chosen words and his sung prayer. The “ice” we feel in our hearts is certainly different for everyone. We are not the same, but a society of countless individuals. I think we have reached a point where society can become community, a point where we need each other to melt the ice in each other’s hearts, to help each other warm the cold that only makes us more and more lonely. I find something beautiful about the nature of this task: we are not waging a battle against the ice in order to drive it away or break it. We are concerned with softening the hard ice and making the valuable things in it available again – water, the substance on which all life is based. On the day of departure, the three people who gave their contributions in the morning of each full day of the conference will sit down at a « round table » and round off the series of lectures together. These lectures are worth listening to by 600 students and numerous guests. 

Our financial resources are all going towards the huge expense of enabling the hundreds of expected students to attend our conference in Switzerland. Many of the young people come from countries with weaker currencies, and the trip is an additional burden that can hardly be compared to traveling within Europe. In order to enable these young people to take part, we are collecting donations via our website, as are the participants.

Have a look at the full program here.