#Daretocare, youth and politics

We are witnessing a period of great changes, transformations and contradictions that can open up new ways of seeking the common good. Through the new campaign #daretocare the young people of the Focolare Movement want to put the theme of care at the top of the political agenda, locally and globally.

The new campaign of the youth of the Focolare Movement was launched on June 20th with the title #daretocare i.e. “dare and take care”, taking charge of our societies and the planet. The campaign is being constantly updated on the United World Project website

What does #daretocare have to do with politics?

Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, believed that there was a real vocation to politics, a personal call perceived in one’s own conscience and born out of certain circumstances, inspired by a social need that is asking for help, a human right that has been violated or the desire to do something good for one’s  city or nation.

But is it still valid today?

Javier Baquero from Bogotá in Colombia, Cristina Guarda from Italy and Frantisek Talíř from Zubčice in the Czech Republic help us to answer this question.

They are young people from the Focolare Movement and are part of the network of the Politics for Unity Movement, an expression of the Focolare for a culture of unity in politics.

Javier, who today works in the office of the mayor of Bogotá tells us: “I have worked in politics since I was 13 years old and formally in government since I was 18, and I have worked with people who have integrity, who have the capacity to deal with corruption, whose actions are transparent. So maybe there are corrupt people, but they are just a few.

For me the most important principle in politics is service. Because one puts one’s knowledge, skills, professions at the service of a society, of humanity,  of the planet. And you don’t do it alone but together with other people. So, the principle that should guide every politician is service, an attitude of service to meet the needs of a society.

#daretocare, to dare and to take care means first of all to feel and to be close to the problems of my city but that’s not enough: it is to think and to formulate public policies to solve these problems”.

Cristina who has been in politics for the last five years adds: “Yes, I know, sometimes I feel disgusted observing the hatred created by some politicians, the conspiracy of silence, laziness or deafness in front of some complex problems. But for this reason, we and I must act and do our best.

In my political action, I want to express my intense love for others by doing my best to help them live better, to lighten their worries and give them all the elements to achieve the lives they dream about”.

“Politics is not bad in itself. Politics is made by politicians, who can be more or less good at it “- says František, a regional political activist. “That is why it is necessary that new politicians continue to enter this field and try to do it in the best possible way.

To speak of politics as a service is what Pope Francis suggested to me when we met a year and a half ago. I think this is the recipe for good politics. The key is really to serve others.

The key is my thinking: do I do politics for myself or do I do it to serve? And every time I have to make a decision – small or big – I can choose: am I putting myself first or others? And if others are put first then everything will be fine”!

That’s why it’s important to network, to think and to act for the common good, to take care of everyone.

To follow the events of the #daretocare campaign visit the United World Project website.

By the youth of the Focolare