As we all bask in the memories and the glow of the extraordinary energy of the just ended YearlyKos, I have one additional reason to celebrate today, as it is the first anniversary of European Tribune, my attempt, with Martin at creating a European version of DailyKos or Booman Tribune.
I’d like to reflect on this past year, indicate my hopes for the future, and give special thanks to all kossacks and bootribbers, as you all helped make this site become what it is.
With just above 2 million page views in the past year, and currently about 1,500 unique viewers and 8,000 page views per day, we are about one hundredth of the size of dKos, but we have built an extraordinary and tightly-knit community – so mush so that we actually held our first community get-together – all of 25 people – a couple of weeks back.
The site’s relatively small size is appreciated by many, as it gives it a homely feel, and allows for incredibly smart and civil conversations, but I’ve never hidden my intention to make this site the closest approximation to a European version of DailyKos, at least in terms of influence.
We do not have a unified European political debate, as national politics still dominate; we have the obstacle of language which inevitable excludes many; and we do not have the overwhelming motivation of a catastrophic administration à la Bush.
But we know there are a number of things that are decided at the European level, and that there is a common wisdom amongst our elites which is increasingly shaped by the English language business press, and which we all feel is to a large extent misguided, at least in its trends.
Thus, my goal is to make the site an audible voice in pan-European policy debates. To do this, we must (i) have content, and (ii) have visibility, and create the virtuous circle that would make the site an aggregator of lefty bloggers like DailyKos has become
We’ve done amazingly well on the content side, and I see us slowly bulding a coherent body of thought, even if we have some deep disagreements on a number things – but these help enrich and inform the debate. We will soon reach the point where we can get started on policy papers à la Energize America – provided that some of us take the initiative and have the time and energy to pushe it forward.
On the visibility side, we are slowly being noticed in various places, but we are still very small and outside of the usual European debating circles. My hope is to change this in the coming year, with the help of the lefty blogosphere, either because you are European, or based in Europe, or simply as interested readers. As I’ve argued in various posts here over the past, many of the topics of debate are the same in the USA and in Europe – the increasing dominance of the corpocratic model of capitalism, the proliferation of astroturf “thnk tanks”, the prevailing common wisdom against decent wages, unions and the very idea of good government – all of which are detrimental to what we all think fair and responsible societies should be.
One thing that seems obvious to me is that both the content creation and its dissemination require a lot of time and effort, which means that European Tribune needs to grow more in order to have enough eurotribbers that can contribute to either or both of these activities, draft position papers, write letters to their local papers, link to ET on their blogs, talk about the site to friends, representatives or media, etc… – and ultimately to get involved in local or European politics (although this is not the overriding goal of ET as it is of dKos).
So what I’m hoping for in the near future is (i) more diaries and (ii) more letters to major papers or institutions in Europe based on our discussions here. While the focus is European, it is also international and we care deeply about what’s going on in America, and Americans are absolutely welcome to participate – and one of the nice things of ET is that many do indeed, briging their different perspectives, questions and friendly prodding. We need more of that.
In any case, I am incredibly grateful to all of you that have joined me in this adventure, amazed by your individual and collective wisdom, and hopeful that this is just a start. I’d like to add that European Tribune exists thanks to both dKos and Booman Tribune – it is only through my notoriety on DailyKos that ET could be launched with a sufficient base of readers to create a real community, and it is thanks to Martin’s trust in my writing that this actually took off, and I will always have a special thought for all my American firends who first welcomed me on the internets, encouraged me to write more, and supported my diaries on dKos, BT and later on eurotrib.
So thanks to all, double thanks to Martin, and here’s hoping for more success in the near future, following the trailblazing example of the US blogosphere, led by DKos.
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Some significant stories of the past year.
(I am only posting stories that I wrote – not as way to brag, but because I really don’t want to be the one to be picking favorites. Add your favorites in comments, whether yours or written by others).
Letters published in the Financial Times:
I’m published in the FT! (on EDF prices being too low)
The FT publishes me again (on Gazprom vs Blair)
My article in the WSJ:
Can Do France
The 4 I consider to be the most significant:
Ukraine vs Russia: Tales of pipelines and dependence
The real cost of electricity – some numbers
Paris ‘riots’: My aunt’s building burned yesterday night
Facts about the French labor market
