The Citizen Assembly for the Climate in Brussels started in October. In this second cycle, the inhabitants of the Belgian capital are focusing on the topic of food. Who are they? What is their relationship to the subject? Why did they say yes, and what do they expect from this participatory process? We asked all these questions to Jaak, Meighan, Philippe, and Lisandra.
Jaak
Jaak has been living in Brussels for 26 years. Originally from Limburg, in the east of the province of Liège, he took a curious path by leaving the countryside to live in the city and “fully experience this multicultural and cultural city.” At 74 years old, Jaak describes himself as a “semi-retiree,” meaning he continues to work two hours a day for his event management company, which he founded upon arriving in the capital. For the past 6 years, he has been living alone in a building in Ixelles, the European quarter.
His first major change occurred 12 years ago when he decided to give up his car. “Life is fantastic in a city when you can live without a car!” says Jaak, who expresses a certain “remorse” about his previous lifestyle. Regarding food, Jaak has also made a significant change, triggered by Covid. Before the pandemic, he dined out every day. Today, he cooks, preferably with fresh ingredients. Reducing meat consumption, daily intake of fruits and vegetables, quitting alcohol, buying organic – he laments the proliferation of “take-away” options in his neighborhood, calling it “dreadful food for children, a disaster for waste production.”
Jaak approaches the process with a positive sentiment. Interested in politics, he was already aware of the existence of the Citizen Assembly for the Climate, curious to see to what extent “deliberative and participatory democracy can change politics” and more skeptical about “the actual consideration of the results.”
« Deliberative and participatory democracy can change politics.
Jaak
Meighan
Meighan is a shy and brave young woman. A marketing student, she is completing her second bachelor’s degree after obtaining her first in business management. Meighan hails from Cameroon, and thanks to teachers and good grades she secured a scholarship to study in Brussels four years ago.
Her father stayed in Douala, and her mother and sister have been living in Canada for 16 years. In four years, she hasn’t seen them, and it hasn’t always been easy to be alone, without family or friends. To earn some extra money, she works part-time at the Burger King in Ixelles, not far from her student accommodation. Meighan says she is “more comfortable behind the machines,” and yet, she didn’t hesitate to get involved in this Assembly composed of 74 strangers! A meeting organized a few days before with 6 other selected young people helped reassure her.
What motivations led her to overcome her shyness? First, the topic of food is close to her heart: “Since I’ve been a student, I only eat bread, and I’ve gained a lot of weight (…) I would like to learn to eat differently.” Also, the environment, being aware of waste and excessive plastic use. Her other desire is to understand how this Citizen Assembly for the Climate operates. “I am interested in this approach and in taking into account the opinions of young people to make decisions (…) unlike in my country where power is centralized. I would like to share this kind of method there.”
She also enjoyed the first weekend of the Assembly, “an active day” far from what she imagined, namely sitting and listening. Her satisfaction would be, at the end of the process, to say that “her voice mattered, that the proposed solutions are applicable.” At 22, Meighan has a dream: “find a job, save money, and start my own business in my country.” In the meantime, with Elif, Juliette, and other young people, she will try to make her voice heard.
« Since I’ve been a student, I only eat bread, and I’ve gained a lot of weight (…) I would like to learn to eat differently.
Meighan
Lisandra and Philippe
This is a somewhat different portrait from the others since it is a portrait of a couple: Lisandra and Philippe, both members of the Citizen Assembly for the Climate.
Lisandra and Philippe, aged 28 and 29, have been living in Brussels in the Ixelles neighborhood for 5 years, a choice of location to be physically together and finally live together. Lisandra is originally from Macao, a Special Administrative Region of China located opposite Hong Kong. Philippe grew up in Angers, a city in western France, and studied in Lille at a business school. The couple met during a university exchange in Macao in 2015. The first geographical proximity occurred when Lisandra chose the Netherlands for her studies in international relations, then Brussels for her master’s in European affairs at the University of Louvain. Today, Lisandra is a communication officer for the International Automobile Federation, and Philippe works in data analysis for the food industry.
This initiative is “an opportunity to understand and discover another form of democracy beyond voting,” explains Lisandra. “Macao is the Las Vegas of China, where you can find everything, but not yet this kind of initiative.” The young woman quickly expressed her interest in participating. She also believes that the proposed compensation is an important lever to ensure a certain diversity of participants. On the subject of food, the couple has already changed their habits: from prepared meals and pizzas when they were students to Hello Fresh cooking tips, they became aware (and had time) of the importance of eating more healthily during Covid.
Thanks to the Assembly, Lisandra and Philippe discover existing actions carried out by or in the region: the Good Food strategy, the Brussels Beer Project (which they visited) … and in this, they consider it already a strength of the process. “Becoming aware of what is achievable also brings ideas,” says Philippe. “I also have the power to talk about it around me,” adds Lisandra, who, however, expresses some pessimism about the limited capabilities of the Region to act on the entire food chain. Philippe agrees and turns to his partner with a smile: “We are so cornered that at some point, we will find a solution…”
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« Becoming aware of what is achievable also brings ideas.
Lisandra et Philippe
To follow all the news of the Citizen Assembly for the Climate, feel free to subscribe to the newsletter and/or visit the website.
The faces and stories behind the Brussels Climate Citizens’ Assembly
