Young people working for change

MMD: A lot of the talk of globalisation is about a global culture - do you think that globalisation is driving the homogenisation of culture?

TL: People are uniting from globalisation but there are still so many people who feel alone. No matter how much you talk about global effects or global capitalism, some people are very alienated and isolated in this world. When I think of globalisation I think of the zealots of the global project.

But the way I see it, globalisation means a time when people around the planet are linked. I define it as the free movement across borders of people, ideas and technology. And I don’t think it’s anything that new. Back in the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean rim was the edge of the world for them and there existed the free movement of people, ideas and technology in the world they knew. They had globalisation for their world view.

In Australia, pre-invasion, when there were over 500 language groups, and song lines, trade routes, and dreaming tracks spanned the continent - there was movement of ideas, peoples and technologies: they also had globalisation for their worldview.

In the end, globalisation is a reaction to post-modernity. I see it as a need to argue once more for the universal. Some people get lost looking at the bigger picture…

Tim is one of 301 OIYP action partners working for change in their communities. Their action is made more dynamic by the free movement of ideas across a diverse and disparate network. And across that network there are as many interpretations of youth culture as young people.

As Tim says, youth culture is defined by young people. Beyond that, we see across the OIYP network that young people have the power to effect positive changes to strengthen their communities. As just one example, Tim’s work continues to impact on perceptions of Indigenous Australia by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike in positive and powerful ways, creating new spaces for new voices to be heard.