Peacejam Conference 2024

By Matty Maslen, member of the SPARK community

For the past 9 months I have been a member of the PeaceJam UK Youth Team. As part of this, I was given the opportunity to join the organising team for the 2024 conference held in Winchester. Through zoom meetings held across the country (and occasionally across the world), we put together a one-day conference on 3rd July 2024.

a large group of people The day consisted of workshops, family groups, and roundtable discussions. With young people joining us from the UK, Mexico and Romania, and mentors travelling from across the world to help deliver the day, it was a celebration of the power and agency young people can have in the world.

Our delegates participated in workshops from the Young Magistrates, Black to Nature, and Pugwash, as well as one on Hidden Disabilities. It was a pleasure to see these delegates learn from the workshop leads, but also to witness the importance of peer learning. The young people who joined us from PeaceJam Campina put together and held their own PeaceJam conference earlier this year and it was a real honour to have them at ours inspiring the delegates.

As a member of the PeaceJam UK Youth Team, I was encouraged to run a social action project. These projects are intended to combine an element of education with an interactive act of peace. For my own project, I chose the topic of Nuclear Disarmament.

I wanted to create a tool to help re-educate and dispel myths about nuclear deterrence and the dependence of international security on nuclear weapons. I created a small infographic poster with some key facts I wanted to highlight. This was included in the conference logbook and I was lucky enough to have my own slot in the timetable to deliver a workshop myself.

While I talked and expanded on my poster, the delegates decorated a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament logo outline (also included in the logbook). And each of these newly-colourful designs counts as an Act of Peace.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to run my own project this year, and especially to run it via the 2024 UK Conference. Young people are essential to the peace movement, and while I believe that education is key to unlocking a passion for activism, it is also essential that we are given the opportunities and agency to get involved.