Mar 25, 2014
How to fix Europe
At our Transeuropa Forum unConference we organised, there were sessions from how Polish farmers stopped fracking to the fall of fortress Europe, from visualising emotions through objects to creating a viral social media video in 45 minutes.
We also had a session where, building on our scenarios on how people will make a living in 2020, we invited participants to select a proposal from the Citizens Pact and describe how that proposal would change a day in the life of one of the characters using a mixture of materials from crayons, chalk, paint, magazine photos, card, clay and Lego.
The aim of this workshop was to make proposals of the Citizens Pact come alive. By describing how they would change a person’s day, people can better tell the story of how the proposals would benefit citizens.
Find out what each of the imaginary characters want from the Citizens Pact, as imagined by the people in the session:
Lifestyle Hacker
“Education on growing your own food, on seed banks…and involving invisible / disadvantaged people. That’s why I would support equal access to quality education regardless of socio-economic background and the introduction of an unconditional basic income at the European Level.”
Invisible Citizen
“I would need institutional protection against precarity. That’s why I support that internships in the EU should be paid and regulated so as not to be hidden labour. Comprehensive and transparent data on internships in the EU should be made available by all organisations hosting interns. I also support an EU unemployment insurance. The EU should ensure minimum unemployment and social benefits to all unemployed in the EU.
Day in the Life of Lucas, a Lifestyle Hacker
He wakes up at 8.30 and has a cup of coffee, enjoying it for the next half an hour. Then he checks his email and reads the news. Later on, he proceeds to teach himself programming, while interacting via social media. He does this because he needs to be updated on the latest news and wants to stay connected. He doesn’t feel stressed, he is quite relaxed, satisfied and also inspired.
In the afternoon, he needs to go to the garden. He waters the plants and harvests food. He interacts with his friends in the community that he met while getting involved in gardening.
He thinks that going back to nature is important is important. He criticises the waste of food and wants to make a contribution to a better and healthier world – at least in his own surroundings.
He doesn’t feel stressed. He feels good that he can contribute to the community spirit. He feels relaxed and appreciates what nature gives back to him.
In the evening, he sometimes needs to meet with people to network with them. He meets with them in bar and sometimes even online. He does this because he wants to take care of his network and enlarge it for possible future collaborations.
He feel it’s important for him to do this. He feels good and likes that meetings happen casually.
Day in the Life of Maria, an Invisible Citizen
In the morning, she thinks of ideas to plan and structure her day. She doesn’t do anything, but sometimes does interact with friends, because she has no other ideas or opportunities. she feels bored and disillusioned.
Day in the Life of Charlie, from the Zombie Generation
He leaves with his friends. He gets stressed all the time, waiting for the bathroom, his food eaten by his flatmates and he works until the evening so he doesn’t have to do the shopping.
He automates his routines. Even if someone invites him to some events, he doesn’t have time to participate, because he works all the time.
Even if he focuses on work, he feels unhappy, because it’s not the job he likes and he feels insecure and afraid to lose his job.
He feels as a part of the rat race, he doesn’t feel like himself anymore. He doesn’t get access to any human activity like going for a walk with his friends. He doesn’t even time to read the Citizens Pact! He comments “The Citizens Pact is an external solution to which I don’t have access”.
Which imaginary character do you relate to? What proposal of the Citizens Pact would you want to campaign on?