Since the murder of Daphne Caruna Galiza, the role or even the absence of students in protests has been enough to push a few students to form their own youth activist group, with the hope of inspiring and mobilising young people to speak out and protest for good governance, rule of law, and constitutional reform.
The new youth activist group named 'Awturi', an extension of the Civil Society Network, also aims to provide people with a platform for speaking up and voicing their opinions.
Speaking to this newspaper, one of the founders, Alex Hili, described the importance of young people who agreed with the group's fundamental beliefs to have a platform that supported them and allowed them to speak out.
The group was launched on the social media earlier this week. Hili said the group had received great feedback and many youths expressed their wish to join. But many, he says, are afraid to associate themselves with the group in public.
"The majority said they wish to join but do not want to be seen on camera and don't want their name to show. Many are truly too scared. They're scared that something will happen to them or to their families."
Only recently a young person told Hili that he could not be part of the organisation, stating that if his photo was taken, he would be unable to find employment in his line of work.
"There is this fear which is justified to a certain extent; what's happening is quite horrible, that you are unable to voice your true opinion in public because you're scared of the consequences," Hili remarked.
Another reason why the group was set up, he said, was that too many people were saying that 'no one is doing anything.' "This is us trying to do something."
"We really want to become an effective lobby group and hopefully, if many young people are truly interested, then we can become an NGO". The group is focusing on mobilising young people to attend the protest being held this Sunday by CSN.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2zV5jvv
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