Topic summary
Agalev
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Groen (political party).
Agalev
The party's origins can be traced to the early 1970s, specifically the village of Viersel near Antwerp, where Luc Versteylen, a Jesuit priest, led a youth group. Through this he came to hear about the stress children were suffering from due to an increasingly competitive education system. From this, he and his co-thinkers developed a critique of consumerism inspired by the values of early Christianity as an alternative to the modern Catholic church, rejecting competition and consumption in favour of peace, frugality and community. This critique became central to Anders Gaan Leven (meaning "to go and live differently", a Flemish environmental movement. The movement then established Agalev, a working group formed to contest elections, which eventually became Groen.