This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davekeating.substack.com
Last month on 26 January, people gathered at the Full Circle theatre in Brussels for an evening of discussion, drinks, food and inspiration for how we can move forward with Europe’s independence revolution.
The book launch event for The Owned Continent, hosted by Res Publica Europa, wasn’t just an opportunity to present my new book. It was a call to arms – an unflinching diagnosis of the pathetic point our European leaders have brought us to and a no-holds-barred discussion of how this continent can change course and resist Donald Trump’s extortion.
“We have to make a revolution before it erupts,” said former Dutch MEP Sophie in ’t Veld on the panel. “Because if we don’t make a revolution, then the revolution will be made for us. It’s not the national leaders who are going to change and improve Europe. It can only come from the people. And the question is, are the people sufficiently aware? I’m not sure.”
In ’t Veld was joined on the discussion panel by Alberto Alemanno from The Good Lobby, James Kanter from the EU Scream podcast and Pawel Zerka from the European Council on Foreign Relations. We found many areas of agreement on the problem of Europe’s America addiction that we face at the moment. But we differed on whether the people of Europe have yet woken up to the danger that America poses to them.
“Contrary to what you say at the end of your book, when you say that Europeans haven’t woken up yet, I think that the European public has woken up but is looking at their leadership and can see that there is no plan or prospect,” Zerka told me. “Europeans have perhaps woken up, but as my colleague has said, it’s one thing to wake up, it’s another to get out of bed.”
“I think Europeans maybe are waking up right now, but they’re not yet there,” I replied. “Actually since the book was published on December 8th, I’m maybe feeling more optimistic that people are waking up. Greenland was a trigger. But as you say, if we don’t give people any tools to actually do something about their fears of America, people will feel there’s maybe no purpose to waking up.”
We kicked off the event with me being interviewed by journalist Jennifer Baker about why I wrote the book (the idea came from reader reaction to this Substack post last May) and what I want it to accomplish. I also addressed the elephant in the room: the book says Europeans should stop listening to Americans, except this American talking to them right now! In my defence, I noted, I’ve lived in Europe 20 years (almost my entire adult life) and now have two EU passports – making me 2/3 European! Europe is my home, there is no question of where my loyalties lie, and I know that I will never move back to the United States.
You can watch the full video above (apologies for the sound quality, you’ll notice the volume levels do a lot of oscillating). And if you haven’t bought your copy yet, you can find a list of book stores and online retailers selling it here.
As I announced at the event, there will be a French edition of the book coming out on 7 May with the publisher Édition des Équateurs. And stay tuned for some upcoming news about a German version.
If you happen to live in Catalonia, you should come to the debut book reading in Spain at Backstory bookshop in Barcelona on Saturday 14 May at 5pm. If you’re in Brussels you can look forward to an upcoming event focusing on what the book has to say about English as Europe’s cultural lingua franca (surprisingly I’ve found that to be the most controversial part of the book!). If you’re in London, you can look forward to a book reading at St Pancras station coming up in April. More info on those two events coming soon, check back at the book’s events page for updates.
And thanks to my subscribers for all the support! Together we can defend this continent from America and realise the European dream.
