Commoning Europe in Brussels

“We had a wonderful experience, which focused on the basic meaning of our project, to seek ways for people and organised groups to work together to contribute to the common good. … We strongly ask Europe to be a Europe of peoples who want to collaborate and build peace, and not a Europe of banks, lobbies and arms factories.” - Calogero Bellavia , from Biblioteca di Pace - Cittadinanze

The first day, we gathered in BRAL’s office to discuss our glossary and the proposal paper for the European Parliament “Commoning in Europe, a common glossary for EU”. Laura Birtolo, psychologist, facilitated. Massimo Mannoni, Labsus Member led the dialogue, and Miguel Martinez translated. You can read the common glossary of our project in the attachment below.

Afterwards, Hanne Van Reusel, of Osmos network & commons architect.e, talked to us about participation and the common good. There are many ways to start and steward the process of participation and putting the common good central. Hanne talked about her own experience at the Friche Josaphat where she initiated Josaph’Aire and Commons Josaphat, together with Verena Lenna, who couldn’t be present at the time.

In the afternoon, we visited Tournevie, the tool library with several workshops near the Maalbeek metro stop. They make it possible to borrow tools for a trust-based membership fee and have snowballed many cool a project such as Remorquable, a loan service for bike trailers all over town. After moving several times, they were happy to have found a central location – albeit in temporary use. 

In the evening, we made our way into the depths of the most democratic of the European institutions, the European Parliament. We received a tour of the impressive building before we met with one of their representatives. We shared with MEP Camilla Laureti our draft of the Commoning glossary and our proposal for developing a better cooperation between active communities and Public Institutions to support them. You can read the letter in the attachment.

On the second day, we focused first on following-up the good practices on commoning. Afterwards, BRAL invited the partners to meet Community Land Trust Bxl, Delta Forest-Vorst and discover the UIA project Calico. In this beautiful project, people with a low income could buy a house while the land stays in common hands. Pass-ages created a house for palliative care and mothers giving birth - a place where new and ending life can meet and aren’t hidden away. Le Delta is a cosy meeting place where all sorts of activities take place but nothing is obligated. 

After finishing the last parts of the project, we had the honour of meeting 

Marianne Crezée of Wijklokaal at the office of BRAL. It was very emotional to listen to her story about people, community, support. The impact the initiative has on their community cannot be underestimated. 

“Thanks to Maya and all the friends of BRAL.Brussels. We had a wonderful experience, which focused on the basic meaning of our project, to seek ways for people and organised groups to work together to contribute to the common good. This is an ever-present theme in the history of humanity, in the past practised by religious groups, then in the 20th century by popular political parties, today by people of different political, religious, ethnic and cultural views who join together to give real meaning and substance to being citizens, of their country and of the world. 

We have shared our experiences -different but all with the same purpose- and we strongly ask Europe to be a Europe of peoples who want to collaborate and build peace, and not a Europe of banks, lobbies and arms factories”. - Calogero Bellavia , from Biblioteca di Pace - Cittadinanze

This was the last meeting of the two yearlong project Commoning Europe, a project cofounded by the Erasmus+ Adult Education - Strategic Partnerships program of the European Union. The project was carried out by Biblioteca di Pace Association (coordinator) together with Comune di Campi Bisenzio (partner), BRAL (Belgian Association), Open Up (Dutch Association), Ankara Aile ve Sosyal Hizmetler İl Müdürlüğü (Ministry of Social Policy and Family, Ankara, Türkiye) and Făgăraș Municipality (Local Authority, Romania).