Forum Lyon – A Soul for Europe is a journey across the urban area of Lyon and Région Rhône-Alpes, through meetings, conversations and public debates between local and European citizens, to highlight our cities’ cultural value and to encourage citizens to participate actively in the Democratic game. It aims at promoting the dialogue between civil society actors and policy makers in order to envisage and conceive together new forms of cooperations that are necessary for the development of territories where we live and the European integration process.

Forum Lyon is an initiative led by cultural actors but implemented in a cross-disciplinary approach involving players from diverse sectors of activity (culture, social inclusion, education, media, research…). With this project, we experiment together a cultural process to mobilize, elaborate and share common values, to enrich our imagination and knowledge capacities, as an active participation to the democratic life.

For its fourth edition, Forum Lyon deals with Participation to Democracy.

Of course the question of Participation is central in the Forum’s process itself, but we are also sharing a feeling of impoverishment of the democratic system we are part of. It is not only a question of losing confidence in politics, of the fear of the future and feeling powerless to change anything. As a member of the Conseil Economique et Social said: the moral, social and economical crisis we are experiencing locally and globally is calling into question notions of “public interest, confidence in each other’s action, participation to common stakes and the creation of a collective vision”.

Programme

Step 1: October 30-31 2015, at Les Buers – Villeurbanne, in partnership with Le Rize

The event will include three European guests, among them Francisca Abreu (former vice-Mayor, Guimarães – Portugal), and will feature events on Friday afternoon as well as Saturday morning and afternoon.

Step 2: November 13-14 2015, at Rillieux-la-Pape, in partnership with the Municipality

The event will include three European guests, among them Doris Pack (former vice-President of the European Parliament, Saarbrücken), and Jacques Lévy (geographer and researcher, Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne – Switzerland), and will feature events on Friday afternoon as well as Saturday morning and afternoon.

Step 3: November 27-28 2015, at the Goethe Institute, Lyon

The event will include around six European guests and six local nationals, and will feature events on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and afternoon.