During the #ProgressivesSpeakUp School for Young Progressive Politicians in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, young politicians put forward 10 concrete actions to defend democracy on the ground:
Raising democratic awareness | 1. Call on the European Union to proclaim one of the upcoming years as a "European Year of Democracy" and call on progressively led regions and cities to engage citizens through events, art contests, concerts or public debate on the "International Day of Democracy" on 15 September. 2. Call on progressive regional and local leaders to improve transparency by publishing voting records, by including citizens in decision-making and by organising regular "open hours" where citizens can express their concerns. |
Learning | 3. Call on all education facilities (universities, schools, kindergartens) and sports clubs to include one day per year to "democracy" and organise activities around the topic. Call at the same time on youth centres, sports organisations and community settings to build political literacy, critical thinking and civic confidence for a democratic Europe. 4. Raise awareness to the importance of free media, a democraticly-based civil society and political plurality. |
Communication | 5. Call on progressives to counter 'fake news' and disinformation online and offline by reacting and correcting information and organise 'alternative' campaigns to "own the narrative" and contradict the narrative presented in campaigns by the right and far-right. 6. Call on the European Union to ban psychologically harmful visual content, disinformational and manipulative content or misleading visuals that may disturb children's sense of safety and emotional well-being online and around kindergardens, childcare institutions, as well as primary and secondary schools. |
Solidarity | 7. Call on all democratic forces to stand-up together whenever a democratic principle is under attack or a minority is maligned in any situation even before the respective minority reacts itself. 8. Call on cities and municipalities to develop anti-racism and anti-discrimination action plans and establish and adopt a code of conduct which sets behavioural rules in regional and local parliaments. |
Support | 9. Call on all democratic politicians to support each other cross-party when being attacked by anti-democratic forces and call on all progressive parties to establish a safe environment where victims of physical, psychological, sexual or economic violence can turn to for emotional and/or psychological support. 10. Call on all progressive parties to organise training programmes, which cover topics ranging from "what does it mean to be a city council member" to dealing with hate speech and right-wing extremism, the effective use of (social) media as well as mental health support. |
The progressive actions were presented to Iratxe García Pérez, President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, and Luca Menesini, President of the PES Group at the Committee of the Regions.
