This year as I travel around the country meeting with children and young people as part of my consultation ‘a RIGHT blether’ I’m taking the time to ask them about their lives and what they would like to see change in their lives and the lives of their peers.

Sometimes as part of the visits I ask everyone to stand up and imagine they are holding up a magic wand.  They are to wish for one thing that they would like to see change for children and young people and then to share that wish with the person standing next to them. It is a great way to start the conversation and to see the wealth of ideas and views in every group.  It’s of course not as simple as waving a magic wand and things will be ‘fixed’ and there’s certainly no genie granting three wishes, we’d all love that; but that simple approach is I think, a significant first step in firing imagination.

All too often we as adults can be guilty of looking at what is possible to change, rather than what needs to change, regardless of how difficult or impossible the task it seems. Children and young people are the experts in their own lives, and we need to nurture spaces in which they can share their experiences and ideas, and we need to commit to really listening.

This year, as part of a RIGHT blether, my team has created a series of Rights Workshops to help children and young people explore their rights; where they live, where they learn, in their community and in Scotland.  I’m also going to have what I hope will be a massive vote for all children and young people in Scotland in November.  My ambition is for tens of thousands of children and young people to tell us all what they think we need to take action on in Scotland to make it a country in which children and young people can grow up in safe and happy.  We may think we know all the answers but every child and young person has their own magical views and opinions to share.  I look forward to learning and listening.

www.arightblether.co.uk

Young People’s Festival of Politics will take place on Friday 20 August 2010.  Full details are available on our website:

www.festivalofpolitics.org.uk

It was the war to end all wars.  Only, of course, it wasn’t.  Little more that 20 years after millions perished in the mud of Flanders and the Somme, Europe was torn apart again.  Most of us believe that, in the wake of two worldwide conflicts within a generation, the first real efforts to promote and develop a powerful global peace movement came in the post-war years.

In fact, it gained ground long before this, in the latter years of the 19^th century.  By the time the guns opened up at Verdun and Passchendaele, the concept of global peace being regulated by supra-national institutions was a relatively well developed one.  Thinkers and philanthropists were already supporting a pacifist approach to international affairs, and the concept of “just” war goes back to at least St Thomas Aquinas in the 13^th century.  To this day, politicians struggle with both pragmatism and ethics in international affairs, and they are forced to do so in a stark way when it comes to armed conflicts.

The principles of war, peace and security will be debated in a Festival of Politics event on 18 August, which will feature former Scottish Secretary and UK Defence Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, and Joel Rosenthal, president of the New York-based Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Rosenthal says we have to face the uncomfortable truth that civilised nations went into the 20^th century with their eyes wide open about the horrors of armed conflict and with some pragmatic ideas about how to address it, but still managed to invoke greater slaughter than at any other time in history.  What went wrong?

“I think that there was a fundamental misunderstanding of power, and the thought that, by setting up international institutions you could escape the results of power, was misconceived.” says Rosenthal.

The League of Nations is remembered today chiefly for its failure in the face of the Nazis.  The United Nations has fared rather better though it, too, has its flaws.  In the 20^th century, “just” war, rather like beauty, was in the eye of the beholder – both the First World War and the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki broke its rules.

Rosenthal suggests that the ethics of war are now based on a more general principle.  “Force is perhaps not something to be totally avoided, but it should be thought of as a lesser evil, with the emphasis on rules and restraint, and with its use being judicious.”

He says that it troubles him when people who want to avoid conflict put their faith in distant, unaccountable international institutions.  “I think one of the big challenges we have is in trying to identify genuinely common interests, though we are starting to do so.

“Addressing climate change, for instance, is an area where we can co-operate globally – it also has the advantage of being relatively uncontroversial.  Dealing with terrorism and handling the flow of people, goods and information are others.  We need to seek out win-win propositions leading to interest-driven solutions.”

“Is Peace Worth Fighting For?” will take place in at 16:00 on Wednesday 19 August, in the Parliament’s Main Chamber.  The even is produced in association with the Carnegie UK Trust.

Festival of Politics (FoP): It’s been nearly a year since you attended the Festival of Politics to talk about the SING Campaign. How have things been going with the campaign since then?

Annie Lennox (AL): Here’s a run down of some of the things that happened over the year…

October 2009 – I was awarded the Save the Children Los Niños Award in Madrid, for continued humanitarian work; The Economist Conferences announced its support for the SING Campaign.

November 2009 – I was presented with the Women of Peace award at the Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin.

December 2009 – The SING Campaign’s second anniversary; SING EBay Auction raised £7000; I was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

March 2010 - I attended a Buckingham Palace reception and was able to address the Queen and speak about the SING Campaign;  I attended the UNAIDS Conference in New York;  I joined International Development Minister Gareth Thomas, and leaders representing the Global HIV community at an emergency Westminster summit; Took part in the Women for Women March;  Gave an interview for Hard Talk at Portmeirion;  Visited South Africa, performed with Sir Elton John, and opened the new Vrygrond community centre near Cape Town.

April 2010 – Performed for Idol Gives Back.

May 2010 – I was announced as HIV and AIDS special envoy to The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – Scotland Branch.

June 2010 – I was appointed UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador ; Attended the GBC and Women Deliver Conference in Washington; Took part in the launch of the Body Shop HIV/Aids Campaign.

July 2010 – Spoke and performed at the TED Global conference in Oxford; Took part in the AIDS 2010 CONFERENCE in Vienna.

FoP: You’ve recently visited South Africa again to see how the work of SING and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is progressing. There seems to be some very positive results, as can be seen from the video you posted on the SING website showing the considerable improvement in the lives of the four brothers who were orphaned as a result of AIDS.

AL: The most significant development is that the South African government is finally responding appropriately to the situation. Since the launch of the National Strategic plan in April of this year, they are scaling up their response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. They aim to halve infection rates, and double levels of treatment, and seem to be very committed to making a real difference, although the challenges are enormous. The South African Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, and the Health Minister, Aaron Motsaledi, both attended this year’s International AIDS Conference recently, and what they said was enormously encouraging.

With regards to the boys, TAC members in their area are visiting them regularly and are monitoring their progress, which is reported to be very good. They have access to a supportive grant and are all attending school. The situation with so called “child headed households” all over Sub Saharan Africa is really dire however, which is one of the reasons I campaign for HIV positive pregnant women to receive access to medical intervention, so that they can have anti-retroviral treatment to keep them alive, and their babies have a very good chance of being born free of the virus.

FoP: The SING Campaign is obviously making a difference, but there is still work to be done, particularly in relation to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.  Another recent video posted on the SING site told the awful story of a woman who took her own life and those of her youngest children, as a result of being persecuted by members of her community who thought she had AIDS. How widespread is this form of prejudice in South Africa, and what can be done to address it?

AL: Stigma isn’t only prevalent in South Africa, stigma is EVERYWHERE… including Scotland, or even possibly in you, dear reader!

People are afraid of HIV/AIDS. The issue is loaded with misleading myths and misnomers. Fundamentally we need decent education, so that people understand clearly how the virus is passed on, and how it’s not. It needs to come out of the closet, and be demystified, and understood, just like any other virus.

FoP: You’ve recently been made a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Programme on AIDS, and a Special Envoy for the Scottish Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Congratulations! How might these new roles influence your work in relation to HIV/AIDS?

AL: Becoming a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador recently has strengthened and broadened my platform.  Michel Sidibe, the director of UNAIDS is a real visionary, who has a very clear and innovative directive as to how he wants to lead the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic (especially with regard to women and children) and has made it an objective to have zero mother to child transmission of the virus by 2015. I’ll be going to the UN in New York in September to take part in a high level conference, drawing together the major players from around the world. The dialogues that arise from these events will hopefully lead to decision making policies which should have a real long term impact. We want the millennium development goals to be reached, and as an advocate, I have the opportunity to send out the right messages to influence those who have the power to make the changes that are so desperately needed to save millions of people’s lives.

I am very much looking forward to working with the Scottish Parliament in my new role as a special envoy to the Scottish Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).  This will allow me to regularly update Members of the Scottish Parliament on developments in the fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly with regard to women and children.

FoP : We’re delighted that you’re returning to the Festival of Politics this year, to update us on the SING Campaign. This year your event will also form part of the General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland lecture series. Teachers and educators obviously have a vital role to play in the fight against HIV/AIDS – how do you think we can help support their work in this area?

AL: First of all, I hope I can inspire people to take an interest in something that they might not have given much thought to before. That’s the first step!

I cannot tell you that I have a prescriptive stratagem, but I do think it begins with dialogue. I believe that people have to think for themselves as to how they might like to explore the issue further, and how they can personally become engaged. I do think however, that there needs to be a place for HIV/AIDS with regards to sex education in every school.

In this way, we can educate young people to be more aware, and understand it better, as well as helping to de-mythologize and de-stigmatize at the same time.

For more information on the SING Campaign, please visit www.annielennoxsing.com

Annie Lennox will be appearing at two Festival of Politics events – Annie Lennox and The SING Campaign – One Year On (Thursday 19 August), and Power of the People (Wednesday 18 August), where she will form part of a panel – also including former journalist and MP Martin Bell, and campaigner and comedian Mark Thomas – which will consider how people who are not “professional” politicians can change the political landscape.

For full details of Annie’s events, please visit the Festival website – www.festivalofpolitics.org.uk.  Annie’s events will be webcast live on www.holyrood.tv

On 17 August, as the opening headline event of this year’s Festival of Politics, Scotland’s Futures Forum and the Real Radio Football Phone-in Show will co-host an event providing football fans – alongside big names from the Scottish game – the opportunity to debate the future of Scottish football, live on Real Radio.

It has been over a decade since our national team last qualified for a major tournament, and with similarly populated countries such as Uruguay and Paraguay doing so well at the World Cup, the question has to be asked – where are we going wrong?

There are a number of factors which can be attributed to our lack of success, and this Festival event will provide the fans a platform to give their views on why Scotland no longer seems to produce footballing talent such as Dalglish, Baxter, Johnstone or Bremner.

In these days of the “Playstation Generation” do issues such as: a lack of facilities; coaching infrastructure; funding for grassroots football; and physical education and team sports in school, all contribute to our inability to produce young players who can make our national team great again? We may lay claim to be one of the inventors of football but do we need to look to the academies in France and Spain to teach us how to nurture the talent of young players?

Also, given our inclement climate, is there an argument for football at all levels being played during our ‘summer’ months? Nothing can be more unappealing for our young players, parents, and fans than standing in the howling wind and pouring rain, when in this day and age there are so many other activities competing for our time, interest and money. With better weather comes better pitches and better players, or so the argument goes. What do our fans think of this?

At senior domestic level there are also questions to be asked about the state of our national game. Many fans will agree that the quality of Scottish football is as poor as it has ever been and that the cost of attending SPL games is over-priced in relation to what is on offer. With ever-dwindling crowds, how do we reverse this decline? Do we need league reconstruction? Are there too many clubs? Should we reorganise lower leagues on a geographical basis?

There are so many questions that need to be addressed regarding our national obsession. Now, at this year’s Festival of Politics, is the time for our fans to have their say.

For an opportunity to participate in the “Scotland’s Political Football?” event, please visit the Real Radio website, by Sunday 8 August 2010.

Whilst it might be obvious when there are changes in the major “mechanics” of the political process – the election of a new government, for example – more subtle yet important political trends can be easy to overlook.  For instance, how many of us now shop for Fairtrade or organic goods from a farmers’ market, as opposed to exclusively purchasing “brand names” from a large supermarket?  Such a seemingly small action, when taken by thousands of people, can bring about significant political and economic change both domestically and abroad.

If your appetite for debate around political change has been whetted in advance of this year’s Festival, you would be well advised to obtain a copy of the special report which is published in today’s (Friday 30 July 2010) edition of The Scotsman.  Packed with analysis and interviews with Festival participants, this excellent accompaniment to the Festival provides an engaging insight into the broad range of topics that form this year’s programme. The diversity of subjects considered includes: how Scots are facing up to a new era of politics, the ethics of war in the 21^st century; the politics intrinsic in the future of Scottish football; and whether it’s time to stand up for the survival of political satire.

In addition to the excellent supplement provided by our media partner, The Scotsman, a further, equally dynamic take on this year’s Festival can also be found in The List magazine’s Edinburgh Festival Guide.  Featuring a detailed review of the winning pictures from this year’s World Press Photo exhibition, a frank interview with former journalist and MP, Martin Bell, and the pick of the highlights from the Festival programme, the Guide’s Festival of Politics section provides a tantalising taste of our programme.

Politics is dynamic in all its forms, and as the coverage in The Scotsman special report and The List Edinburgh Festival Guide shows, the changing nature of politics – as reflected by the Festival of Politics – can be very engaging indeed!

In recognition of the importance of photojournalism in documenting our lives, since 2006 the Festival of Politics has hosted the World Press Photo (WPP) Exhibition – the world’s premier annual photojournalism exhibition. Once again this year we are delighted to welcome to the Scottish Parliament the 2010 World Press Photo exhibition, which is free to view and will be on display from Tuesday 3 to Saturday 28 August (except Sundays).

The 2010 exhibition features the winning images selected from over 100,000 photographs submitted to the 2010 World Press Photo competition. These powerfully document subjects such as: the protests following the disputed presidential elections in Iran; the continuing consequences of the conflict in Palestine; the impacts of climate change upon glaciers in Greenland; and the personal journey of a young person realigning their gender.

As well as providing an opportunity to view 2010’s World Press Photo exhibition, this year’s Festival has also programmed a range of events – under the strand of WPP@FoP – that will provide further examination of the work of photojournalists, and issues that impact upon this.

The hugely important subject of press freedom is considered in the Freedom and Photography event (Wednesday 4 August, 16:00), which will feature photographer Marc Vallée, who recently received compensation and an apology from the Metropolitan Police, after being denied the right to photograph a demonstration at the Greek Embassy in London.

The difference photojournalism can make to the debate on climate change (Thursday 12 August, 16:00) will be discussed by award winning photographers Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer, and photographer and founder of the Hard Rain Project Mark Edwards, whose work documents how rising global temperatures are impacting both ecosystems and communities. Those interested in developing their environmental photography skills may also wish to join our Environmental Photography Workshop (Thursday 12 August, 11:00), which will be hosted by nature photographer and founder of the Tooth and Claw predator project, Peter Cairns.

And as the Festival comes to a close on Saturday 21 August, consideration will be given to: how photographic portraiture can candidly document overlooked sections of society, when Laura Pannack discusses her work that challenges stereotypes of teenagers (13:30); and the long-term consequence of conflict, as revealed in Nina Berman’s portrayal of soldiers injured during the war in Iraq, as they resume their lives in the US (16:00).

It can be argued that photojournalism holds up a mirror to our lives. This August, thanks to World Press Photo, there can be no better place than the Festival of Politics to peer through the looking glass at those issues that affect us all.

Further details on the World Press Photo exhibition and Festival of Politics events linked to this can be found at the Festival website.

With an over-arching theme of “Changing Politics”, the 2010 Festival will feature nearly 50 events, many of which will examine how politics – and the way we all interact with it – is evolving.  If you are of the view that politics is merely the preserve of politicians and parliaments, then this year’s programme may also hold a few surprises.  For instance, two of our headline events will respectively consider the relationship between comedy and politics, as well as the many-faceted politics inherent in Scotland’s national game – football!

Also proving that politics is not merely the preserve of “professional” politicians, our “Power of the People” event will feature musician Annie Lennox, comedian Mark Thomas, and journalist Martin Bell, as they discuss their own experiences of how individuals can drive campaigns that change the political landscape.  And with an eye to the future, we shall for the first time this year be hosting a “Young People’s Festival of Politics”, which will allow young citizens from across Scotland to debate the issues that impact their lives.

Since 2006, as part of the Festival the Scottish Parliament has hosted the World Press Photo exhibition, and we are delighted to welcome back once again in 2010 this truly amazing exposition of leading photojournalism.  We shall also be hosting a strand of Festival events to tie in with the exhibition – under the banner of WPP@FoP – that will consider how photojournalism responds to issues as diverse as censorship, climate change, body image, and armed conflict.

Excited as we are at the breadth and quality of this year’s programme, it must be recognised that it simply would not be possible to put together such a diverse and stimulating range of events without the invaluable contribution of individuals and stakeholder groups from across Scotland.  This includes all of you who earlier this year took time to put forward suggestions for speakers and events, via our website.  Neither would this year’s Festival be so impressive without the support of our partners – The UK, and Dunfermline Carnegie Trusts, and the Law Society of Scotland, and our media partner – The Scotsman.  We are extremely grateful to each of you for your involvement in the initiative.

Full details of this year’s Festival are available on our website – http://www.festivalofpolitics.org.uk/prog.htm – which also lists outlets where printed copies of the programme may be obtained.  It is our intention to use this blog to provide background information on the Festival and interviews with its participants, so please stop by regularly to keep up to date with the latest developments.

Festival of Politics Team

The full programme for the 2010 Festival will be launched on Monday 5 July, and will be available in electronic form the Festival of Politics website – www.festivalofpolitics.org.uk - and in hard copy from various venues across Scotland.  Visit us again on 5 July to find out more about what this year’s Festival of Politics has in store!