Published Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 16:31
by
Editor
in Debate (993 views and 1 comments)
At the PES activists Forum in Vienna, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen outlined how best to approach the migration issue. Recognising the need for "new minimum standards on how to treat migrant workers in Europe," he highlighted the importance of these being based on "rights and duties."
Judging from history, Poul noted that "When you play the fear factor it is always the conservatives who gain." Therefore, as Socialists, we need to play the future factor based on inclusivity and equality.
Check out the video and let us know what you think. What exactly should these new minimum standards be? What "rights and duties" need to be promoted to develop a sense of inclusivity amongst migrant workers?
read morePublished Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 16:27
by
Editor
in Debate (1164 views and 0 comments)
After a successful workshop on online campaigning at the Vienna Forum, several activists offered us their ideas. Jon Worth pointed to the need for further online debate and commentary in the run up to the 2009 elections. Aidan O’Sullivan highlighted the need for grassroots activist to activist campaigning using all available media. One activist suggested the creation of a Europe wide holiday.
read more
Published Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 15:53
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Editor
in Debate (1066 views and 0 comments)
How best to “Save Our Planet”? What contribution can the EU make to this global challenge? In Vienna, PES activists from across Europe had their say on this crucial issue. Anton Muyldermans encouraged innovation in combining social and ecologic measures in efforts against climate change. Jan Hofste suggested the foundation of a European institute to coordinate these efforts and an innovative way to finance it.
Any suggestions on how to balance social and ecological policies? Would you like to see a new European institute to fight climate change?
read morePublished Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 10:29
by
Editor
in Debate (1021 views and 1 comments)
During the forum activists showed their interest in a number of round-table discussions, one of which on ‘EU in the world.’
On development, Laura Sullivan said that aid must be “genuine” and “effective.” EU aid policy must take into account the positions of NGOs and trade unions. Also on the subject of development, Emmanuel Drouin expressed the urgent need for a European policy on Africa in order for development to be socially just and democratic.
Barbara Revelli highlighted the importance of the Mediterranean in external relations and asked what contribution the EU can give to the Mediterranean Union. This, of course, is of particular relevance issue in light of French...
read morePublished Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 17:24
by
Editor
in Debate (921 views and 1 comments)
Often people complain that Europe is not democratic. But is this the case? At the Vienna Forum, one activist rejected this commonly held view, stating that there are indeed existing democratic mechanisms available to activists in the EU. Rather than complaining about a democratic deficit, activists must use these mechanisms to their full potential in the fight for a better Europe.
Julia from the SPÖ highlighted the role of fear in European politics, particularly in the debate on immigration. She argued that the EU must foster an image of “the good guy” in the form of a Social Union.
What is your image of the EU in the context of globalization? What can Europe do to better protect it's citizens from the negative effects of globalization?
Is there an institutionalised democratic deficit or do you agree that the problem is that we are simply not taking advantage of the mechanisms available to us?
read morePublished Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 12:04
by
Editor
in Debate (1493 views and 0 comments)
Didn't make it to Vienna Forum? Miss it already?
Relive the moment and check out comments and interviews from the Vienna Forum with PES activists from across Europe on our Youtube page and stay tuned to Yourspace for more forum videos on themes such as online campaigning, emocracy and diversity, Europe in the world and Saving our planet.
read morePublished Monday, July 14, 2008 at 16:28
by
Editor
in Debate (1137 views and 0 comments)
In the panel
on “Save our Planet”, keynote speaker Michael Mueller, State
Secretary in the German Environment Ministry, explained that a
social-environmental policy could potentially garner support of
55-58 percent of voters. When social democrats and greens in
Europe achieve less than this result, this is due to the
outdatedness of the majority of the programmes of the political
left. According to him, the current environmental challenges need
to be combined with the legacy of left-wing policies. We must
take the lead in designing new strategies, following long-term
tendencies.
The classical welfare state was linked to the national state and to an immense exploitation of nature. Now, we have to construct a new vision on how a better life is possible. The Greens are focusing on how to combine ecology and economy, but the real challenge is of a social nature. In an increasingly unequal world, the richest fifth of the population spends only 2.5% of their income on energy; the poorest fifth spends 9%. Given these facts, Europe should not orient itself towards an American or Asian model.
Louis Lemkow, director of the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at...
read morePublished Monday, July 14, 2008 at 09:43
by
rikkeindenmark 
in Debate (1095 views and 2 comments)
Think Obama,
not Blair!
Be careful with negative campaigning, but not afraid of it!
Online campaigning is as much hard work as traditional
campaigning!
Keep moderation of online fora to a minimum, but make sure
that 'trolls' don't spoil the fun and limit participation!
These were just a few of the conclusions from the workshop on online campaigning at the recent PES activist forum in Vienna.
The workshop's panel consisted in four PES activists sharing
their experiences with online tools: Jon Worth from the UK,
Esteban Romero from Spain, Victor Negrescu from Romania and
myself, Rikke Skovgaard Andersen from Denmark. All speakers are
heavily involved in online campaigning activities.
The presentations varied from general advice on online
campaigning and use of social networks to presentations of
concrete, online activities and tools that PES activists can use.
The panel answered several questions from the audience - among
other things the debate adressed topics such as 'critical mass'
for an online debate forum, advantages vs. disadvantages of
online polls and the feasibility for 'Obama-style' fundraising
via small, online donations.
There's a lot of potential in online campaigning - something which workshop participants were certainly aware of. Online tools...
read moreTags: activists, campaign, European elections, forum
File:
jon.zip,
rikke.zip
Published Friday, July 11, 2008 at 17:46
by
Editor
in Debate (1165 views and 2 comments)
The last war on Iraq
showed until which extent Europeans may become divided when it
comes to external policy. Core theme of the manifesto, “Europe in
the World” was also one of the topics discussed in one of the
sessions during the Vienna Forum!
Jean Asselborn (LSAP, Luxembourg), key-note speaker, stressed the role played by the Balkan region to stabilize Europe. The region must be stabilized in the frame of a peaceful Europe. Moreover, the failure of the “Balkan project” will have as a consequence the failure of Europe as a peace project.
Asselborn defended that the EU must assume a role in the Middle East. On the one hand Israel has the very right to exist, but it must stop its settlement policy and the blockade of the West Bank. The key to world peace lies in this region of the globe.
Piero Fassino (DP, Italy), the second key-note speaker on this session, underlined that what is lacking in Europe is not transparency – the procedures are very clear – but democracy! Citizens feel that they do not participate in the construction process of the EU.
Additionally, immigration will increase in the...
read morePublished Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 17:35
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (1171 views and 1 comments)
Some of our
activists are already started spreading the voice about the
Vienna Forum! Here are some of their reactions:
- More than 10 posts have already been published by activists on YourSpace.
- Nils, from the PES secretariat, created a Facebook group.
- Aleksander, from Paris, posted photos on Flickr. And so did Francisco and the PES Secretariat
. You can also find photos on Emilio's Picasa web albums.
- Paula, from Brussels, posted photos on Facebook. And so did
read morePublished Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 14:41
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (874 views and 0 comments)
Video presented in Vienna during the first PES activists Forum. Read other posts on the Forum submited by participants here and leave us your contribution!
read morePublished Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 09:52
by
carlosmoret
in European democracy & diversity (962 views and 0 comments)
The
Vienna forum was a very rich encounter. As for me the
presentation of activist campaigning was especially interesting,
since I tend to get easily involved. On the one hand there is the
manifesto2009, well under way that gives us a common platform for
the parliamentary elections, but that does not give me clues as
how to campaign. The Manifesto is an excellent tool, but we have
to sell it.
In the presentation "Experience Europe - Cross-border campaign exchanges" the panel was formed by four activists presenting different aspects of their campaigning in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France.
Adrian O'Sullivan presented us his experience with PES activists
coming to Ireland to help in their election. I wasn't planning to
make a report, and therefore took no notes, just took pictures.
Adrian mentioned that integrating the non Irish activists was a
priority. There were the logistic...
Tags: activists, campaign, forum, PES
File:
J_Reis_Santos_vienna.ppt
Published Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 16:47
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (892 views and 0 comments)
The PES manifesto consultation has ended – after over 300,000 visits to Yourspace and more than 600 contributions posted! But our dialogue on ‘Yourspace’ goes on! We will continue to debate the hot issues that will shape the European elections – migration, climate change, rising food and energy prices, jobs, equality, the EU treaty – as well as getting ready for the elections: presenting PES candidates from different countries, discussing campaign activities, hearing about your events, exposing opposition parties and candidates, drawing the dividing lines between the PES and the other European parties, and keeping you informed about the preparation of the PES manifesto.
We will kick off the post-consultation dialogue with a debate on migration – kicked off by Portuguese socialist and former European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino – as well as reports from the PES activists forum in Vienna on July 4-5 (the final event of...
read morePublished Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 12:15
by
Okamoto
in In the spotlight (1038 views and 4 comments)
As a Bulgarian, the United States of Europe’s idea seems realistic and I can almost touch it. For the past 8 years life standard has raised, Bulgaria’ economy’s growing (with + 5% GDP), we do not need visas to travel, he have the possibility to travel and to meet people, the possibility to work and live where our heart is… 25,000 students leave Bulgaria every year (out of 80,000), unemployment rates are low. Two thirds of Bulgarians are Euro-optimists.
The biggest problem for Bulgaria is the corruption and control of European funds to reach their purposes.
Now let me present some other ideas for the manifesto...
Women’s rights:
Let me show you two exemples of countries where no one would say that women occupy important posts: in Iran (Islamic Republic) half of the board of directors or financial directors in State-owned companies are women and in Bulgaria (the poorest EU member) women have the same or better salaries.
Women should have more rights especially during their maternity.
Education and...
read morePublished Monday, July 7, 2008 at 15:49
by
carlosmoret
in In the spotlight (882 views and 3 comments)
Was the activists
Forum in Vienna an abnormal week-end for abnormal people? Are we
abnormal people to start with as Bo Krovig - a campaign specialist
of the Swedish party - said?
In a way Bo was right, it was a beautiful week-end, nice and sunny in Vienna and there we were, a bunch of some 300 people sitting in a room with no windows, listening to other speakers talk, at times fighting against sleep, raising our hands to get a chance to say a word when instead we should have been pick-nicking in a park with friends or family. And, to make matters worse, we had to put our hands deep into our pockets to get those Euros out that paid for our trip to Vienna. And there was fatigue too. I had a General Assembly of my PS section and got home late on Thursday night, still having to pack, try to get a few hours of sleep before starting off and finding my way to the airport. Helène worked late on Friday, but I convinced her to go to because I was confident that she would love the experience. And she did, in spite of fatigue.
The Vienna forum was really worth it, and sorry Bo, but I wouldn't have traded it for the best pick-nick in the nicest park or field of the Union with the best possible company; company we had, and the best too! And if you, my fellow activist, missed...
read morePublished Monday, July 7, 2008 at 14:04
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (796 views and 0 comments)
Editor's note:
Aidan OSullivan, PES activists Dublin, sent us a live example of
good practices at European level, presented in Vienna during the
seminar on "Cross-border campaign exchanges".
In May 2007, we invited activists from all over Europe to come
help in the Irish General Election campaign.
The initiative was a fantastic success! We knocked on doors
together, we leafleted target areas together, we shared ideas and
stories and we formed new cross-European political
relationships!
This is how PES Activists works....activist to activist
co-operation, building the New Social Europe from the grassroots
level upward.
Check out the short presentation on our experience!
Tags: citizens, democracy, elections, EU, forum
File:
PESActivistsDublin.pps
Published Monday, July 7, 2008 at 11:28
by
sschublach
in In the spotlight (820 views and 1 comments)
Saturday I joined the
workshop on “European dimension in European election” at the PES
Seminar in Vienna. Thanks to PES, ECOSY – Young European Socialists
and their member organisation, I also had the opportunity to
present recent (international) campaigns, as for example the Free
Burma Campaign (JS in de PVDA), Disarmament and Peace (JUSOS
Germany) or a Belgian campaign concerning censorship in Flanders
(Animo Belgium). In addition I had the chance to briefly speak
about the “Netzwerk gegen Rechts” (Network against right wing
extremism), which was set up by the Socialist Youth Austria (SJOE)
in 2004 and still is very successful.
So far, more than 3000 young people joined the Network and are active in the fight against right wing extremism.
We as SJOE offer several things: concerts (rock against racism), seminars, workshops, exhibitions, meetings with contemporary witnesses, excursions and many materials. We consider that it is absolutely necessary to share our experiences with other organizations as many countries face similar problems.
Through this exchange we can have a look at “best practices”, but also...
read morePublished Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:33
by
ateneamel
in New Social Europe (974 views and 1 comments)
PES activists are participating on the Vienna Forum to discuss the New Social Europe and to defend our values: democracy, freedom, Human Rights. We encourage everybody to spread the socialist point of views.
We should spread our voice. Improve cooperation between European and national Socialist parties is the solution. We want to build a New Social Europe based on the equity of opportunities and solidarity but to achieve it we need your help and support.
It is important to defend women rights. Being a woman should not be an obstacle. Women are intelligent, talented… Women have innovative ideas. We, women, have the support of the socialist leaders and politics. Socialists have the challenge to create a New Social Europe. They engage themselves to think and find solutions for people’s real problems. That’s why the manifesto2009 is being prepared.µ
We have the resources, the organization, people and our essential strengths: our values!
read morePublished Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:18
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (820 views and 0 comments)
Rainbow Rose
LGBT, an observer member of the Party of European Socialists,
has been present throughout the consultation of PES activists
since the very beginning in 2007. Our network produced a
contribution to emphasize the need for the European Union to
ensure that one of its core values – equality of rights for all –
is going to make new progresses that will benefit all citizens.
During the past months, we collected support for our proposals among activists, being constantly present in PES events. At the same time, we made efforts to introduce our contribution to PES leaders and to members of the European Parliament. To this day, more than 40 MEPs publicly support Rainbow Rose’s contribution.
Among our concerns, along with the promotion and the monitoring of Human LGBT Rights all over the Union and in the world, come some very concrete actions that are fundamental to the Union’s policies and principles. To mention a very relevant point, Rainbow Rose asks the PES to ensure the full achievement of the freedom of movement for all, without discrimination.
This means applying the principle of mutual...
read morePublished Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 12:39
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (916 views and 6 comments)
300 PES activists
are in Vienna to discuss the proposal for the manifesto2009! PES
President, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Alfred Gusenbauer, Federal
Chancellor of Austria, Andreas Schieder, State Secretary within
the Austrian Federal Chancellery, and Ania Skrzypek, Secretary
General of ECOSY, welcomed the participants during the opening
ceremony.
Today four sessions took place on "Campaigning" and on the "Manifesto" issues. The participation was high with very positive outcome!
Drop by our Flickr channel and check some of the photos!
read morePublished Friday, July 4, 2008 at 10:05
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (783 views and 0 comments)
Vienna receives this weekend the first PES activists Forum. “Vienna 2008 – a strong voice for European social democracy” gathers together leading politicians from PES member parties, activists and experts to discuss the outcome of the manifesto2009 campaign. They will draw-up their ideas for a strong campaign for the next European elections.
The opening session of the Forum is scheduled for this afternoon. Tomorrow, four parallel sessions will take place on both “Manifesto” and “Campaigning” themes.
During the day, participants will discuss not only the four consultation themes – “Save our World, “New Social Europe”, “Europe in the World” and “European democracy and diversity” – but also other transversal issues such as “Experience in Europe – Cross-border campaign exchanges”, “Strike back on ultraconservative speech”, “Social networking over Internet or “A European dimension in European election campaigns”.
The Forum, organised together with the SPÖ, the Renner Institute and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), will close the PES manifesto consultation.
read morePublished Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:57
by
rikkeindenmark
in European democracy & diversity (1245 views and 6 comments)
This weekend I will
be doing a presentation on social networking tools at the
PES activist
forum in Vienna. I was glad to find out that there’ll be a
workshop dedicated to online campaigning - and now I'm looking
very much forward to debating the topic with other PES activists.
Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate with a few words on
online campaigning and my particular ‘campaigning speciality’,
namely social networking sites.
The US elections usually say a thing or two about upcoming
campaigning tools and methods. In the primaries social networks
turned out to be really hot - as a voter you could connect to
candidates pretty much everywhere: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn... you
name the network and Clinton and Obama would be
there!
Given the experiences from the primaries social networking sites
are likely to play a...
Tags: blogger of the week, campaigning, elections, forum
File:
social_networks_campaigning.pdf
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