Pain & Problems
Iterations and Experiments
2012
Protesting in the capital of Europe can be a frustrating experience, between the schizophrenia of the Belgian state chronic bad governance and over complexity and the isolation of the Brussels EU bubble from the actual country hosting them, living in Brussels and caring for Human Rights, the Rule of law, Transparency, holding into account the Institutions and knowing what level of power X or Y issues must be put on the spotlight, it’s quite a challenge to discern and understand the mess that is Belgium itself and the EU institutions for the average European citizen.
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2013
The reality is that most of the EU bubble media do not fully grasp the severity of the crisis Europe is facing, both at national and European level.
Whatever happens in Brussels gets served a different media treatment from national media and from EU focused media.
Grassroots movements all across Europe demanding more Justice, Human Rights and protesting against Austerity Measures that paved the foundations of the Brexit mess ?
2014
Farmers protesting against the PAC/CAP right in front of the Schumann roundabout ?
How is that going to be covered ?
How are the many lobbyists with much access to a MEP than a European farmer have for impact on the laws and policies that trickle-down onto European citizens ?
It’s European Election year, what if EUwatch could aggregate citizens’ coverage of the elections and inject this information into the EU Brussels Bubble ? What if EUwatch could gather 28 citizens from different countries and use this as tool to put members states issues in the heart of Europe during the elections ?
Short answer, it was a very difficult idea to articulate and put in the spotlight without funding and without any resources to do so, the idea was abandoned.
2015
In Belgium, you can find yourself protesting in front of any EU institution only to get sometimes (rarely) invited to talk and only to get a lesson on how this is a “national domestic issue” that European Institutions have nothing to do with, so then you go to the Brussel region Parliament, only to get the message that this is a regional Wallonia issue, so you go to Namur where the Wallonia regional Parliament only to learn that in fact this is a European policy that was translated into national regulation and at the end of the day, as citizen, you feel lost.
So let’s create a Twitter Media, an account to share traditional media information but also inject some NGO’s content, counter-lobbying initiative from civil society, amplify protests about EU issues happening in Brussels, relay critical voices on Twitter pushing for change, reforms and counter views to the establishment narrative.
2016
Farmers protesting against the PAC/CAP right in front of the Schuman roundabout ?
How is that going to be covered ?
How are the many lobbyists with much access to a MEP than a European farmer have for impact on the laws and policies that trickle-down on European citizens ?
How can the traditional Media coverage of different issues be influenced from a Twitter account ?