---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 11:42 PM Subject: Fwd: Organizing a civilian congress about Belgium, need your help! To: Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> Hi Michel, in case you have some friends in Belgium who might be interested... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Thomas Goorden <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 12:43 PM Subject: Organizing a civilian congress about Belgium, need your help! To: Hello friends, Beste vrienden, Chers amis, I'm guessing you, like so many others are frustrated with the current state of politics in Belgium. In fact, I think there is not a single person on this planet that is thinking: "yeah, that is going well." We could be angry, we could demonstrate, we could shout our discontent and many of us do so. But perhaps there is another option. It may be a stupid idea, but it surely will be fun: let's put together a civilian congress. Not a revolution, not a demonstration, simply people coming together to think and talk about new ideas for "the Belgian project". What kind of country do we actually want to live in? (more information below*) Let's do it on the 19th of February, which (depending on the metric) is symbolically just beyond the world record in government formation. It just seems right. Sound like fun? Got some time? OK. Here's how you can join in: - Sign up here: http://meetu.ps/r5n1 - Spread the word. Tweet, put it on your facebook, email your friends. Invite everyone that you think would be perfect for this kind of thing. Forward this email, write your own thing, spray paint the link on your house, whatever! - Help organize this beast. On a practical level: - Depending on the response (number of registrations), it will either be a very sad but fun affair in my living room or we might need the royal palace to fit everyone in. We'll solve that problem when we know more (in about a week I'm guessing). - It's going to be an "unconference<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference>-style" congress and it will be radically transparent<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_transparency>. Put simply, it is organized by the attendees and we're playing with all of our cards in the open. I'm "merely" the initiator and quite happy to see anyone take the lead in any aspect of this congress. Yes, this works, it has worked plenty of times before. - There's lots of things to be done (inviting people, finding a venue, organizing food, recording/noting whatever is happening, getting press involved, etc). If you can help out, just let everyone know what you are doing and go ahead. It's called "trust by default". Let us assume everyone has good intentions and any mistake can be corrected in time. Help make this happen. For the children. ;-) Thomas Goorden *: More information about the underlying idea: It is not about starting a new political party. It is not about disrespecting the election process ("Ceci n'est pas un revolution"). It is not about point fingers and blaming any politician or organization. It is not about the past. It *is* about starting a new conversation. It is about thinking outside the electoral box. It is about civilians taking responsibility for the country they live in. It is about what you want our future to be. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens