Youthspeak! (Unga Röster)

As often in the past students and young people are the ones who have fought to remove the dictators, military regimes and bureaucrats that plague them. Von, Mohammed, Micke and Alejandra in this film have found that the political legacies which they have inherited can only be changed through their own personal struggle. They share the determination to challenge the norms that no longer apply to them or their generation. To promote democracy in their way. To ignite others with their dream.

Mohammed Fakry, a geology student at the University of Indonesia. He was one of the main leaders of the 1998 student demonstrations, which brought down President Soeharto. People call him troublemaker, a title he accepts with pride.

Alejandra Lopez. At sixteen she found out that her father was one of several thousands who had disappeared after the military coup in 1973 in Chile. She started the organisation Children for Identity, Justice and Truth, which has taken root both in Chile and abroad. The are working to create a Chilean society based on dignity, truth and human rights.

Von Kemiere, is a Ijaw youth from Nigera’s southern Niger delta. This oil-rich delta provides 80% of Nigeria’s income. Von and his 20 million Ijaws have seen nothing of the billions of oil dollars and remain the poorest in the country. The rulers and the military in the north wade in an overconsumption unprecedented in Africa. Von and his Ijaw Youth Movement are fighting back, some even attacking oil pumping stations in an organised struggle for justice.

Micke Holmberg. When the Swedish welfare state began its decline in the late 1980´s the state-sponsored youth clubs in the capital Stockholm were closed down. Only 18 years old  at the time Micke started a non-commercial alternative, which became the fastest growing urban youth centre in Sweden, called Klubb Kult. The philosophy is built on respect for the ideas of the youth.