Collegiate Debate Watch Parties
Food for thought! On 20 February 2019 we brought this saying to a whole new level when we gathered 42 young people in Budapest, Ljubljana, Trieste, Rome and Madrid around pizza to watch in streaming 3 debates happening in Brussels on topical issues in the European public debate.
If it sounds a gastronomically appealing, geographically widespread and intellectually intriguing, then nice to meet you, keep us in mind! In EucA we like to experience with new forms of active citizenship for university students in our Halls of Residence.
Our idea was born because we wanted to give the opportunity to attend the final event of our EU project, Message to Europeans, to more than the in-person participants.
Happening in Brussels from 19 to 21 February 2019, this event had 3 debates scheduled:
Debate 1: This generation believes the way forward for the future of Europe is to abandon identity politics.
Debate 2: This generation believes that without external powerful threats, the political leadership will not initiate a reform of the current (and broken) European social contract and protectionism will prevail on the creative destruction needed for systemic reform.
Debate 3: This generation believes that citizens’ disillusionment with the EU is caused by a lack of political accountability of the EU.
Building on a format normally used in the North America elections context, we asked students who wanted to see their peers debate in Brussels to connect to the livestream on 20 February at 3pm. The catch is to gather in the same room with fellow students, not to watch it on your own laptop in your room. Another point was to spark lively conversations and debates beyond Brussels. Our incentive? :D Pizza! We offered to cover the expenses of ordering pizza for all the people who gathered to see the Brussels debates.
Nothing like pizza & a good debate on the future of Europe to bring people together: #Pizza4Europeans is now an active hashtag!