“Our idea is to bring diversity to the political system, to bring together people from all over the country, from all regions and from all social strata,” Fernando Soares, one of the founders of the nonpartisan political academy Próxima Geração, told DN . On the way to achieving the objective, the project mentor continues, “no selection is made based on whether the person has an ideology that is more left or more right.”
The next edition, the third, will take place in the first quarter of 2024, according to Ricardo Marvão, who, as co-founder of this idea, admits that he does not plan to see “great speeches” from the participants. . “We want people to get involved, get their hands dirty, understand what it is [ser político]. That is why at the end, in the last month, they will develop a series of government policies, which we want them to present to the Assembly of the Republic, and these policies will pass. And we’ve already had at least one that succeeded”, deposit. It wasn’t in Parliament, but almost.
Originating from Próxima Geração, in Miraflores, in the municipality of Oeiras, a residents’ association was born as a result of the desire to change the world expressed by one of its participants. The goal was to “solve a concrete challenge she saw.” And he overcame it, says Fernando Soares.
From idea to project
The academy started with an American documentary that Ricardo Marvão says he saw in 2019 and that influenced him. The origin of the idea is a laboratory of ideas that brings young people into politics. Perhaps it could even be the next generation of politicians, which justifies the name. The desired number is currently round. One of the goals “is to train a thousand young people by 2026. Whether we will succeed or not, we still don’t know,” predicts Marvão, while admitting “that quantity and quality are not the same, but it is a movement.” we need to reach a certain number of young people.” For each edition there are approximately 30 young people, between 16 and 30 years old, for three months. “There are several things that are very important to them,” Marvão reveals. In the two previous editions, the highlights in the minds of the participants were “environment, housing, employment. It is something that affects them very much,” the trainer emphasizes, adding that “Mental health is also one of the topics that is talked about a lot. This always has to do with work, whether the person has to go abroad or not. If the person doesn’t have a decent salary, he or she can’t have enough housing and you can’t have a life and have a family. It’s all connected.”he decides.
Between parties and causes
Without ideologies, with floating parties but without ending up in this academy, the route to practical politics runs through civil society. “We have discovered a lot more in our experience, we have found a lot more people who believe in causes, who believe in themes. We work a lot on issues that everyone has an affinity with. If they had to make an active policy, a public policy, to propose a policy, if they were Prime Minister, if they had legislative power, what would they do,” asks Fernando Soares rhetorically. “We mainly work based on goals. This is the great advantage of working with young people who are not in a career of power, they are in a career of doing projects with impact and changing the country through values and through what they believe in. That is why we work much more upstream of that phase of life in which they are already looking at politics. That said, we expose them to all these realities in politics through the guests we bring to the academy.”, emphasizes. Ministers, former government officials and various politicians were already present during a conversation with the graduates. As for the method, the recipe seems simple and does not differ much from what was developed at the summer universities of some parties. “We took them to the Presidency of the Republic, to the Assembly of the Republic, to speak to deputies. This was during the training phase. Then they work on this government policy,” he continues.
The two trainers always keep an eye on the future. “They are still very young, they have their ideals, their thoughts and they really want to help the country,” emphasizes Ricardo Marvão.
In the first person
António Félix, 19 years old, international relations student at the University of Lisbon, without party affiliation but with convictions, was part of the first edition of Próxima Geração, in 2021. ‘I believe we are going through a democratic crisis’, the former gym participant tells DN. According to the portrait drawn by António Félix, “People in general and especially young people believe less and less in democratic institutions, in parties, in political actors. Therefore, to the people who say that young people are not interested in politics, that young people are not a solution, that they are I am not defending policies that improve the lives of young people, but I am saying that young people are the solution to the crisis we are currently facing. experienced.”considering.
He is not a member of any party, but he knows what he wants to change. “Of course, the parties, the Assembly of the Republic, our President of the Republic, this is all political and has its importance and is what promotes democracy, but I think it is wrong to summarize politics only as that “, António Félix assumes. “When I have breakfast, when I have lunch, the food I eat, the price I pay for it, this is all political”he notes.
Source: DN
