Categorypersonal

I’m running to be FYEG’s next co-spokesperson. Join me!

Growing up in Malaysia as the son of second-generation Indian immigrants, I was often confronted with the harsh reality of racism and discrimination faced by my family, my Indian community, and in my own lived experiences.

It was this upbringing that made it clear to me, more than anything, that the personal is political, and that change won’t happen unless we fight for it. It became my mission in life to fight for this change – advocating for the rights of marginalised communities in an unjust and unequal society.

My later involvement as a teenager in initiatives supporting children from poor Indian communities and the Rohingya community in Malaysia unearthed a desire to push for changing the very structures of oppression, which sparked my political engagement and academic future in law.

Since moving to the Netherlands in 2019, I have had to reconcile with similar yet entirely different structures and systems of exclusion and discrimination as a racialised non-White person and a migrant. Racialised and ethnicised peoples are tolerated so long as it’s within European terms.

Together with other amazing people I have met in this chapter of my life, we have worked hard for better inclusion and representation – from the streets to student associations to local political chapters to the national board of DWARS to the Executive Committee of FYEG.

I am proud of the work I’ve done on racial justice and inclusion, through committees and working groups I’ve started and led, initiatives I’ve coordinated, and educational efforts I’ve organised. But there’s so much more work to be done, together.

Now I’m running to be FYEG’s first non-European racialised and migrantised co-spokesperson of FYEG on a mission of solidarity, justice, and inclusion.

Together, we can build a Federation where we never forget that the personal is political; a Federation where justice, inclusion, and international solidarity is at its heart.

Together, we can keep fighting for a Europe that welcomes all, for a politics of solidarity where racialised and ethnicised youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, disabled youth, youth of the Global South and of Southern and Eastern Europe and the Balkans – youth across marginalised identities and intersections – are home.

Together, anything is possible.

I hope you’ll join me.

You can find my motivation and vision below or view my candidacy here. Until the General Assembly, please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns, or just for a chat.

For you, for us, for FYEG,

Srishagon Abraham