Do you think democracy in Europe is important? Do you want to know everything there is to know about democratic decision-making, while having a fun time with other AEGEEans? Good news, because from the 25th of February until the 1st of March, AEGEE-Groningen is giving you the chance to learn all about democracy and at the same time discover the city with the largest student population in the Netherlands during their European event called ‘Democracy: How Should our Society be?’ .The AEGEEan spoke to one of the organizers, Eelke Bakker, to find out more about this upcoming event.
After having organized an European event last year (Energy of Tomorrow), the local wanted to repeat the experience. “We want to give other AEGEEans the opportunity to visit our city as cheap as possible and at the same time learn more about democracy”, Eelke explains. “It is our aim to give a complete overview of the idea of democracy. Therefore, we have planned a lot of different lectures, discussions, and workshops on different aspects.” The event will include topics like democracy in the Netherlands, (dis)advantages of the multi-party system, promotion of democracy and human rights, democracy at the European level, and democracy and social media. “We are still very busy working on the program so there might be slight changes in the upcoming weeks but we can guarantee that all lectures will be very interesting and given by motivated speakers!”
Asked why they think it is important to talk and learn about the topic of democracy, Eelke explains: “Democracy might sometimes be taken for granted, especially in western European countries, or people tend to focus only on the quality of elections in determining the quality of democracy. We however think that democracy is not as self-explanatory as sometimes assumed. There are many different aspects to it, some of which are barely discussed. During our event, we will therefore try to highlight these aspects as well, so that participants can develop a more well-informed view on democracy, regardless of whether that’s a positive or negative one.”
The organizers! From left to right: Maarten, Marijn, Martine, Eelke and Anton
A project of AEGEE strongly linked to this topic is of course Democracy in Practice, which was ratified during the Autumn Agora in Cagliari and is now cooperating with AEGEE-Groningen on their event. “We are very happy that they wanted to come to our event!”, Eelke says. “Normally, they give one week training courses on how to promote democracy as an individual. For our event, they will give a shorter, two-hour workshop on the same topic. We think that the practical aspect during our event is very important. We don’t want to organize plain every-day lectures, but interactive, interesting activities during which active participation is required. The workshop given by Democracy in Practice has all of these characteristics!” Next to that, the local is also cooperating with the JOVD (Youth Organisation for Freedom and Democracy) to organize a lecture where – hopefully – two members of the European Parliament will have a debate.
When setting up the program, the organizers have worked hard to find a balance between interesting lectures and a fun social program. “The participants will visit the province house of Groningen to learn more about the regional level in the Netherlands and have a lecture on the multi-party system in the Netherlands and the (dis)advantages of a multi-party system. Next to that, the Democracy in Practice project will give us a workshop on how it is possible to improve democracy as an individual. Furthermore, we will have a city tour and we will climb the Martinitower. The participants will also learn more about democracy at the European level and the democratic deficit of which the EU is so often accused. Besides all these interesting lectures, we are also organizing awesome theme parties in some of the nicest bars in Groningen! There will be a Culture European Night, for example, but we will also organize an orange party, to give participants the opportunity to feel like a real Dutch person!”
Reasons enough to join AEGEE-Groningen for their event. Still not convinced yet? As Eelke summarizes: “Not only will it be an interesting week about a topic that is very important for Europe at the moment, it will also be a lot of fun and a great way to get to know Dutch culture.” The topic of democracy doesn’t stop at this event though, because AEGEE-Groningen has made it the topic of their year. “In March we are organizing a trip to an AEGEE-local that is facing problems with democracy”, Eelke tells us. During this trip, the members of AEGEE-Groningen and the other local will discuss how democracy differs in the two countries. “Furthermore, in May we are going to organize many activities revolving around the theme democracy, like lectures, workshop and role-playing games. Finally, we will also visit the European Parliament in Brussels and hopefully have the opportunity to discuss democracy in Europe there.”
Interested? You can apply until January 31st on Intranet.
Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen