Imagine you are not at the Agora and catch the opportunity to watch the live coverage of the Agora’s closing plenary. The aim might be to see which proposals have been approved to change the future of the organisation, and who will be leading the different commissions, but that is not exactly what you witness when you press the “start” button….
What you do see is a chaotic scene. Members standing near the stage, close to the chair team, the juridical commission etc. in a big pile of madness trying to demonstrate to the rest of the Agora how successfully they have managed to “borrow” a flag or mascot from another antenna and/or project.
The flag-stealing game has been popular in AEGEE for years, and is part of what people would consider the (in-)famous AEGEE spirit. In order for antennae to get their items back there have been several creative punishments throughout the years. Some had to sing a duet, others had to write a poem, and some had to provide mattresses for others at the Agora. However, it seems nowadays that the rather “light” punishments are disappearing and the aim seems to be to embarrass the other part as much as possible. But what seems to be left unconsidered is that it is not only the other part who is left embarrassed but the whole organisation in general.
Can you imagine how the Juridical Commission feels, presenting the ratified and non-ratified proposals of the Agora after people being told to drop their clothes in order to get their flag back, and more importantly, can you imagine how the president of AEGEE-Europe feels like, presenting a special message from the president of the European Parliament for AEGEE, after he has witnessed people encouraged to put items which were meant to be digested all over your body, creating a big mess not only for the image of the organisation? This also appears to be extremely disrespectful towards the organisers putting their effort into hosting this general assembly.
It seems hard to imagine, but it is not far away from what happened at the Autumn Agora Budapest. The chaos occurred not only because of the inconvenient punishments but also because of the high amount of people who had a flag and/or mascot from another antenna in their hands. It is of course a good thing that people take part in the AEGEE family, in the AEGEE spirit, and this game which is part of our organisation, but a question should be raised. Does the flag-stealing sequence need to be a part of the closing plenary? Keep in mind that this is live-streamed, a place honouring the improvements of our organisation, and think of the candidates elected as well as the people who have made such a big effort in order to make this general assembly a reality for the members of our organisation.
Just as the European Night dilemma, this question was also raised in the post-Agora committee/commission’s meeting, and it is an interesting discussion in which you, the members of our organisation are encouraged to take part! Should the flag-stealing sequence take place in the closing plenary or should it be moved to the last party? Should there be rules of which punishments can take place or should that just be common sense? Come forward with your opinion, and help create a fruitful discussion by commenting below. This way we can hopefully prevent what happened at the closing plenary in Autumn Agora Budapest from happening ever again!
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København