The Right to Foresight? What we can learn from how Syrian girls imagine their future

Haja, aged 12. Vision: future astronaut.

"Ever since we studied the solar system in primary school, I have wanted to be an astronaut. I would imagine myself up in the sky discovering new things. I love being an astronaut because it lets me see the world from a new angle. In this society my path was not easy – many people told me a girl can’t become an astronaut. Now that I have achieved my goals, I would tell young girls with aspirations to not be afraid, to talk to their parents about what they want and why, to always be confident and know where you want to go."Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Hiba, aged 9. Vision: future paediatrician.

“I have always wanted to help children, and this is what drove me to be a paediatrician. I am kind and loving, and therefore an excellent doctor that children can trust.”Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Muntaha, aged 12. Vision: future photographer.

"Since I was a young girl I loved taking people’s photographs. I loved going to different events and documenting what was happening – both the good and bad. Now, as a professional photographer I use my images to inspire hope in others – to encourage love and understanding." Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Merwa, aged 13. Vision: future painter.

"In this image, I am a popular painter, working on a landscape in oils. When I was younger, painting was a hobby – but as I grew older I saw I had a great talent and went to art school. Now I have my own gallery where I sell my paintings and sculptures. My hope is that my artwork inspires peace in the world and encourages people to be kind to one another." Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Nour, aged 16. Vision: future lawyer.

"I want violence against women to end. I want women to be able to make decisions for the community, and say their opinion without fear. I want our society to open up and give space for women to be whoever they want to be. This is why I decided to become a lawyer. When I was younger, my mother told me I was courageous and truthful, and that I could be a great lawyer who fought injustice. I took her advice, and now am a respected lawyer working on women’s rights and defending women who are victims of domestic violence." Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Malack, aged 16. Vision: future policewoman.

"I’ve always wanted to be a policewoman because the police not only keep people safe, but they also create justice in society. Everyday I wake up, go to the station, and then head out into the city to see where I can help. I also work to inspire other young girls to become policewomen – supporting them to dream about their future and thinking about how they will overcome obstacles."Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Fatima, aged 12. Vision: future teacher.

"In this image, it is the early morning and I am waiting in my classroom for my students to arrive. I teach younger children to read and write Arabic. I am a very compassionate and kind person, and so a perfect teacher. I am strict, but I go out of my way to gently help those students who are having difficulties." Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Fatima, aged 16. Vision: future architect.

"I’ve always wanted to be an architect. Yet, when I was young people told me that this is not something a woman could achieve, and they encouraged me to pursue a more ‘feminine’ profession. But I dreamt constantly of making beautiful homes for families, and designing buildings that bring people joy. Now that I’ve reached my vision, I hope I am a model for other girls – showing them that you should never give up on your dream – no matter what others say."Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Rama, aged 13. Vision: future doctor.

"Walking down the street as a young girl in Syria or Jordan, I encountered many people suffering – sick or injured – and I always wanted to have the power and skills to help them. Now, as a great physician in my community, I have that ability. Easing someone’s pain is the most rewarding aspect of my job. To be able to give them relief and make them smile – this is what I love most." Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Amani, aged 10. Vision: future pilot.

"I love planes. Even before I had ever been on a plane, I knew I wanted to be a pilot. Flying is adventurous and exciting. When I was younger, my brother always told me that a girl can’t be a pilot, but I knew deep down this is what I wanted to do. I finished my studies and found a way to get to flight school. Now, not only do I get to live my dream, but I also get to help people travel, to see the world, and discover new places."Meredith Hutchison/International Rescue Committee

Shouldn't everyone have the right to dream of a better future? The above picture project is from International Rescue Committee in 2016, called Visions Not Victims (report). It's beautiful and inspiring in itself.

But we're reposting here because it has occasioned some recent reflections from futurist Stuart Candy, on how it illustrates the power of giving yourself the "right to foresight". And like Stuart, at A/UK we're very interested in sparking an appetite for the future at the heart of a reimagined politics.

Commenting on the girls' testimony (available in rollover captions in the gallery above), Candy says:

Notice how the girls speak from inside the future scenario, visualising and roleplaying their accomplishment; not "I want to..." but "I have..." The import of this shift in imagination can be profound. Here's an example related by the photographer, reported by CNN:

Hutchison remembers one girl who was engaged to be married though she was younger than 13. (The photographer asked that the girl's name not be used to protect her identity.)

"I distinctly remember the moment when we showed her parents her vision images. Her mom was just ecstatic and her father ... was absolutely silent -- and smiling -- but silent, thumbing through the images.

"I think he was just in awe that this could be his daughter."

By the end of the program, the parents had called off their daughter's engagement and had committed to helping her finish her education.

That's the power of the photographs -- something unquantifiable happens to the girls, Hutchison says. 

Candy continues: 

I recently read Rebecca Solnit's book Hope in the Dark. which focuses especially on citizens and activists pursuing what may appear to be lost causes. It's an extraordinary work –– I wholeheartedly recommend Solnit's writing in general –– and her analysis of how hope functions manages to be simultaneously tough-minded, filled with compassion, and uplifting.

To hope is to give yourself to the future, and that commitment to the future makes the present inhabitable. [...] Despair demands less of us, it's more predictable, and in a sad way safer. Authentic hope requires clarity––seeing the troubles in the world––and imagination, seeing what might lie beyond these situations that are perhaps not inevitable and immutable.In a similar spirit, it's elevating to find a project carried out in such desperate circumstances, contributing to the possibility of those circumstances being transformed.

And it brings us back to an issue we've noted before: foresight is a right. Everyone should be able to think about the future, but not everyone gets that chance.

We can readily grasp the transformative potential of a well-wrought experiential scenario –– that is, making a possible future vividly available to think and feel today –– whether at the scale of a country (as in Tunisia, during the Arab Spring, with the aspirational 16juin2014 campaign); a group (as in Hawaii 2050); or an individual (as in Derren Brown's apocalyptic wakeup call to one troubled English kid, which painstakingly simulated the end of the world exclusively for him). But examples as fully realised as these can be resource intensive.

Vision not Victim is based on a conceptually simple, apparently inexpensive, yet deeply personal intervention. It invites a young person to vividly articulate –– enact, actually –– a preferred future, and so enable a powerful reperceiving of potential awaiting activation in the present.

Candy then notes some Canadian research that investigates how kids with greater socio-economic advantages feel they can imagine their own, and others' futures more. What are the combined lessons of this and the Syrian project?  Stuart concludes:

The universally accepted right to education also entails the right to foresight. The chance to envision personally meaningful and motivational long-range outcomes is, at the individual level, a foundation on which the whole enterprise of education ultimately depends.

Since foresight is ultimately about making change in the present, enabling it is not just an "important" priority (aka worthy but perpetually deferrable), but one that needs to be recognised as urgent, too.

The Syria project underlines that replacing "victim" with "vision" is really a widespread need, not confined to geopolitical hotspots.

A corollary of this understanding that yes, there is dark to be found everywhere, is the space for hope; the opportunity, in Solnit's words, to make a "commitment to the future [that] makes the present inhabitable".

Herein lies an opportunity for meaningful engagement and contributions from diverse concerned citizens –– educators, futurists, designers, artists, and the rest of us, too –– far and near.

Full blog from Stuart Candy here. And below, a video with some extra material from the Vision Not Victim project: