Hope
I came to Social Platform with hope, and at the end of the year I am leaving it with the same sentiment.
This hope is deeply anchored in me and comes from the great men and women who fought for social justice before us. My spiritual father remains Martin Luther King Jr (as you may have noticed from the recurrence of his quotes in my editorials!) who has inspired me in my work at Social Platform. I believe that one day we will overcome injustice, discrimination and inequality.
Although Martin died in 1968, I have seen hope during my ten years at Social Platform.
This hope comes from the deep engagement of our members who tirelessly bring their proposals to policy-makers on combatting poverty, making discrimination unlawful on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, social status and in fact, any ground.
This sense of hope is not unique to us. It is shared by many dedicated EU civil servants who made use of their institution to bring progress. They made proposals to remove discrimination in access to education, hospitals and housing markets, to improve parental leave conditions and to work out gender parity in company boards. I found hope in the European Parliament where MEPs adopted positive reports on these issues.
Hope also came from the broader support I saw for social justice. I have worked in close cooperation with trade unions, business representatives, and environmental and development organisations who share our hope for social progress by putting the sustainability of our planet and people first.
By leaving Social Platform, I am not abandoning my feelings of hope. I will continue to be inspired by the work of Social Platform and those who share our ideals in my new capacity as Head of the Brussels Liaison Office at Eurofound, which has a mandate to improve the working and living conditions of people living in the EU.
I thank members, their national members, our friends in all EU institutions and in our partner organisations for all their dedication to the cause. In difficult times, hope is what we have to keep us together.
Au revoir!
Pierre Baussand, Director
