MEMBERS
BASTA!
Who we are
Belgian social antimafia association BASTA! has its roots in Libera Brussels, which was founded in December 2013 as one of the first European antennas of Italian antimafia association Libera.
Though still sharing its fundamental principles and values and closely collaborating with Libera and its European partners, in April 2019, BASTA! became an independent association to be better able to take root in Belgium as a Belgian association.
As a social antimafia association, we are convinced that corruption, organised crime and mafia-type associations are transnational phenomena which cannot be fought by institutions and law enforcement authorities alone. This is why BASTA! aims to play a bridging role between associations, research groups and institutions that investigate or fight serious and organised crime in Belgium and Europe.
As these oppressive and undermining phenomena affect all levels of society, we believe that civil society has an important role to play as well. In order for citizens to be able to take action, they need to wake up and gain a critical understanding and consciousness of the issues underlying organised crime. And so, they need to be informed. That is what BASTA! aims to do throughout its activities: to learn from experts, to inform and sensitise others about the existence and activities of criminal organisations in Belgium and Europe and to better understand the role of civil society in the fight against corruption and organised crime and for social justice. In doing so, BASTA! strives for a society where social cohesion and a culture of democratic justice prevail.
What we do
BASTA! is a not-for-profit association composed of volunteers, who meet on a monthly basis for a general assembly. Within the association there are several working groups, usually linked to a project or a theme. These groups meet to work together according to needs.
BASTA! (co-)organises and promotes cultural and informative events and workshops related to corruption and organised crime.
BASTA! has two fixed annual events on its agenda. The first is 21 March, the Day of remembrance and commitment in memory of all innocent victims of the mafias.
On 9 December we celebrate International Anti-corruption Day, promoted by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Every year, BASTA! adopts the official campaign theme and relates it to the national context, to raise public awareness of the fact that corruption is a serious phenomenon that undermines social and economic development in Belgium as well.
BASTA! moreover (co-)organises events throughout the year to promote the European projects it is participating in, together with the European partners of the CHANCE network.
One of the most recurring proposals which BASTA! strongly promotes in these projects is that of the public and social reuse of confiscated assets from organised crime. It is a very powerful instrument to hit criminal organisations where it hurts most and an essential tool to strengthen local economies and promote social cohesion and social justice. By restoring to civil society what criminal organisations have unlawfully taken away from it, we want to sustainably invest in the common good.
BASTA! is active in Belgium, mainly in the Brussels-Capital Region and in Flanders (Antwerp and Ghent).
As one of the founding partners of the CHANCE network, BASTA! moreover operates on a European level.
Due to the multilingualism of Belgian society, to the presence of the European institutions in Brussels and to its international partnerships, BASTA! communicates in 4 languages: French, Dutch, English and Italian.
Contacts and links
basta.asbl@gmail.com (newsletter sign up form)
PARTNERS
S-Com
Who we are
S-Com is an international nonprofit organization founded in Brussels in 2005. S-Com is also a network involving several european countries and, together with its members, develops a series of practices and initiatives to support local authorities and organisations to face up to the challenges of sustainability in line with the SDGs.
What we do
Through EU funded research and innovation projects (MEDSPRING, MERID, XF-ACTORS) S-Com has managed to be an intermediary on behalf of civil society, acting as a mediator with the scientific world, promoting values of accessibility and participation. Concerning this, S-com is working to take down the existing barriers to free participation, especially for women and vulnerable people. In this regard, we launched a campaign called WISE4All (Women for innovative society in Europe) aiming to promote the participation of women in social innovation. As an evolution of WISE4All, the WISE4Challenges project (2020) was funded by the European Parliament to build a women’s contribution for the Conference on the Future of Europe: The 5 project partners engaged civil society on 5 topics: RRF, Gender Health, Social Rights, Education and Culture and Green Deal. We have always seen digitization as a key to breaking down spatial barriers and to multi-spatial use. In 2017 S-Com became a partner in the EU Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition initiative. S-Com’s priorities for this action are: Digital skills for all – developing digital skills to enable all citizens to be active in the digital society. There are many obstacles limiting participation (digital divide,discrimination, hatred, stereotypes, violence etc.). These kinds of limitations were felt in online spaces and consequently we created, at the end of 2020, the “VIS à VIS -Contre la haine en ligne” project. It aims to promote safe and inclusive use of social media, raising awareness about online hate speech, offering support to victims and tools to counteract the phenomenon. In the same vein are the “UP&UP- UPscaling trainers’ and teacher’s competencies on gender stereotypes to UPscaling the awareness among young people and fight gender based violence “and “GenreMédias- Sexisme dans les médias” projects. In 2020, S-Com became a partner of the New European Bauhaus initiative of the European Commission to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Contacts and Links
