Ep 4 I The future of digital activism

This episode of Citizen Lobbyist investigates racism in Europe.

After the assassination of George Floyd, we have seen a new wave of protests and indignation not only in the US, but also in Europe. While systemic racism may be harder to spot in Europe than in the United States, the roots of racism are the same on both continents. Systemic discrimination is not only present but also perpetrated by the same institutions that should fight to prevent it.

Together with the Open Society European Policy Institute - OSEPI - we gathered four amazing female activists from different backgrounds:

Layla @Azzuzi - Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium
Dijana Pavlovic - European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture
Violeta Naydenova - Senior Policy Analyst on Roma and Anti-discrimination at Osepi
Wetsi Mpoma - Bamko-Cran: Centre for Reflection and Action on Racism

Hey, it’s me Fiorella! :
I would love to have a 60 min discussion of the topics we discussed on Clubhouse.
If you like the idea, just send me a message and we will make it happen.


You can DM me on Instagram: @flowlav
Or send me an email at: fiorella@thegoodlobby.eu
Clubhouse: @flowlav

For too long we have been regulating lobbying to prevent corruption. Yet, as lobbying is a legitimate democratic activity, the aim should instead be to open it up to everyone. In this new episode of Citizen Lobbyist, we discuss lobbying reform across the world, by taking the EU as a case in point. Professor Alemanno’s ideas for power-shifting reforms aimed at levelling the playing field will be presented.

To learn more on Regulatory Governance, don't miss this Open Government Partnership Report
https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/regulatory-governance-in-the-open-government-partnership/

Find us on Twitter
@CLobbyist
@alemannoEU
@LavorgnaFior

Civil society has played a small role, but a role nonetheless, in the management of the biggest crisis of the century. How civil society might regain a voice in shaping the post-COVID world?

In this episode, Professor Alberto Alemanno and Fiorella Lavorgna discuss with Julie Brome from ARIADNE and NGO representatives from BirdLife and ILGA how NGOs and philanthropies reacted to the pandemic and how they can work together in the reconstruction phase.

Brexit, fake news, political polarization and now Covid19 are pushing an unprecedented number of academics into the public arena. They reframe the public debate, by making it more informed, and oftentimes taking sides. Yet, academics are not trained for this, and this is not even what their Universities expect them to do. Why then more academics engage with society and some embrace activism? Fiorella Lavorgna discussed the role of academics can and should place in civil society with Professors Alberto Alemanno, legal scholar and political activist, and Jenny Pickerill, a human geographer and engaged academic from the University of Sheffield.

In this episode, we talk about what pro bono is about and why it matters with two top international pro bono experts: Jacquelyn MacLennan from White&Case and Lamin Khadar from Dentons.

After the interview, Professor Alberto Alemanno tells us about the philosophical and business rationales behind corporate pro bono practices – how they are in line profit interests, and how they fit with the incipient theory of re-inventing capitalism.

Is digital activism REAL activism? Can your signature on a petition trigger change? How is online campaigning changing at the time of Covid19? In a new episode of Citizen Lobbyist, Fiorella Lavorgna and Alberto Alemanno met Luis Morago, chief campaigner at Avaaz - the largest citizen platform in the world - and Laura Sullivan, Executive Director at WeMove, the leading pan-EU campaigning organisation.

In Episode 3 of our podcast, Citizen Lobbyist, we continue our journey of demystifying the concept of lobbying as a legitimate democratic practice. Our hosts Fiorella Lavorgna and Alberto Alemanno discuss with Robert Madelin, one of the most influential figures in Brussels, the role of lobbying in policy-making.

Is lobbying a distortion of the democratic process? Why does lobbying scare people? If lobbying is legitimate, what happens when it goes too far? Tune in as we reveal the answers to these questions and explore the role of lobbying during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.

Seventeen million Europeans do not live in their country of origin.
They pay taxes and contribute to the economies of the Member States they moved to. Still, they are not entitled to full political rights as they cannot vote in national and regional elections in their destination countries.

For a group of students united in the initiative "Voters without Borders":
"It is a European problem that needs a European solution."

That's why they started an ECI – which stands for European Citizens' Initiative. An ECI is an instrument of transnational direct democracy enabling 7 citizens from 7 countries to collect signatures to ask European Commission to adopt a new policy.

The objective of their petition is to improve the situation of millions of EU citizens living in other EU country and enable them to exercise voting rights, and, in the best scenario, start a legislative process to extend them beyond the local and European elections.

Wonder how a group of students can set up a task force to ASK the European Union to extend the political rights of its citizens?

We interviewed Anna Comacchio and Peter Markovic, who are in charge of this project.
They told us: how they started, how they are organized and how it is possible to replicate what they are doing for your own mission.

More on Voters without Borders:
https://ecit-foundation.eu/eci-proposal-1
https://voterswithoutborders.eu/

Do you want to start an ECI? Here you can find allies! :)
Check the ECI Iniziative Forum:
https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative-forum/home_en

[Recorded a few weeks back]

When was the last time you’ve made a difference for your community? It was probably the last time you voted.

But democracy does not only take place on the election day.

Why? That is because elections are more about politics and less about policies and at the end of the day it is policies that have a significant impact on our lives as citizens. Take for example the EU Tobacco Directive that reduced the appetite for tobacco products, or the Whistleblowing Directive that offers protection to anyone in Europe denouncing wrongdoings.

The problem is that citizens are often cut off from these major decisions, despite being the most affected by their outcomes.

Episode 1 discusses another counter-intuitive way to participate in public life - lobbying. That is because citizens, like corporates, can also lobby and have a say in the decision-making process

Together with our founder Alberto and MEP Assistant, Mihael Mihov, we will debunk the myth of lobbying as a shady activity and discuss what a citizen lobbyist and why society needs more of them.

Until today, corporates have been the primary champions of lobbying.
We at The Good Lobby think that it's high time to have citizens on board.

In this episode, you'll meet Fiorella, Alberto and The Good Lobby's crew, who just created a show that teaches you how to pick your battles and lobby for change.