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<P><BIG></BIG> </P>
<P><BIG>Hi,</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>I can’t seem to get these lyrics out of my head. <B><I>‘Is it getting
better, or do you feel the same?’</I></B>. It’s from the U2 song “One” and I
used to sing it out loud in my room in the West of Ireland back in the early
90s, hairbrush microphone in hand.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>In these last weeks, it has come back to me as friends and family ask
these questions: <B>for all the darkness of the coronavirus, is this a chance
for things to get better?</B> Or when the lockdowns end, will anything
change?</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>The reality is that <B>this crisis will change everything. And that
change could go either way.</B> We could spend the next decade responding to
this pandemic and all that comes with it, putting plasters on problems. Or we
could take this mega opportunity to change the way our societies work for the
better.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>It feels as though in this specific moment in history <B>we are being
called upon to take action towards deeper change.</B> This email is about
sharing with you what we intend to do to drive change in the months and years to
come. All I ask is for you to read it and think about it.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>In one way or another you and I, and almost 1 million other Europeans
across 30 countries have found common cause in the WeMove Europe community,
where <B>we know the only way to make the change that Europe needs is through
people power.</B> One WeMove Europe member said it best; <I>‘I support your
campaigns because you give me the chance to be part of a community that is
bigger than just me and I know that community can change things’</I>.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG><B>As the stakes for our future and for our planet rise, we know our
work is more important than ever.</B> That’s why <B>over 2019,</B> through
conversations with our community, partners and other experts, <B>we figured out
a strategy</B> so that every action we take is about going to the root of the
problems we face and tackling those. <A
href="https://www.wemove.eu/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=195371&qid=210219249"
rel=nofollow><B>Those conversations resulted in our new strategy “People Power
to Transform Europe”.</B> You can read more about it here.</A> But three of
my favourite takeaways;</BIG></P>
<OL>
<LI><BIG><B>We got a lot of it right from when we started in 2015</B> --- that
<B>people hold the power to drive change,</B> and that <B>the Europe we live
in today needs real, deep-rooted transformation</B> so that its politics
reflect the needs of people and planet rather than corporations and profit is
still at the heart of what we do,</BIG>
<LI><BIG><B>We cannot do it alone</B> as a community, we need to work with
others, as we have been, to strengthen our position. That means brilliant
partner organisations, movements, and experts who have skills that complement
ours,</BIG>
<LI><BIG>And most importantly, which is a great source of hope -- <B>we are
not trying to reinvent the wheel on change. The alternatives are there,
scattered across the continent.</B> We don't need to live in a system that
prioritises economic growth over well-being, and new approaches are already
happening.</BIG> </LI></OL>
<P><BIG>This strategy sets us on a path to start shaping deeper change, to
transform how decision-making works in Europe now and after the
crisis.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>For example, the <B>Universal Basic Income used to be considered a
half-crazy idea, but the crisis changed all of that and opened up the space for
big ideas. We took this campaign on precisely because it reacts to the crisis
and could bring the deeper change we speak about in our strategy.</B> How?
</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>In the short-term, the income could help people to survive the danger of
being left completely destitute when they lose their jobs. And in the long term,
it could help us tackle the bigger issue of inequality by redistributing more
wealth and allowing people to reach their full potential.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>A basic income could help people avoid being kicked out of their homes
when they lose their jobs. But it also could just buy time for people to learn a
new skill, to do creative work, to volunteer, to get involved in activism. This
could trigger so many other positive outcomes and much deeper change. <B>UBI is
a great big experiment to rethink our economic system. That system is unfairly
designed and has led to a situation of spiralling inequality, where the richest
1% have more wealth than the rest of the world.</B> [1] </BIG></P>
<P><BIG>As of last week, 170,000 of us <A
href="https://www.wemove.eu/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=195372&qid=210219249"
rel=nofollow>signed this petition.</A> It is being discussed all over: in Spain,
in France, in the UK and US. Now even the Pope is calling for Basic Income. It's
not mad anymore.</BIG></P>
<P><BIG>The teenage version of myself that sang that U2 song in the 90s was full
of doubts. But I don’t feel the same. <B>This crisis is opening up opportunities
we could only dream about last year.</B></BIG></P>
<P><BIG>And together we can make sure that the new normal is different. <B><A
href="https://www.wemove.eu/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=195371&qid=210219249"
rel=nofollow>Join us, read the strategy and share it far and
wide!</A></B></BIG></P>
<P><BIG>Laura</BIG></P>
<P> </P>
<P><BIG>PS: The links above take you to a short version of our strategy. For the
long read take a look at <A
href="https://www.wemove.eu/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=195371&qid=210219249"
rel=nofollow>The Europe we Believe In</A> and <A
href="https://www.wemove.eu/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=195373&qid=210219249"
rel=nofollow>People Power to Transform Europe, the Long Read.</A></BIG></P>
<P> </P>
<P><SMALL>References:<BR>[1] https:<SPAN>//www.fightinequality</SPAN>.org/vision
</SMALL></P>
<P> </P>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=info@wemove.eu href="mailto:info@wemove.eu">Laura Sullivan - WeMove
Europe</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 05, 2020 3:30 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Taking action together</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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