Porto Alegre - WCC general assembly

I'm not sure if I should feel embarassed, but I did not go to my favourite tent the night with the youth meeting. I chose the latter instead reckoning that dreamy laziness and nonchalant lack of vision should be also represented. Why, mates, it has been said on the corridors that the global youth president in the WCC wouldn't have much leverage or things to do for that matter anyways.

The experience was minimalist, the meeting temperamental and erratic. It took place in a hall of the Lutheran Church in Porto Alegre, just across the stwards' hotel. Not all the youth came, and not all those that came were enlightened. The two meetings of the two previous days had been sterile and useless, it was claimed, even though an outsider could easily see that an evolution had taken place and influential core groups had been formed. It's not a bad thing, that's politics, and they consisted mainly of people already involved with the ecumenical movement and showing availability or ambition to dedicate themselves to the cause, as small or big, tokenist or festive as it might be.

Discussion was focused on two main issues: young delegates nominations for the Central Committee and nominees for the possible new position of global youth leader. Things rolled on with regional group meetings and then a plenary. Hiding behind my press accreditation I followed the European meeting and then the last part of the global plenary. Ahem, I was taken too much with source milking in between the two, darling activity that usually pays off.

The part with the youth nominees for the Central Committee, believe me, it was more boring than Vogon poetry at its best in "Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning", by poet master Grunthos the Flatulent. I almost died of internal hemorrhage. The note that saved me withouth ruining the premium on my insurance was the discovery of a splendid inconsistency: remember that I applauded myself Aram I's emphasis on youth; well, it came to our knowledge that his gloriuos rhetoric astutely hides the lack of youth nominees from his church. German sources told us afterwards that a Waldensian heretic actually managed to bring this up with his otherwise extreme holiness before his ecumenical testament would become history.

Then the things got mildly livelier with the talk about the global youth leader. Each region tried to propose candidates, but the process went erratic. The Middle East did not propose anyone. North America did not reach consensus and abandoned the quest. Oceania/Pacific went against the grain and smoothly nominated a Samoan female. Africa managed to do the same against all odds. Europe reached applause-consensus on one candidate and then a young steward suddenly proposed an extra candidate by pointing to a young Orthodox that happened to be passing by; and because the political balance was already strained and in danger, the Old World got stuck with two candidates. The Carribeans, ahem, I don't remember. Finally, Latin America was very late and because they basically came when there were only 2 minutes left for speeches, they lost one minute on internal decision on who to speak and another minute on internal decision on whether to speak in Spanish or English. In the end they did not speak at all.

Next day I tried to approach Natalie Maxson and Freddy Knutsen, current and former youth WCC staff and ad-hoc moderators of the process and learnt that nothing is bound to move in the coming days.

If it weren't for this update and the press follow-up beer meeting, I would have dismally regretted not going for the rewarding tent nap I had planned.

godspeed,
cristian