"There are no alternatives" is the answer that national governments and transnational institutions keep giving citizens that across Europe are mobilising and protesting against the policies of austerity.  We believe that there are alternatives  that are practiced and experimented daily by those citizens who are leading common struggles that could make up a concrete alternative idea of Europe. These battles, however, too often move independently and act only on a national or local level while failing to produce a transnational discourse. 
 
The Agorà Transeuropa will gather experiences of an alternative Europe, to build dialogue and a cultural and political programme for a continent that wants to  come back to life starting from its people, not its banks. The name agorà, referring to the first forms of democratic development in Europe, is meant to remind us of Greece, where democracy has been more visibly jeopardised. 
 
With over forty international guests, the agorà will focus its debate on three themes which are fundamental for a discussion on the future of the continent: New forms of political mobilisation and bottom-up participation; the challenges tha the crisis has imposed and the search for alternatives to austerity measures and the safeguard of common goods; the new faces of Europe, which has become a new cosmopolitan and diverse society in nees of new individual and collective needs. The agorà will also present large transnational campaigns on the theme of common goods, freedom of information and basic income. 

These themes will be represented by the work of international artists that will compose "Nobody expects...", an artistic journet inside the Teatro Valle and in the public space. The exhibition recalls the twiter hashtag "Nobody expects the Spanish Revolution" used in the first phase of the 15M Spanish movement and presents a series of contributions from artists - in the form of posters, drawing, installations and videos- that reflect on the relationship between forms of protest, mobilisation and communication.

The location of the agorà is fundamental: Teatro Valle was occupied on 14 June 2011 from a group of theatre workers to rivindicate their rights and to impede that the oldest theatre in Rome would be turned into a commercial space. On February 2012, Teatro Valle and European Alternatives organised a first European forum, while in May 2012 they have co-produced the documentary Euros on the struggles and occupation activities in different European countries. The agorà therefore represents a further appointment in a common journey on the construction of transnational netowrks and a European political convergence. 

The agorà also represents the culmination of the Transeuropa Festival, the first truly transnational festival that in May 2012 has involved thirteen cities in twelve European countries before ending in Rome. Representatives from all cities will gather in Rome, to draw out a new Europe, which is young and determined to revitalise our continet. 

Where

Teatro Valle, Rome, Italy.

When

June 2-3, 2012

More

The detailed programme is available on European Alternatives website.