Across Europe today, civic space is shifting. Public discourse is becoming more polarized, trust in institutions is fragile, and many people—especially young people and those outside urban centers—feel disconnected from decision-making processes that shape their lives. At the same time, we see a growing need for new forms of collective action, solidarity, and learning that go beyond formal systems. In this context, education cannot remain neutral or distant from reality. It needs to become a space where people critically engage with the world, build agency, and imagine alternatives together.

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Radical popular education speaks directly to this moment. It starts from the idea that knowledge is not owned by institutions, but created through lived experience, shared struggles, and collective reflection. It challenges the separation between “experts” and “participants,” and instead creates spaces where people learn with and from each other. More importantly, it reintroduces the political dimension of education—not as ideology, but as a practice of questioning power, addressing inequality, and strengthening the capacity of communities to act.

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For Magnet, this approach is not new—it is deeply embedded in how we work. In rural contexts, where access to cultural and educational resources is often limited, learning happens through relationships, through culture, and through participation. Our work with young people, artists, and local communities already builds on the understanding that culture is not only expression, but a tool for dialogue and transformation. Through participatory art practices, feminist perspectives, and community-based programs, we create spaces where people can reflect on their realities and actively reshape them.

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This project on Radical Popular Education allows us to connect these local practices with a wider European conversation. Together with partners from France and Germany, we are exploring how education can respond to today’s social and political challenges—how it can become more embodied, more inclusive, and more rooted in real communities. For Magnet, this is an opportunity to deepen our work at the intersection of culture, education, and civic participation, and to continue building approaches that are not only relevant, but transformative.