Meet a Changemaker (3)

Wednesday, 3 December 2008 | posted by Matt_BC
Activism, CAPs (Community Action Programmes), General, Guildford 2008

Hello everyone!

First, the introduction: My name is Lukasz (Luke) Swiderski; I am a Polish-born American with a bit of a tangled identity. I'm in my third year at Georgetown University, but am spending the current academic year at Mansfield College, Oxford, reading Philosophy, Politics, & Economics.

Lest this introduction get too complicated, let me tell you how I ended up on this blog. Around this time last year, I was selected by the British Council to attend the Guildford Forum in the United Kingdom. What an event it was! Gillion gives a terrific account of our experience in his post, so I merely want to echo his sentiments-we had a brilliant week, and I could not be more excited for the current group of Global Changemakers-you are going to have a blast! Please, do not sleep that week (or get as little sleep as necessary to function!), for you will find each moment in each other's company too valuable to waste.

I should also say something about my own activism. My task, as I see it, is to aggressively tackle the no man's land of the middle ground between seemingly incompatible worldviews. I am fascinated in particular by the tension in Western societies between religion and secularism, and believe that this push-and-pull will have long-standing consequences for the world as a whole. I've therefore been directing a polemic against the sort of entrenched and intolerant attitudes on both sides of the debate on what it means to inhabit modern life. You can find my Op-Ed Column, "Unforeign Affairs" in Georgetown University's student newspaper, The Hoya.

Since returning from Guildford, I have also launched a project that I intend to blog about at far greater length-a non-profit consulting group called Partners in Activating Change (PACT). After getting together with a fellow Changemaker from the US, Whitney Burton, I thought it would important to create a forum in which we could bring professional and expert guidance, along with other forms of support, to help young Changemakers and innovators achieve their aims. Starting an organization from scratch has taught me (and never stops teaching, actually) many valuable lessons. It's a bit like getting into a car for the first time and steering that car all over the place, but with the incredible support of the British Council, I feel confident we are getting somewhere. So, please stay tuned.

Finally, I want to leave off with a shout out to the British Council - Matt and Caroline and everyone else involved in the planning of Global Changemakers. Thanks to their efforts, I think we are all engaged in something truly unprecedented, a growing community of people committed to the greater good and connected to each other by the power of new media. I am really glad to be part of this ambitious experiment, and I look forward to meeting and hearing from all of you.