Mohamed Ali: The link between unemployment and terrorism

Translator: Ditte Christensen Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

I would like to talk to you about a story

Jeg vil gerne fortælle en historie

about a small town kid.

om en landsbydreng.

I don't know his name, but I do know his story.

Selvom jeg ikke kender hans navn, kender jeg hans historie.

He lives in a small village in southern Somalia.

Han bor i en lille landsby i Sydsomalia.

His village is near Mogadishu.

Hans landsby ligger tæt på Mogadishu.

Drought drives the small village into poverty

Landsbyen er fattig efter alvorlig tørke

and to the brink of starvation.

og de er tæt på at sulte.

With nothing left for him there,

Drengen har ingen fremtid i landsbyen,

he leaves for the big city,

så tager han til en større by,

in this case, Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

i dette tilfælde Mogadishu, Somalias hovedstad.

When he arrives, there are no opportunities,

Da han ankommer, er der ingen muligheder,

no jobs, no way forward.

ingen jobs, ingen fremtid.

He ends up living in a tent city

Han ender med at bo i en teltby

on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

i udkanten af Mogadishu.

Maybe a year passes, nothing.

Efter omkring et års lediggang,

bliver han kontaktet af en mand,

One day, he's approached by a gentleman

who offers to take him to lunch,

der først inviterer ham til frokost,

then to dinner, to breakfast.

derefter aftensmad og morgenmad.

He meets this dynamic group of people,

Drengen møder en dynamisk gruppe folk,

and they give him a break.

der får ham til at slappe af.

He's given a bit of money

Han får en smule penge,

to buy himself some new clothes,

så han kan købe noget nyt tøj,

money to send back home to his family.

penge, som han sender hjem til sin familie.

He is introduced to this young woman.

Han introduceres til en ung kvinde.

He eventually gets married.

Han bliver gift.

He starts this new life.

Han starter et nyt liv.

He has a purpose in life.

Der er en mening med hans liv.

One beautiful day in Mogadishu,

På en smuk dag i Mogadishu,

under an azure blue sky,

under den blå himmel,

a car bomb goes off.

springer en bilbombe i luften.

That small town kid with the big city dreams

Selvmordsbomberen var landsbydrengen

was the suicide bomber,

på udkig efter en bedre fremtid,

and that dynamic group of people

og den dynamiske gruppe folk

were al Shabaab, a terrorist organization

var al-Shabaab, en terrororganisation,

linked to al Qaeda.

med forbindelser til al-Qaeda.

So how does the story of a small town kid

Hvordan ender en historie om en landsbydreng,

just trying to make it big in the city

der bare ønskede et bedre liv i storbyen,

end up with him blowing himself up?

med at han springer sig selv i luften?

He was waiting.

Han ventede.

He was waiting for an opportunity,

Han ventede på en mulighed,

waiting to begin his future,

ventede på at begynde sin fremtid,

waiting for a way forward,

ventede på en vej frem

and this was the first thing that came along.

og dette var den første, der kom.

This was the first thing that pulled him out

Dette var den første ting,

of what we call waithood.

der trak ham ud af ventepositionen.

And his story repeats itself

Og hans historie gentager sig

in urban centers around the world.

i byer overalt i verden.

It is the story of the disenfranchised,

Det er en historie om isolerede,

unemployed urban youth

arbejdsløse unge bymennesker,

who sparks riots in Johannesburg,

der laver oprør i Johannesburg,

sparks riots in London,

oprør i London,

who reaches out for something other than waithood.

som er trætte af at vente.

For young people, the promise of the city,

For unge mennesker lover byen

the big city dream is that of opportunity,

muligheder,

of jobs, of wealth,

jobs og rigdom,

but young people are not sharing in the prosperity of their cities.

men unge mennesker får ikke del i deres byers rigdom.

Often it's youth who suffer from the highest unemployment rates.

Det er ofte de unge, der er mest arbejdsløse.

By 2030, three out of five people living in cities

I 2030 vil tre ud af fem unge, der lever i byen,

will be under the age of 18.

være under 18 år.

If we do not include young people

Hvis vi ikke inkluderer de unge

in the growth of our cities,

i udviklingen af vores byer,

if we do not provide them opportunities,

hvis vi ikke giver dem muligheder,

the story of waithood,

vil historien om ventepositionen,

the gateway to terrorism, to violence, to gangs,

vejen til terrorism, vold, bander,

will be the story of cities 2.0.

blive de nye byers historie.

And in my city of birth, Mogadishu,

I min fødeby, Mogadishu,

70 percent of young people suffer from unemployment.

er 70% af de unge arbejdsløse.

70 percent don't work,

70% er uden arbejde,

don't go to school.

går ikke i skole.

They pretty much do nothing.

De laver ikke rigtig noget.

I went back to Mogadishu last month,

Da jeg var i Mogadishu i sidste måned,

and I went to visit Madina Hospital,

besøgte jeg Madina Hospital,

the hospital I was born in.

hvor jeg blev født.

I remember standing in front of that

Jeg mindes at stå foran

bullet-ridden hospital thinking,

det forkomne hospital og tænke,

what if I had never left?

hvad hvis jeg var blevet i Mogadishu?

What if I had been forced

Hvad hvis jeg var blevet tvunget

into that same state of waithood?

ind i den samme venteposition?

Would I have become a terrorist?

Ville jeg være blevet terrorist?

I'm not really sure about the answer.

Jeg er ikke helt sikker på svaret.

My reason for being in Mogadishu that month

Jeg var i Mogadishu i den måned,

was actually to host

fordi jeg var vært på et møde

a youth leadership and entrepreneurship summit.

for unge ledere og iværksættere.

I brought together about 90 young Somali leaders.

Sammen med cirka 90 unge somaliske ledere

We sat down and brainstormed on solutions

brainstormede vi løsninger til problemer,

to the biggest challenges facing their city.

de oplever i deres by.

One of the young men in the room was Aden.

En af de unge mænd var Aden.

He went to university in Mogadishu, graduated.

Han havde læst på universitet i Mogadishu,

There were no jobs, no opportunities.

men der var ingen jobs, ingen muligheder.

I remember him telling me,

Jeg kan huske, at han fortalte mig,

because he was a college graduate,

at fordi han var universitetsudannet,

unemployed, frustrated,

arbejdsløs og frustreret,

that he was the perfect target for al Shabaab

var han den perfekte rekrut for al-Shabaab

and other terrorist organizations, to be recruited.

og andre terrororganisationer.

They sought people like him out.

De ledte efter folk som ham.

But his story takes a different route.

Men hans historie tog en anden drejning.

In Mogadishu, the biggest barrier

Det kan være svært at komme

to getting from point A to point B are the roads.

fra A til B i Mogadishu.

Twenty-three years of civil war

23 år med borgerkrig

have completely destroyed the road system,

har fuldstændig ødelagt vejene,

and a motorbike can be the easiest way

og det er nemmest at komme rundt

to get around.

med en motorcykel.

Aden saw an opportunity and seized it.

Aden så en mulighed og tog den.

He started a motorbike company.

Han startede et motorcykelfirma.

He began renting out motorbikes

Han begyndte at udleje motorcykler

to local residents who couldn't normally afford them.

til lokale, der ellers ikke havde råd.

He bought 10 bikes, with the help

Sammen med familie og venner

of family and friends,

købte han 10 motorcykler,

and his dream is to eventually expand

og hans drøm voksede efterhånden

to several hundred within the next three years.

til flere hundrede i de næste tre år.

How is this story different?

Hvordan er denne historie anderledes?

What makes his story different?

Hvad gør hans historie anderledes?

I believe it is his ability to identify

Jeg tror, det var hans evne til at se

and seize a new opportunity.

og gribe en ny mulighed.

It's entrepreneurship,

Det er iværksætteri,

and I believe entrepreneurship can be

og jeg tror at iværksætteri kan blive

the most powerful tool against waithood.

det bedste våben mod ventepositionen.

It empowers young people

Med iværksætteri kan unge mennesker

to be the creators of the very economic opportunities

skabe de økonomiske muligheder,

they are so desperately seeking.

som de er på udkig efter.

And you can train young people to be entrepreneurs.

Og unge kan lære at blive iværksættere.

I want to talk to you about a young man

Jeg vil gerne fortælle om en ung mand,

who attended one of my meetings,

der deltog i et af mine møder,

Mohamed Mohamoud, a florist.

blomsterhandleren Mohamed Mahomoud.

He was helping me train some of the young people

Sammen lærte vi unge mennesker

at the summit in entrepreneurship

på iværksættermødet,

and how to be innovative

at være innovative

and how to create a culture of entrepreneurship.

og skabe en iværksætterkultur.

He's actually the first florist Mogadishu has seen

Han er Mogadishus første blomsterhandler

in over 22 years,

i over 22 år,

and until recently, until Mohamed came along,

og indtil for nyligt, før Mohamed kom,

if you wanted flowers at your wedding,

måtte du bruge plastikbuketter

you used plastic bouquets

fra udlandet, hvis du ønskede

shipped from abroad.

blomster til dit bryllup.

If you asked someone,

Hvis du spurgte nogen,

"When was the last time you saw fresh flowers?"

"Hvornår så du sidst friske blomster?"

for many who grew up under civil war,

ville mange, der voksede op

the answer would be, "Never."

under borgerkrigen, sige "Aldrig."

So Mohamed saw an opportunity.

Så Mohamed så en mulighed.

He started a landscaping and design floral company.

Han startede et blomsterfirma.

He created a farm right outside of Mogadishu,

Han grundlagde en farm udenfor Mogadishu,

and started growing tulips and lilies,

og begyndte at dyrke tulipaner og liljer,

which he said could survive

der kunne overleve

the harsh Mogadishu climate.

i Mogadishus hårde klima.

And he began delivering flowers to weddings,

Snart leverede han blomster til bryllupper,

creating gardens at homes

skabte haver ved folks hjem

and businesses around the city,

og virksomheder i byen,

and he's now working on creating

og han arbejder nu på at skabe

Mogadishu's first public park in 22 years.

Mogadishus første park i 22 år.

There's no public park in Mogadishu.

Der er ingen offentlig park i Mogadishu.

He wants to create a space where families,

Han ønsker at skabe et område,

young people, can come together,

hvor familier og unge kan samles,

and, as he says, smell the proverbial roses.

og, som han siger, "nyde duften af roser".

And he doesn't grow roses because

Som han forresten ikke kan dyrke,

they use too much water, by the way.

da de bruger alt for meget vand.

So the first step is to inspire young people,

Så første skridt er at inspirere unge,

and in that room, Mohamed's presence

og Mohamed gjorde den dag

had a really profound impact on the youth in that room.

et stort indtryk på de unge.

They had never really thought about starting up a business.

De havde aldrig overvejet at starte et firma.

They've thought about working for an NGO,

De havde overvejet at arbejde for en NGO,

working for the government,

for regeringen,

but his story, his innovation,

men hans historie, hans innovation,

really had a strong impact on them.

gjorde et stort indtryk på dem.

He forced them to look at their city

Han tvang dem til at se på deres by

as a place of opportunity.

som en mulighed.

He empowered them to believe that they could be entrepreneurs,

Han fik dem til at tro på, at de kunne blive iværksættere,

that they could be change makers.

at de kunne gøre en forskel.

By the end of the day, they were coming up

Senere kom de unge med forslag

with innovative solutions

til opfindsomme løsninger

to some of the biggest challenges facing their city.

til nogle af byens største problemer.

They came up with entrepreneurial solutions

De kom med iværksætterløsninger

to local problems.

til lokale problemer.

So inspiring young people

Så det at inspirere unge

and creating a culture of entrepreneurship

og skabe en iværksætterkultur

is a really great step,

er et stort skridt,

but young people need capital

men unge har brug for penge

to make their ideas a reality.

til at gøre drømmen til virkelighed.

They need expertise and mentorship

De har brug for evner og vejledning

to guide them in developing and launching their businesses.

til at guide dem i at udvikle og lancere deres firma.

Connect young people with the resources they need,

Forbind de unge med de rette ressourcer,

provide them the support they need to go from ideation to creation,

giv dem den støtte, de behøver, for at komme fra idé til skabelse,

and you will create catalysts for urban growth.

og man får byens unge i gang.

For me, entrepreneurship is more than just

For mig, er iværksætteri mere end bare

starting up a business.

det at oprette et firma.

It's about creating a social impact.

Det handler om social indflydelse.

Mohamed is not simply selling flowers.

Mohamed sælger ikke kun blomster.

I believe he is selling hope.

Jeg tror, at han sælger håb.

His Peace Park, and that's what he calls it,

Hans Peace Park, som han kalder den,

when it's created, will actually transform

vil, når den er færdig, ændre måden,

the way people see their city.

hvorpå folk ser deres by.

Aden hired street kids to help rent out

Aden hyrede gadebørn til at udleje

and maintain those bikes for him.

og vedligeholde motorcyklerne.

He gave them the opportunity to escape

Han gav dem en mulighed for at forlade

the paralysis of waithood.

deres venteposition.

These young entrepreneurs are having

Disse unge iværksættere har haft

a tremendous impact in their cities.

en stor indflydelse på deres byer.

So my suggestion is,

Så, mit forslag er,

turn youth into entrepreneurs,

at gøre vores unge til iværksættere,

incubate and nurture their inherent innovation,

udklæk og giv næring til deres ideer,

and you will have more stories of flowers and Peace Parks

og du får flere historier om blomster og parker

than of car bombs and waithood.

end om bilbomber og ventepositioner.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Bifald)

(Applause)