by Emanuele Gatto

Eyafjallajökull. Unpronounceable even after looking it up on the Internet – and there’s no way you can get any help from www.howjsay.com. The name of the Icelandic volcano was used as the slogan of the meeting of all Nichi’s factories, held in Bari from 16 to 18 July.

Nichi’s factories, first established in 2010 to support the Italian politician Nichi Vendola in his running for Governor of Apulia, one of Italy’s Southern Regions, then spread all over the country as places for experiencing and experimenting good political practices.

The three-day meeting in Bari included seminars and well attended debates on employment, the economic crisis, scientific research, the Mafia phenomenon, migration, new media and the future course of Italian politics. But that was not all, as the eruption also brought with it the “Fabbricamp”, a meeting dedicated to projects and ideas for building a “better Italy”. The debate took the form of the so called barcamp, with all subjects being openly put forward by the participants and not by the organizers: a more plural way to reflect on the Factories’ future role and their possible relation with the European landscape of active participation. After revitalizing the dynamics of Apulia’s local elections - the highest point of the process of participatory democracy – and providing the voting campaign with opportunities to share and propose ideas, the Factories are now expressing their continuing need for participation. Not only are they firmly rooted in the local community, they are also increasingly thriving on their own awareness that many other communities are animated by the same desire to take action and make their voice heard. Just raise your gaze to Europe and its regions and you’ll see several informal groups of young people, associations and organizations that work to give people a voice and thus contribute to the vision of a participatory society.

Whilst there is one Europe looking distant, complex and at times incomprehensibly bureaucratic in its late responses to the crisis, there truly is another Europe which is paving the way to greater democratization. That is the Europe betting on civil society as the diverse and flexible actor able to receive, interpret and express grassroots impulses, and which will help shape a European awareness of belonging.

In the German region of North-Rheine Westphalia a youth group promoted an initiative called “Youth moves politics”. They organized a series of meetings at local and regional level, in several countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Lithuania and Poland) as a way to put together all their experiences in the field of equal opportunities and then share them within an international seminar. That would allow the benefits of each of the debated proposals to be transferred to their local communities of origin.

By the same token, the newly established Nichi’s Factories can become part of this European network and act as a further character of European civil society. We can hope that by establishing links between the Factories and all the different groups that foster the participation of youth in the democratic life as part of their mission will result in more and more opportunities of dialogue and debate. Perhaps in this way influence can be exercised on EU parties and institutions, and dialogue opportunities created between the latter and civil society by taking full advantage of the instruments currently offered by EU policies.

“Youth in Action”, the programme set up for young people and aimed at inspiring a sense of active participation and citizenship, is an eloquent example of this: the 2007-2009 statistics have shown that out of 805 applications only 11 regarded the action “Youth and Democracy” and, at a closer look, those regarding the meetings of young people and those responsible for youth policy were much fewer. It is clear that not only is there room for action, but it has also to be fully and urgently used through the ideas of good politics for a “better Europe”. That is exactly the idea of Europe enshrined in Altiero Spinelli’s courageous vision and invoked by Nichi Vendola in his concluding address at the meeting in Bari, as the image of a democratic continent able to open up to differences. Vendola, after announcing he would run as the centre-left prime ministerial candidate in the next primary elections, urged his Factories to contribute to the project of Europe’s federalism with the same courage shown by the founding fathers. The Factories declared themselves to be eager to rise to the new challenges lying ahead Italy and Europe, without fearing victory.