you
DONKEYPEDIA
is the big dream, in collaboration with 4xM, we are trying to produce it.
here i’m glad to present it :
Donkeypedia
a living public platform to actively and playfully collect ideas, feelings, impressions and wishes regarding the identity and future of Europe. …
The platform consists of:
A traveling and storytelling Donkey carrying high-tech equipment
A shared portal to track, trace and interact with the donkey and his travelers.
Objective
The goal of the whole enterprise is to demonstrate how a “shared European imagination” evolves when the “Europe of governments” begins to listen to the “Europe of its youngest citizens”. On the one hand, this collection of ideas and fantasies may provide us with a framework to better understand the needs of our next generation of European citizens. On the other hand, the active exchange of ideas could enhance a common feeling of connection between young people from different parts of Europe and could truly turn them into the “united kids of Europe”.
A traveling donkey
A donkey will walk from the new eastern border of Europe to its heart (Brussels), crossing as many countries as possible (Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, and Belgium), making a slow journey in a fast world.
Carrying high-tech equipment
The Donkey is a nomadic search engine, a walking browser that is online and free and has a good reason to be…not a physical challenge, not simply entertainment. We would like to put new communication tools available a donkey and let him show the world met through walking to a destination. In addition to the normal saddlebags, our donkey will carry some surprises. His unexpected cargo will include a laptop, GPS, audio recorder, digital and video cameras, mobile phone, and satellite modem. Solar panels will power everything. This is a low impact high tech public interface for the development of a collective memory.
A shared portal
Users will be able to interact online with the travelers and each other, providing additional content in the form of personal opinions, facts, and suggestions about the journey. The donkey will work as a collector and publisher of knowledge and personal experience. He will gather photos, audio, and video that will exist in a database where people move, share, or search in order to connect and upload each other’s consciousness, knowledge and productions. As a wiki, a kind of hypertext that anyone can easily upload and edit, the result of our experience will be owned by all the people who decide to participate.
Output
The output that the project will generate:
- Reciprocal communication between participating young people from various parts of Europe.
- A description/overview of ideas and opinions by young people that could be used by policy makers/adults
- A gallery/exhibition of these ideas that may inspire both adults and children from the whole of Europe, even if they did not actively participate in the project.
Rationale
In March 2007, Europe celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. A historic moment for the 27 member states. In Berlin, the leaders of the 27 national governments adopted a formal declaration in which they state that Europe incorporates the hope of living in peace and mutual understanding. Europe certainly is a unique experiment in the art of living together and much has been achieved in the 50 years of its united existence. However, it seems as if the more the “Europe of governments” achieves, the less the “Europe of citizens” feels involved.
The greatest current challenge for the European community is to find ways for citizens to feel and act as a supportive community. For Europe’s citizens to experience that they have a significant role in European decision making, it is not sufficient to direct more information and persuasion campaigns at them. The core problem is not the lack of information but the lack of a common imagination. Europeans do not share a common ideal or dream about their futures. Without such a “shared imagination” Europe’s art of living together will never get beyond the ceremonial language of formal declarations and treaties.
Where to begin the exploration of what this “shared imagination” could be? Should we not begin with listening to Europe’s citizens? Around Europe, people have been so much talked to, they have received so many messages, they have seen so many talking political heads. Were they ever listened to, however? Is it surprising that when they are finally asked to say something, they say ‘no’? Were they ever seriously invited to contribute to the development of the European project: with their expectations, hopes, fears, and concerns?
According to European human rights law, citizens have the right to freely express their opinions. That freedom is a crucial achievement, but what does it really mean if no one listens?
Where could Europe’s listening better start than with children? They are the youngest citizens of Europe and their ideals and dreams about living together should shape the Europe of the future. They could be the “united kids of Europe” if adults begin by listening to what they have to say in the hundred languages (such as words, signs, objects, music, dance, theatre etc.) they master to express themselves. Future developments within Europe will affect them more than adults and young people are generally more involved in global communication and the sharing of ideas across boarders (through new media developments) than “older” generations are.
The best listener to represent all those children in Europe is the donkey. She has the biggest ears, she has patience and time. The imaginations that Europe’s kids share with the donkey will be transported by her along Europe’s roads for final delivery at the house of the European Commission in Brussels.
The goal of the whole enterprise is to demonstrate how a “shared European imagination” evolves when the “Europe of governments” begins to listen to the “Europe of its youngest citizens”. On the one hand, this collection of ideas and fantasies may provide us with a framework to better understand the needs of our next generation of European citizens. On the other hand, the active exchange of ideas could enhance a common feeling of connection between young people from different parts of Europe and could truly turn them into the “united kids of Europe”.
The Donkey
Popular Imaginary – Symbolic value – User friendly
Walking with a donkey is a very old way to travel to a destination and reach into the heart of one’s emotions, to walk with the slowness of movement in body and mind, to walk with the goal of moving, not arriving, but of passing through and discovering with the right amount of attention in every moment the beauty around.
Thanks to technology, things that were impossible before now become real. But endeavors that were quite normal at one time, such as a long walking trip, now seem impossible.
Until the last century, the donkey was one of the most common modes of transportation.
In this fast age we live in the donkey has become obsolete, and we are on our way to forgetting him….many breeds are disappearing. Our donkey needs to find a way to be useful again. He needs your help for that. He decided to start but first he has to update himself, to cross the technological divide in which he lives and become a modern donkey.
European identity
Individuals, groups and collectives seek recognition of their culture, history, way of life, identity, and values. Europe has deep historical roots marked by powerful diversity as well as similarity. This is what can make it unique. Such a huge cultural inheritance is composed of different languages, rich traditions, cultural variety and national roots. Today, cultures are becoming increasingly linked and interconnected. Societies are becoming increasingly multicultural. The question arises of how we can keep them together, of how these distinct cultures can manage to live together with a sense of community and identity.
To create a space in which this can be possible, donkeypedia believes that European identity could essentially be based on the recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity emphasizing the feeling of common values stemming from shared experience of proximity, ideas, and interaction. This identity can preserve and develop these values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the individual countries and the organisation of their public authorities at national, regional and local levels to create a vital multicultural state where every minority contributes.
In a symbolic way the donkey makes a claim for:
- Protection and promotion of difference
- Recognition of equal rights and equal dignity of every individual being sharing a peaceful future based on common values founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity: making those rights more visible in the only way he knows–by walking.
And step by step, to increase the feeling of belonging together, from the border to the core of the EU he will take you on a shared experience.
“In this project, we are interested in creating a virtual place in which collective identities can be formed and recognised through a process of cross-fertilisation and acknowledgement of Europe’s richest sources of inspiration: its kids.”
Donkeypedia wants to provide a framework, a walk of great symbolic value spanning all national cultures and languages. It is a place to meet diversity in order to allow the individual to understand himself better. Donkeypedia can be the forerunner to a wi-fi society, a society where borders will not exist. The “homo-conexus” is on time with its delivery. His duty is to imagine the future, the birth of a community, a virtual citizenship that can grow and develop.
Later people in this community, this collective memory, will keep in touch apart from our animal…our donkey wants to be just the first key to logging in.
Education
Learning is a Journey
- Kids and youngsters of all ages all over Europe can be co-authors;
- Teaching each other;
- Encouraging relations and contacts;
- Sharing ideas and knowledge;
- Discovering the environment;
Donkeypedia believes that traveling is a great tool for education. Space and the natural environment play a powerful role in learning. Nature, in fact, has been called a teacher. The entire world is arranged to encourage relationships, choices, problem solving and discoveries in which knowledge can be constructed through relations. Knowing and respecting cultural differences, as a resource, is one of the best ways to build a collective identity and share a positive experience.
First of all donkeypedia wants to meet the voices to whom the future belongs: children.
A well-known approach to child education comes from the Reggio Emila experience in Italy.
“A fundamental premise of the “Reggio approach” to child education is the image of the child as an active constructor of knowledge.” “Children are seen as competent and reaching their potential in every way. Children are curious, competent, able to build theories. Children can explain their own theories and how they understand concepts. If you agree that the child is able to produce a theory about the world, then it is not only the role of parents and teachers to explain and transmit this–but also to listen to children’s explanations.
Today everyone needs to live in a sort of permanent state of education and formation. By hearing the children’s point of view we can reach a better vision and create tools to live in the present and work for the future. By observing and learning from children, they can become teachers. They might further provoke or encourage adult learning too.
Our donkey will walk through Europe as an open channel dedicated to kids and youngsters of all ages and nationalities who study geography, history, culture, and who are interested in more directly discovering, experiencing and interacting with their subjects. They will have the tools to start a dialogue with children in parts of the world that are far-removed from their own. At an early age here a vital intercultural exchange can begin. They can be part of this internet storytelling as authors.
Donkeypedia can allow them to upload their own point of view on different topics, make questions and collect answers, carry their own content on our perky brown friend, live this realtime experience as a new tool to learn, interact with the travelers and each other, and in this way gather a collective memory and promote their right to express themselves and participate actively. As the youngest citizens, a special emphasis will be given to the theme of their feelings about the European Union. The common thread is their ability and desire to imagine something new, something different. It’s a collective kind of fearlessness.
But our audience could be even more vast….
We want to support cooperation between people in order to build a collective memory:
• Questions and answers searchable by topic in a public database
• Main topics on European identity and feelings about future
• General topics on everyday life that will show differences and similiarities
• A space for youngers’ questions to adults
Media
New media
Our focus will be on communication. We will use modern technology to develop a kind of realtime travel which is expending at every moment. Not one of the preceding examples was updated to this new possibility that Web 2.0 gives us. We can use tools like wiki’s, maps, geotagging, open galleries…in a way that a writer used to use a typewriter.
The analog step will be in symbiosis with the digital transmission of data, connecting virtuality with reality in an insoluble way for a multi-dimensional structure.
This mobile walking storytelling will be powered by sustainable energy: solar panels placed on a donkey and all movement provided by muscular effort. Clearly, the mode of movement and resulting action proposed are clean from an ethical and energetic point of view.
We intend to show a natural way of life through this technology supported by a renewable energy source. Technology does not have to work against nature but can provide access to it. Now it is possible for all of us to broadcast ourselves and influence the general interpretation of the world. Our intent is to consciously utilize this era of technological revolution, using technology well to allow a clear understanding of our world, our lives. We need to show a good possibility of interaction for the future, interaction that does and necessarily will include technology.
An interactive website with a multilingual approach will serve as the digital gateway to reality. The donkey will surf the Net as a walking browser that anyone can ride, gathering and producing information, photos, knowledge, audio, and video.
Thanks to a format where users can edit things very quickly and easily, it will be possible to let their content develop. There will be a link to photos, video, and audio placed on popular open galleries that will work as different doors to reach our story. GPS will allow for mapping the road in realtime. Thanks to the use of new technologies, it will be possible to develop a fresh mode of interactivity which allows those interested to follow the daily progress of the traveler. This traveler can be driven and/or helped by such interested users: like a living Tamagotchi, the users will have to care for the donkey, choose how many kilometers he walks daily, which road he takes, where he sleeps…Online video will let people look at the world through his eyes, and as a mobile device he will work collecting raw data for sharing.
The possibilities of a project like Blinn
(http://www.bliin.com) and the easy to edit Wikipedia
(http://www.wikipedia.org) in combination with GoogleMaps (http://maps.google.com ) will be combined to create a lively approach to ‘donkey-story-exchange’. While the community around Donkeypedia is growing, a ‘media-self-expression tool’ is being realized. Starting with a simple comment line, you are guided and `teased’ step by step in to this world. The strength of the community and information flow comes forward out of the unique travels and experiences of the donkey.
There will be different ways to improve the donkey’s presence in the popular imagination:
The first door will be the Web. A site will be published months before the real start so we can begin to tell this story in time to attract an audience. Working with communities (like the Google Earth community) could be useful, and all our multimedia content will be uploaded onto popular open galleries to have a variety of secondary entrances.
Data
GPS Map our road in realtime
Audio Record audio, import and edit for podcasting.
Video Record high-quality video, import and edit a selection for daily streaming. Save and store the rest for post-production use.
Text Daily stories.
Photos Shoot photos, import and edit a selection. Save and store the rest.
Upload With a mobile satellite modem upload the daily selection of multimedia content.
Storage All the high quality raw material needs to be stored in an external hard drive, on online virtual disk, or sent back by snail mail for safekeeping.
Traditional media
The second door will be traditional media. This project projects the simultaneous experiencing of different qualities of space and time. High speed technology runs with a donkey and a man as they walk. Similarly, high speed news via the Internet can be combined with traditional international, national, and local media via newspaper, television, and radio, to project the specific paradigms of these forms of media, both technological and spatial, and to reach a variety of large and small, fast and slow social contexts. In other words, this local and international traditional media with provide a multidimensional view of the project as it is filtered through these specific structures.
User Scenario
Anyone can connect to www.donkeypedia.org and experience another place and time through this device. The storyboard will be the mapped road. Every day brings a new piece. Every moment the GPS provides the donkey’s location on a world map.
When a user enters the site he will find our location on the road, and will easily have access to all the information related to the places we’ve been. Maybe he’s just curious to have a look around and check our position. Maybe he wants to be a part of this experience and log in, and in this way develop the topics of interest to him and be responsible for those. Each Km can be described, beginning with input from the donkey. But anyone can be free and responsible for uploading his own experience, knowledge, and content, which will be geotagged on the map. At the same time this input will create a shared community experience through a wiki which daily adds to a collective memory and storytelling.
One important purpose for our donkey is to grab an image from many different local ones, to collect feelings, impressions, wishes -especially about Europe- and deliver them to Brussels in a symbolic way.
Youngsters we meet on the road can be involved in following us to our destination on the site. Kids who discover us by other media can just remain curious or become loyal users. Our endeavor represents a possibility for everyone. The donkey will be the eyes and legs of everyone.
It is a good instrument for children to discover the world. An ancient common wish for and fear of adventure and unknown travel grab the spectator. There is nothing better than a story based on the reality of a history everyone is connected to.
The donkey will carry some questions,
the main ones of which will focus on Europe:
What is the image of Europe?
How do children and youngsters imagine its future?
Specific and practical questions about the road that will let the users drive us, take part in the travel, be active and participate in this journey :
Where shall we go today? Here or there.
Do you think this road is better or…? Left or right
When should we stop today? In this village or in that one
More general ones:
What is the most important thing for you in life?
What is your dream?
What would you like to see?
What would you like to taste?
What would you like to smell?
What would you like to touch?
What is your great wish?
What do you want from tomorrow?
Are you happy?
What do you think you miss?
What would you like to be?
What are the things that drive you?
Do you believe in miracles?
These kinds of personal questions stored in a database will be searchable by topic, allowing users to understand each other better, discover common opinions, contact one another, and debate differences. The database can show everyone as “subject” and keep him in contact with the rest of the users. The donkey will not be physically intrusive. He questions only people who can reach him or come close to him. We believe that people can naturally approach the main actor. He is a part of everybody’s memories.
Obviously the donkey will love it if children submit questions to adults through him.
We will be online from one to three times a day to interact with users and upload our multimedia content.
Users can be invited to walk with the donkey and join him (for example: a classroom walking with us showing their village). Users can be reached by an SMS from your favorite donkey saying “good morning”, sending good wishes for the day, and describing the nature and feelings around him.
Scenario – a day
From 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Prepare the donkey
Breakfast
Upload our position on the map
Send a good morning message
Store all equipment for the hike
6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Walking
Collect content
Meet people and users
From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m
Edit content
take care of our equipment, (recharge our device) and ourselves (cleanness, healthiness)
Upload reality
After 7 p.m.
Find a good place to safely store equipment
Prepare the food and lodging for the night
By 9 p.m.
Ready to sleep
School-project
Our proposal is: ‘The art of living together’ concerns both ‘living together’ and ‘art’. And it concerns of course the whole sentence. That means that we would like to focus on all the different expressions of ‘art and culture’ in each country and region. So that all the objects that will be offered to the donkey are objects that show a choice from art and/or culture from that specific place / country. Following this idea we would prefer the idea of a growing collection instead of a chain in which the objects each time will be exchanged. This idea would make it also much easier to design a presentation in a museum at the end of the expedition.
b) The school-project as a planned and well prepared part of the journey of the donkey and his driver
The working out of the school-project:
The connection between the always surprising and unexpected encounters of the donkey and his driver and the schools will be made by the adaptation of the way to the locations of the schools. Each time one week before arrival a big book will be sent to the school and after the visit this book will be sent to the next school. Each school can give contributions to this book in different ways, text, drawings and so on. This book will form a treasury that can be offered to ‘Bruxelles’ (next to the other output of this journey). And a copy of this book can be given to all participating schools.
We would like to focus our question to the schools as follows: ‘to give a contribution from the art and culture of their country to the art and culture of Europe’. That includes that on the schools can be worked actively with an artist / art institute and local initiatives in this respect can be utilized.
On one hand art and culture are the most diverse aspects of life in each country or region, on the other side art and culture are the most binding together aspects. This can be a focus that values all the differences and at the same time can promote a shared imagination.
(An example in music: Inspired by The Map of Tan Dun, it would be possible to ask for typical sounds in every school and daily life. After having collected all these sounds there could be a composer who composes a piece of music including all these different sounds.., a performance of this concert can be given in Bruxelles by an European Youth Orchestra)
Goals of the school-project:
The two approaches Europe needs are: listening and communication. Europe needs donkey ears. These two, listening and communicating, are proceeded to action.
- Listening: A research into all the ideas, thoughts, hypotheses, feelings dreams of children and youngsters (4 – 14 jaar) focussed on ‘the art of living together’, on living together in small or bigger context, on ‘living together in peace’, ‘a shared imagination’, ‘basic rights’, the issues can be: ‘safety and peace, home, daily food, education, health, independency and interdependency, freedom of identity, religion, sexual choice, freedom of speech and press’. This research is accompanied by an artist or art institution from the country / region. The way children can express themselves can be in ‘hundred languages’.
- Communication: A communication network starts and grows more and more between children, youngsters and families in the context of schools. All processes and results are filmed and presented to the donkey. By this new digital possibilities more and more schools can join and an European-wide network can be developed.
On each school a ‘donkey’ will be choosen who is able and prepared to be the leader of this school and from this position to communicate with the European Commission.
During the Donkey project (beginning 2008 – summer 2009?) the content could be as follow:
In each country where the donkey and its driver are walking, three schools will be contracted in advance. So, all together: 16 – 20 countries, 48 – 60 schools.
Conditions for participation:
- location on the route
- availability of digital tools
Way of identifying these schools: using existing network organisation in area of art, culture and education.
Role-out:
- preparing a short film to introduce the subjects of discussion. Little or no verbal language will be used in the film in order to make it more internationally used.
- the donkey driver sends the film and the book to the school one week before
- the film will be showed as an introduction. The film will be accompanied by instructions for the school, so that they know how to work with the film.
- Each school will be visited during one week by two persons (educational coach and organizer/filmer). The school will organize a translator. During the week will be worked on the project full time in 100 languages: image, materials, theatre, etc, guided by artists and if possible with artistic institutions of the local area.
The filmer documents the process and joins the children home to film their situation. Each day the educational coach and filmer reflect on what has been filmed / produced and discuss how to influence the process in order to get maximum result. On the spot the film will be directed and produced, which can be offered to the donkey. The end of the week the donkey will visit the school and during that day all the results will be presented, and will be celebrated! The donkey leaves with the book and film.
This will be directed at every school
.
Annex
Rationale By Mijke Bos (24 april 2007)
What is happening? Rising differences in quality of life, economical differences in the world, as well in Europe is getting more visible to everyone, amongst other because of access to information/communication technologies. Human beings have the tendency of taking differences as negative or not being able to manage all the information which is heading towards them (fear, anger, etc), which can evolve in misunderstandings and clashes.
The European Union is a playground of all these differences. The European Union: a “borderless” continent with multiple “borders” like languages, rituals, values, culture, religions, nature, etc. How are we going to “manage” these growing differences in order to continue bringing peace, stability and prosperity to Europe, which was the aim of forming Europe after the Second World War? Indeed, the EU makes its diversity as one of its key values. However, how to interact and communicate with diversity seems difficult for the European Commission..(more explanation Cees).
It seems that Europe for many people is some kind of a decision made in Brussels and is taking place in Brussels. People do not feel involved, do not feel the influence of the EU in their daily life. There is nothing wrong with that, and might not be necessary either. But I think our future generations will experience the diversity of Europe and its potential more and more; it becomes easier to travel, more common to study and work abroad, facilitated by information and communication technologies. Especially the dynamics of the digital divide in the global information economy might provoke a big challenge for social development and education in countries, European countries. “Walls” have fallen and information communication technology is flattening the world, Europe (Thomas Friedman, the world is flat).
Knowledge is power and nowadays it is acquired by gaining access to information and communication systems. For some people in European countries (many of the last countries who have entered) there is the danger of not taking part and of being left behind the progressive growing of the information system. A digital gap between European countries is rising. This is addressed by the European Union in Lisboa 2000. As a reaction they have set a quite ambitious goal: “to be in 2015 the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”. The ‘Lisbon strategy’ to reach this goal covers a whole range of areas, such as scientific research, education, vocational training, Internet access and online business. It also covers reform of Europe’s social security systems. These systems are one of Europe’s great assets, as they enable our societies to embrace necessary structural and social changes without excessive pain. However, they must be modernised so as to make them sustainable and so that their benefits can be enjoyed by future generations.” (source: http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/lesson_8/index_en.htm)
In our project we share the fact that access to information and ways for expression is a basic human right and therefore a children´s right. Without access to information, people cannot adequately participate in democratic and decision-making processes. If children are not aware of their rights they will not be able to effectively mobilize for the implementation action. With globalization of the media and the advent of satellite television, access to media, both print and electronic, is an absolute necessity for unempowered groups to get involved. Their absence and marginalization in the mass media implies their social disenfranchisement, which will result in weakening civil society.
So there are two streams;
- People within Europe are not able to participate in digital dynamics of communication technologies; rising technology gap
- People not able to cope or handle all these differences, partly produced by all these communication tools (tv, internet, radio, etc); rising mental gap
In the strategy of the European Union (look at website!), we see a strong focus on and action on the tools (technology gap), but not too much attention on the “soft” part, the communication/attitude part. In this project we acknowledge the importance of communication and media technologies, but we address specifically the soft /attitude part, by listening to the stories of children, schools, our future generation and therefore introducing a new kind of communication model.
The existence of information/communication technology and the enlargement of the EU with many countries in little time, might strengthen misunderstandings and provoke differences as something “bad”. In order to avoid these misunderstandings and clashes, and improve respect and understanding between countries, between people, we would like to focus in this project on the rising mental gap as a primarily goal, with an underlying goal: giving people, children access to communication tools to express themselves and to have access to information and communication.
What: the project
Kids are the future. They are the generation who is going to live and who is going to “manage” this continent with diversity as its key value. In this project we focus on kids in order to facilitate adults from now to oversee these differences and to facilitate future generations living with and next to each other. It is not a problem solving project, it is an awareness project, pro-active project, that is preparing us, making us aware of changes, asking for a more open and accepting attitude.
Result
A fresh new story about Europe made by children, which inspires people, policymakers, business people, children that Europe is a rich diverse continent and that we are able to respect and value these differences; showed by the stories, objects made by children who visited the donkey.
Rationale By Juliette – 24 april 2007
In March 2007, Europe celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. A historic moment for the 27 member states. In Berlin, the leaders of the 27 national governments adopted a formal declaration in which they state that Europe incorporates the hope of living in peace and mutual understanding. Europe certainly is a unique experiment in the art of living together and much has been achieved in the 50 years of its united existence. However, it seems as if the more the “Europe of governments” achieves, the less the “Europe of citizens” feels involved.
The greatest current challenge for the European community is to find ways for citizens to feel and act as a supportive community. For Europe’s citizens to experience that they have a significant role in European decision making, it is not sufficient to direct more information and persuasion campaigns at them. The core problem is not the lack of information but the lack of a common imagination. Europeans do not share a common ideal or dream about their futures. Without such a “shared imagination” Europe’s art of living together will never get beyond the ceremonial language of formal declarations and treaties.
Where to begin the exploration of what this “shared imagination” could be? Should we not begin with listening to Europe’s citizens? Around Europe, people have been so much talked to, they have received so many messages, they have seen so many talking political heads. Were they ever listened to, however? Is it surprising that when they are finally asked to say something, they say ‘no’? Were they ever seriously invited to contribute to the development of the European project: with their expectations, hopes, fears, and concerns?
According to European human rights law, citizens have the right to freely express their opinions. That freedom is a crucial achievement, but what does it really mean if no one listens?
Where could Europe’s listening better start than with children? They are the youngest citizens of Europe and their ideals and dreams about living together should shape the Europe of the future. They could be the “united kids of Europe” if adults begin by listening to what they have to say in the hundred languages (such as words, signs, objects, music, dance, theatre etc.) they master to express themselves. Future developments within Europe will affect them more than adults and young people are generally more involved in global communication and the sharing of ideas across boarders (through new media developments) than “older” generations are.
The best listener to represent all those children in Europe is the donkey. She has the biggest ears, she has patience and time. The imaginations that Europe’s kids share with the donkey will be transported by her along Europe’s roads for final delivery at the house of the European Commission in Brussels.
The goal of the whole enterprise is to demonstrate how a “shared European imagination” evolves when the “Europe of governments” begins to listen to the “Europe of its youngest citizens”. On the one hand, this collection of ideas and fantasies may provide us with a framework to better understand the needs of our next generation of European citizens. On the other hand, the active exchange of ideas could enhance a common feeling of connection between young people from different parts of Europe and could truly turn them into the “united kids of Europe”.
