Anomali YEC News

Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, Howcast, Columbia Law School, the U.S. Department of State and Access 360 Media are bringing leaders of 17 pioneering organizations from 15 countries together with technology experts next month in New York for the first-ever conclave to empower youth against violence and oppression through the use of the latest online tools in The Alliance of Youth Movement Summit.

Anomali is invited by the US Department of States via the Indonesian US Embassy to participate in the summit to represent Indonesia. We sent Mr. Reggy Hasibuan to represent Anomali Inter-faith Dialogue as an observer in the Summit, along with 8 other organizations.

The young leaders will form a new group, the Alliance of Youth Movements, which will produce a field manual for youth empowerment. The field manual will stand in stark contrast to the Al-Qaeda manual on the basics of terrorism, found by Coalition Forces in Iraq.

The gathering was inspired by the success of the One Million Voices Against the FARC, a group started on Facebook.com by young people in Colombia. Aided by social networking technologies, the organization inspired 12 million people in 190 cities around the world to take to the streets in protest against the FARC, an extremist group that has been terrorizing Colombia for more than 40 years. The magnitude of the marches illustrated once and for all that the FARC lacked a strong support base. Within days of the protests, the FARC witnessed massive desertions from their ranks. The Colombian group will share their ideas with leaders of other groups that use social and mobile technologies to promote freedom and justice and oppose violence, extremism and oppression.

Speakers at the Summit include:

• Whoopi Goldberg, Host of ABC’s “The View”
• Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder, Facebook
• James K. Glassman, Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Oscar Morales, Founder, One Million Voices Against the FARC
• Luke Russert, MSNBC
• Matthew Waxman, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

Summit participants are also be honored at a red-carpet event with entertainment celebrities, business leaders, and civil society figures at the former home of MTV’s Total Request Live (“TRL”) overlooking Times Square.

From this opportunity, Anomali manages to secure links from many influential organizations, attains new knowledge regarding peaceful rallies and anti-violence movements, and also accomplishes a sustainable relationship with US Department of States.

Anomali Youth Empowerment Center has successfully assisted the Indonesian US Embassy in convening the first ever US Election themed Debate in Indonesia. The event will be free of charge and to be conducted in four provinces in Indonesia which are West Java, Jogjakarta, East Java and South Sulawesi from October 24^th 2008-October 31^st 2008.

Hundreds of students from prestigious universities across Indonesia participated in this event along with some national and international level experts and notables. As the result Indonesian students have known better regarding the issues pertaining US policies from both the candidates’ perspective.

Testimonials from many participants stated that due from the tournament; they now understand American politics better than Indonesian politics.

We would like to thank the American Corner staffs for their cooperation in organizing the event. We would also like to thank the regional Tournament Directors for their great work. They are Mr. Mafatih Fadhly from Muhammadiyah University Malang, Ms. Maria Aleida from UGM Jogjakarta, and Ms. Fenica from Parahyangan University Bandung.

We would also like to thank you Mrs. Michelle Cenzer and Mr. Jason P. Rebholz from the US Embassy for the opportunity. This event is a landmark of Anomali’s sustainable cooperation with the US Embassy.

For more information and pictures of the competition please check our facebook group.