We are a group of activists travelling on 5 caravans throughout 15 European countries on the year of the EU elections reaching out to places of struggles and resistance, in defense of fundamental rights beyond borders.
Our continent and our world is in trouble. The far right surge, visible in Europe from Hungary to Germany, to Italy and beyond, is threatening to further divide our society with more walls, both material and invisible. The climate chaos, an issue that crosses all national boundaries, is a threat to our civilisation, prosperity and our very survival. These crises are a result of a political and economic system that is fundamentally failing us. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
We are Europeans with experiences of working across borders, loving transnationally and living on the move. This spring and autumn, in the light of this year’s European elections, we will be travelling across 15 European countries on board of five caravans. We are hitting the road to prove that alternatives exist, and that a different kind of Europe is not only possible but already in the making.
We can’t just wait for politicians to deliver change for us – we need to take matters in our own hands, and organise to make a difference here and now. The initiatives that are necessary to build the Europe we want to live in already exist: from communities getting together to resist the far right, to school children taking to the streets to demand action on climate change; campaigners taking action to rescue and welcome refugees, and workers organising to fight injustice in their workplaces.
The challenges we face are transnational, touching the citizens of France, Poland, or Slovakia in the same way, so must be our organising. While we’re travelling, we want to connect local struggles and highlight their international dimension showing in solidarity concrete examples of political success. We will publicise, support, connect.
We want to promote, champion and defend our rights to mobility – from political rights, including but going far beyond voting, to freedom of movement. We will emphasise that politics doesn’t begin and end at the ballot box, but happens every day, in our neighbourhoods, our workplaces, our cultural venues and in the streets. It is our task to dispel myths and reach out to communities with a clear message about the need to act and being engaged in the social realities that surrounds us. Through public actions open to all, we will be encouraging democratic engagement and participation, especially among mobile EU citizens and other groups less likely to vote.
The future of Europe is in our hands. Let’s make it a progressive one, let’s do it together.