Oscar Morales created One Million Voices against FARC on Facebook and organised the largest anti-terrorism demonstration the world has ever seen by connecting people globally through social media. Total Politics met the executive president of the One Million Voices Foundation at the One Young World Summit in London and spoke to him about political engagement with younger generations.

What do you hope the achievements of this summit will be?

One of the things that need to be done in this world is bringing young people together because they are the ones who will inherit this world or are inheriting it just right now. So we need to prepare them in order to rule a world where we want to live in. We are facing huge threats — poverty, climate change — huge uncertainties that will even jeopardise the continuing of this world. The job needs to be done now. These people will be the new leaders of tomorrow and they need to be well prepared to debate these things now. We don’t have much time.

What can be done to engage young people more in politics?

I was surprised to hear that more than 100 countries are represented here. Politics has always had a bad image. One of the things that we can do now is to put up events to get to know each other and to learn about our different cultures making partnerships and friendships.

How will social networks and the internet have an impact on this generation?

Internet and especially social media is an amazing tool to communicate in real time. Many things can be organised in no time, thanks to the fastness of communications. Social media breaks boundaries and is one global channel, one global network. This is the beauty of internet — we can organise things together globally.

How did you get involved into this project?

I got involved by invitation of Kate Robertson and David Jones, the founders of One Young World, who I met in London in May 2009. It is very important to let young people know that they have power. They don’t have to wait for 10 years to get it, they already have it. They have their own voice. Thanks to social media and thanks to the internet they already have the possibility to spread a message to millions of people.