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Opening Address MUNOL 2009

by Axel Benrath, Deputy Chairman of the MUNOL Association

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Secretaries-General, Mr. Flittiger, Distinguished Guests and, again this year, a most warm welcome to you, delegates.

You have a week full of excitement ahead of you. A week filled with discussions, trying to open up to and work with people you have never seen before. A week filled with the attempt of changing maybe not the, but a world.

Although I hold in my hands 11 sheets of paper, I will talk about five things only today:

1. The MUNOL Association

The association is a big label for a simple thing: a group of ex- and currant conference managers, secretaries-general, and ex-participants who believe that MUNOL is something that should last for a long time. That is why we see us as the keeper of conference knowledge. We try to improve MUNOL each year. So that you can have more fun as delegates. That is what we do.

For now, I want all the delegates of the whole right column to stand up. Now I want you to get up on your chair. Do me another favor and turn to your right by 90 degrees.

And now, I want you to look down on those still sitting. Please sit down again.

Now, the left column. You should also have the moment to be looking down on someone. Attention: 90 degrees left!

2. Authority

Why did you get up? Because I told you so. Why did nobody resist? Because I’m standing up here. Presumably because you think that because I’m standing up here, wearing shirt and tie, speaking to you in a language that is not our mother tongue there must be something highly official about this guy. Well, that is true.......... But, more importantly, because we agreed on this official frame and you play your part as the audience while I speak. Remember that you agreed on that, and so did I. At MUNOL (as well as the UN) we agree on certain rules so that we can focus on improving each individual’s life. Always remember, though, that these rules are man-made and not of a divine power.

3. Looking down

You have all "looked down" on other people now. Good. That should be enough for the rest of the week. Don’t be looking down ---- or I’ll be looking out for you!........ Looking down is a question of perspective, which leads me to the next point.

4. Perspective

You all represent different countries. That is a rather trivial point to make. And sometimes – depending on your abilities and your preparation – it proves to be rather tough to fully accept a certain role. Because you will have to admit that so much in this world has not yet reached the ideals of the charter of the UN.
Another aspect: An opinion that is different from your own is, at first hand, hard to understand. It is hard to agree with because under many circumstances it seems as if agreeing with somebody else means leaving behind your own ideas. I hope that in the course of this week you will understand that this is not the case. It sounds rather simple, but we have to let different people have different opinions. Without feeling less important or even attacked. Coming together and leaving room for understanding each other; that is what MUNOL (and therefore the UN) is about. If you have understood the concept of perspective, there are many questions:

.......Everything out of my perspective!

5. Change

I am pretty sure that many of you have brothers and sisters. Imagine a fight between yourself and your sister or brother. Who will intervene? Who tells you what is right or wrong? Most of the times, your parents will. They will try to understand who is responsible for the fight. They will take care. They will not let the stronger hurt the weaker. They will take action to find an agreeable solution for you and your brother or sister.
Now, imagine a fight between a group of siblings without parents. Who will intervene? Who tells what is right, what is wrong. If there is no controlling element, the stronger will hurt the weaker. And they will hurt badly.

The metaphor is too trivial, too simple in that way, to easily grasp in one thought the cruelties and the casualties that World War II brought about. We know that numerous gruesome people were responsible for the damage to the world. And as free people of our modern world today, we are happy that the right siblings allied to become, so to say, the stronger one in the end.
Out of that fight of siblings without parents, the UNO was founded. And the founding had an aim. The aim was and is never to let anything that happened because of Nazi-Germany ever happen again. In the immediate aftermath of the second great war of the century, the founders understood that something had to happen. That something had to change. And on the concept of The League of Nations, they founded the United Nations Organization.

Today we can see the problems such an institution faces. Not necessary for me to repeat those we have. But I want to make a point to you.
I promise you that there will be times you will doubt the importance of MUNOL. You will hate the long discussions, some of you will hate the dress code, the rules we conduct our debates by (You will have to blame me, I’m responsible.....), the never ending process of not agreeing with each other. I promise you that you will doubt your own importance. You will ask yourself why you do this. You will wonder what change you yourself can bring about thinking I’m sitting in a SCHOOL somewhere in Northern Germany in a city that is not exactly on the same high-society level as New York, Miami, London or Berlin with at least 200 people I don’t know (and maybe even don’t wanna know) talking  about stuff like The future role of Antarctica or Elaborating a legal framework on the rights of persons who have been displaced in consequence of climate change and all of that just because I didn’t want to go to school for a week. Now… what will that change?

It will change a lot. Maybe not in direct consequence for Antarctica or those having been displaced because of climate change. But you will have seen the strength-robbing process of drafting a resolution. You will have seen how much fun it is to talk to people you don’t know. You will have spoken in front of relatively many people. You will have come together to do something. You will have come together and you will have understood that 300 plus students can change something. When they come together. If each of you stayed at home, nothing would have been talked about; nothing would have been fun. But you have come together. You will have understood that no matter what you believe, what your skin colour is, what your sexual preferences are, what kind of shirt your wear: If you want to change something you have to come together. That is how you as a person and we as students and we as friends and we as family, we as a nation and we as Europe and we as the UN and we as the world can change something. When we come together.

And, not to forget, you will have heard about the MUNOL Association, looking down on people, authority, perspectives and change…

These guys here sitting to the left of me, the organization team, have for a year met again and again and again. The have raised money for the conference. They’ve thought about relevant and interesting topics for you. They have printed your almost 350 badges plus teachers plus staff plus guests. They have put them into the plastic covers. They have stapled the lunch tickets to your Student’s Guide in late night sessions. They have printed out and copied literally thousands of pages.   JUST      FOR      YOU!

The stage is set, the equipment is there, the framework has been done. Use it, fill the gap only you can fill. You have relied on their organisation; during the year most likely unconsciously – now that you have arrived maybe a little more consciously. Now they and I, we rely on you to use this opportunity and take it seriously. Sure, have fun and remember:

MUNOL WILL BECOME WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT.

Thank you.