Retool x Hybrid European Democracy Festival
RETOOL participated in the Hybrid European Democracy Festival that took place last week!
People from various European countries had the chance to share their concerns about climate activism and democracy. The festival provided an environment for engaging discussions and active participation, aiming to create a more unified European community focused on building a sustainable future.
RETOOL partners joined the discussion and provided valuable insights on climate activism and deliberative citizen participation in climate transition, which will be further researched in the project.
“Hybrid European Democracy Festival would be the pan-European public sphere that connects everyday problems to global challenges. By exchanging experiences and ideas with other citizens who share the same concerns, we may be able to achieve this” Joanna Kurvits, Project manager
The festival featured over 15 locations, each hosting a physical hub. Participants could join from any of these hubs and engage with people in other countries attending the festival at their own hubs via a video broadcast. They interacted virtually using video technology.
The festival's main stage was situated in Tartu, Estonia, celebrating the city’s designation as the European Capital of Culture for the year.
Discussion: Supporting climate action through activism and litigation
RETOOL partners from Finland, Ireland, Italy, and the UK participated in the hybrid dialogue about climate activism and litigation. Following this, each hub held a local dialogue focused on how civil society and research can collaborate for climate action.
“There’s so much happening in the field of litigation, and it can be difficult for an individual, even an activist working on the issue, to keep up with it all. However, the role of litigation is important in activism and in collaboration between different actors, to ensure readiness for the next wave. Litigation is inherently reactive and has an impact retrospectively, but at the same time, it must look forward to the future, which it nevertheless influences. Therefore, events like this, where litigation is discussed and people are brought together, are very important”, Hanna Aho, The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
Regarding climate litigation, different countries can learn a great deal from each other. Both the speakers and the audience found the joint discussion on the topic to be very important. This event successfully brought together the worlds of research and civil society, aiming to find effective ways to work together towards climate action.
“It was so great to hear such inspiring stories from countries ahead of us! As many countries have not yet had any climate activism cases that have gone to the Court by suing the government for not obeying its own Climate laws”, feedback from the audience
“The experience of Finland really inspired us in the audience! We can only learn from it and continue in the same way. We in Riga surely agreed that it is not enough with governmental actions towards preserving our planet and its resources. We all have to combine our forces to make a change and make it public, to make a snowball effect. Thank you to all speakers and organizers for sharing such positive examples!”, feedback from the audience
Watch the discussion here
Discussion: Strengthening Climate Democracy with Deliberative Citizen Participation
A second discussion that partners from Estonia, Ghent and the UK participated in was about the citizens' participation in climate transition.
Policymakers have addressed the citizens' participation through climate assemblies, which allow small, representative samples of society to deliberate and provide a legitimate voice. The audience raised questions about the effectiveness of these assemblies. While they can influence media and politicians, their impact could be greater if politicians paid more attention.
“Citizen participation is important because it allows us to create more legitimate and better policy solutions for climate change. Contrary to misconceptions, citizens, when given the opportunity to learn about climate change and participate, can actually contribute very valuable perspectives to policymaking. They also help address political deadlocks, especially on divisive issues related to climate policy, and, very importantly, they foster a citizenry that is eager and able to act on climate issues.” said Alina Averchenkova from LSE
“At the EU level, it is difficult to implement citizen participation processes, but that doesn't mean the EU isn't trying. Under the European Green Deal, they established the Climate Pact, which aims for direct interaction with EU citizens to deliberate on climate policy. While some citizen participation processes are happening at the EU level, they are not widely publicised and are not receiving much media attention. As a result, much of the outcome has been lost in the process. This is an area that needs more work in the future.” noted Claire Dupont from Ghent University
Watch the discussion here
