TOOLS FOR MEDITERRANEAN CITIZENSHIP
Mediterranean Citizenship, Part Two: from Messina (September 2014) to the Tunis Social Forum, activists and associations together again, not only to continue discussing about the concept of Citizenship, and its founding values and principles, but also to try to give it concreteness. During the last workshop dedicated of Sabir Maydan II, on Friday, March 27th, 2015, participants have discussed on strategies, tools and projects to make visible and tangible this process.
On the table, there has been an “Institute” for Mediterranean Activism, a trans-Mediterranean radio – TV channel, and a mobility and exchange programme for militants and civil society activists. Among the protagonists of the discussion: Ola Adawi of the Palestinan Youth Union, Maria Alabdeh of Citizens for Syria, Mohcine Hammane of Chabaka (Morocco), Costis Triandaphillou, Greek artist and activist of the Syntagma square movement, Rasha Shaaban, of WoMidan Project (Egypt/Tunisia), Gianluca Solera and Lara Panzani (who moderated the meeting) from COSPE.
At the centre of the discussion: which concrete form have to take these initiatives (how we imagine an “institute” for Mediterranean activism in a way that avoids creating another institution? What is it supposed to be for then? We want a new transnational radio – TV channel, or a program that uses an already existing network? What purpose should have the mobility of Mediterranean activists?); and,how to fund them? The strategic role of culture has been highlighted. In many countries, such as Egypt, culture is the only way to speak about social and political aspects, the only way to spread messages and contents without the risk of incurring censure, penalties or harassment. Culture could mean debating concerts or traveling festivals. Among the responses to the funding question: fundraising campaigns, or crowd-funding operations.
Sabir Maydan, we have often reiterated during this second day of dialogues and workshops, is not a project but it is a process. A process that implies and presupposes a continuous, active participation of those who have taken part in it, and a strategic search for resources that goes beyond the typical institutional channels. Therefore, the next main challenges are: finding innovative ways to support it; and, above all, staying connected after meetings such as Sabir Maydan II. With respect to ensuring connection, the proposal is to do it through new technologies, and in particular through a web platform open to all the participants in the Sabir Maydan process. Costis already proposes a name for it, “Mediterranean without borders”: a way to highlight also the different realities of the Mediterranean countries through news coming directly from the partners, everything that do not pass through mainstream media, but that is essential to build a new concept of citizenship.
This platform should eventually help to build an institute too, which should be innovative and offer training, promote research, exchange data and activate mobility programmes for activists. Themobility programmes could be designed as an exchange platform, a sort of twinning scheme between different associations from the south and the north of Mediterranean, or as a support tool in terms of human resources and soft knowledge for the activities of individual associations.
Finally, it would be important to launch a pilot information campaign based on existing pilot networks of independent media used by Sabir Maydan partners, which could eventually develop into a new transnational grassroots radio – TV channel.
Many initiatives are slowly taking more and more definite outlines, and the greeting shared among participants at the end of the last workshop of Sabir Maydan II has been: “See you at the next Sabir Maydan”.
