one particular area, placing a sticker labelled “What should Europe do?” on it. More than 2,000 votes were collected through this transnational and participatory exercise, from Barcelona to Warsaw, from London to Cluj-Napoca, which were later on reflected in the actual Manifesto. The (Mani)Fests were conceived, planned and run transnationally and took place in most of the TRANSEUROPA Festival cities, including in some cities which had never previously hosted citizens’ consultations. One of the most meaningful achievements of the (Mani)Fests is that they created a space of discussion for people voiceless in the European debate, empowering them to have a say, engage in a dialogue and express their preferences. As volunteers and organisers exchanged impressions and accounts of the activities, we realised that in many cities, migrants, teenagers, Roma, were among the most responsive and active participants: when people are given the chance to express themselves on Europe, even in the most Eurosceptic countries, a lot of ideas for change are voiced. After collecting votes from the (Mani)Fest and from the Citizens Pact website, experts and people that
had been among the most active participants throughout the development of the process gathered with the challenging task to put together three years of activity together into a narrative account of why these citizens’ demands are the way forward for Europe. The variety of perspectives inherent in the participants’ diverse backgrounds (in terms of gender, profession, socio-cultural backgrounds) gave rise to a very rich four-page document: in a context where the EU is mainly discussed either as a polity that should not be questioned (failing which you shall be classified “Anti-European”) or as a project that should be rejected altogether, the Citizens Manifesto sheds a new light on what an alternative Europe could look like. The closing forum of the TRANSEUROPA Festival in Berlin offered us the opportunity to present the first version of the Citizens Manifesto to a wide international audience, and to receive reactions and comments from a diverse range of people, from artists such as Tania Bruguera to elected representatives like Member of European Parliament Gerald Häfner, high-ranking academics like Engin Isin (see pages 4143) or activists such as Jeremie Zimmerman.
“ The (Mani)Fest has been a great success and an excellent form of democratic inclusion. […] A homeless (French) woman sat behind us all afternoon and went through all proposals and gave a vote per category. A couple of young Turks were really embarrassed to say that were gay and initially picked another topic to then find the courage to pick up the LGBT folder. A 9 year old girl told us that equality between men and women was the most important thing. […] It was really obvious that everyone has something to say.”
(Mani)Fest Rome Team
25