Every year, the Green European Foundation organises and supports a number of Green Summer Universities across Europe. These educational and political events are hosted throughout Europe in collaboration with many national Green partners. Each summer school usually explores one or several topics, reflecting relevant ongoing social, political and environmental issues and providing participants with analysis, space for debates and capacity-building.
GEF specifically supports summer schools by bringing a strong European dimension to events. This is done by organising workshops on EU policies and hot issues by inviting speakers from other countries to shed a different light on the topics discussed or by encouraging foreign participants to join the events.
Participate in #gefsummer across Europe!
In 2017, GEF will be present at Escola d’Estiu, the summer school of our Catalonian partner foundation Fundació Nous Horitzons, which will focus on the challenges to European democracy and how its future can be guaranteed. The summer school will be opened with a panel discussion on threats to European democracy and the rise of right-wing populism, and different workshops will each treat aspects of local institutions handling global issues and will include the European point of view by either hosting representatives from the European institutions or NGOs, which are active EU-wide.
In July, GEF is supporting the Summer Academy of Fundacja Strefa Zieleni, which will, already in its third year, tackle a broad variety of European topics, such as the success of far-right movements and dangers to democracy, women’s rights, trade policies, environmental issues, etc.
Moreover, GEF will organise a workshop during this year’s Summer Lab, which is hosted by the regional office of the Austrian Grüne Bildungswerkstatt Grüne Akademie Steiermark. The summer school will look into the state of democracy on the local, national, European and global level while identifying different dimensions of decline that societies are facing. In this framework, GEF will host an international workshop in English on progressive alliances in Europe between social movements, the Greens and local initiatives from different countries.
GEF will collaborate with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Warsaw office on this year’s European Youth Conference, under the title ‘Regain or Retreat? European Youth in an Age of Uncertainty’. The conference will address important points of reference and processes that are shaping the worldview of engaged young Europeans, who on an everyday basis are searching for ways to make a socially responsible, just and sustainable Europe happen.
The GEF summer will be concluded by a presence at the 9th edition of Univerde, organised by the Spanish Fundación EQUO under the title ‘The future of Europe: Democracy and borders in the era of global society. This year’s edition of Univerde aims to increase knowledge and foster the debate about the role of the European Union in the global context from a Green point of view among the participants.
Recommended summer schools of our partners
“Smash Borders, Build Solidarity!” will be the motto of this year’s Summer Camp, organised by the Federation of Young European Greens from 25 July to 3 August in Werneuchen, Germany. The event wants to raise awareness on different dimensions of migration and asylum policies and develop strategies to eradicate hateful rhetoric in the public sphere. The activities in the programme will qualify the participants within the context of intercultural learning and stimulate them to develop and adopt new skills concerning the topics of migration and inclusion of migrants. The training will promote pedagogical approaches in dealing with challenges and opportunities in multicultural and pluralistic societies and empowers the participants to work on reflective competences and tools for social change. More information can be found here.
‘Language and Power’ is the title of the summer academy 2017 of our partner Grüne Bildungswerkstatt Austria. The conference will take place in the bilingual region of Southern Carinthia in Austria from 24 to 27 August and will address how words are used in framing political realities, who employs discourse how and why. For more information and registration click here.
Europe Écologie – les Verts will organise its annual Journées d’Été from 24 to 26 August in Dunkirk. This summer gathering of 1500 to up to 3000 French Greens has been taking place each year since 1986 and provides a platform to debate on a variety of different topics in plenary debates but also in interactive workshops of smaller groups or literary cafés. Our French partner foundation Fondation de l’Écologie Politique will also host a workshop at the Journées d’Été. To register and find more detailed information, click here.
On 25 and 26 August, Etopia, our francophone Belgian partner foundation, will host its Recontres Écologiques d’Été in Liège. Already in its 25th edition, the event will bring together activists, party members and people interested in political ecology to debate in a relaxed atmosphere that allows to learn, train new skills, to discuss, and to meet others. More information can be found here.
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