From Values to Vote: The Quiet Majority Goes Loud
Saturday, 25 April
14:30 – 16:00
Room: Brel
The notion that Europeans are moving to the right has become common sense. It is repeated in public discourse and media debates, and reflected in parliaments and governments across the continent. Yet there’s evidence that the opposite is true: the values and preferences of European citizens, particularly younger generations and women, are turning more progressive. This potential, however, remains largely untapped as rising numbers of citizens grow distrustful of representation and disengage from parties and elections. As a result, institutional politics is increasingly reflecting and catering to loud, older, and male-dominated conservative minorities.
What is the role of civil society and Green actors in breaking the vicious circle of abstention and reactionary politics? And how can new forms of engagement among younger generations translate into meaningful political action and representation?
This session is organised in collaboration with the Green European Journal.
Speaker
Imogen Learmonth, Programme Manager, Datapraxis
Imogen Learmonth is a researcher and programme manager at Mandate Research, an organisation that provides strategic advice, public opinion research, modelling and analysis services to progressive political parties, non-profit organisations, media, and research institutes. She leads Mandate’s cross country and thematic research programme: Aletheia. Previously, Imogen helped manage and conduct counter-extremism research, studying state-funded malign influence campaigns and networks on the far right, with a focus on incel culture and radical misogyny. She also has a background in journalism.
Bethany Lewis, Greens Organise
Beth Lewis is an activist, educator, and organiser based in Cornwall, UK. Her work sits at the intersection between youth empowerment, political education, and left-wing organising for people and planet, over profit. Elected to the Steering Group of Greens Organise, the eco-socialist movement within the Green Party of England and Wales, she leads a programme of mass political education that translates complex political theory into practical tools for grassroots organising. Since GO’s conception, Green Party membership has tripled to more than 225K members, and bolder, more ambitious energy has taken hold. Beth also works as Young Greens Officer for Cornwall, advocating for genuine representation of young and marginalised people in political and environmental movements, in the fight against the far-right. Her personal campaign Ecological Emotions documents and archives Cornish experiences of the climate and ecological crisis, and creates community spaces that allow others to work through grief and anxiety. Previously, she established Right to Roam Kernow, and lobbied her university and student union to declare climate emergencies and commit to real carbon reduction.
Dominika Lasota, Polish Social Justice Activist
Dominika Lasota is a student & social justice activist from Poland. Originally a member of the global climate movement Fridays For Future, she co-founded the WSCHÓD (pl. SUNRISE) Initiative, which grew to be nation’s leading youth space for progressive organizing. She focuses on building civic power in Eastern Europe through campaigns linking climate, security & welfare matters. Following WSCHOD’s work on mobilizing women & youth around general elections in Poland, she was recognized with a Freedom of Speech Medal in 2025.
Moderator: Alessio Giussani, Editor-in-Chief, Green European Journal
Alessio Giussani is the editor-in-chief of the Green European Journal. He was formerly contributing editor of Eurozine, and a freelance journalist based in Athens.
