Thursday, July 02, 2015

Direct Democracy


A short and exclusive post this time.

There are a lot of strange things going on and around the European Union lately, many of which raise baffling questions about its sovereignty. I am not here to discuss any of these since there are plenty opinions already. I would like to raise awareness to a particular campaign happening right now. It is a crowdfunding campaign to bail out Greece.

The slogan is: "By the people, for the people." The initiative calls out the people of Europe (and the World) to donate a small amount of money in order to repay the national debt of Greece, as a third alternative to the upcoming voting on Sunday. The tone of the well-explained campaign has a slightly aggravated tone, one that speaks from the depths of frustration of many generations, I reckon. The following paragraph particularly explains the whole sentiment I'm talking about:

"So come on, order a Feta and Olive salad, maybe wash it down with an Ouzo or glass of Assyrtiko Greek wine and let's sort this shit out."

How true. The idea has been around, yet as far as I'm informed, this is the first time in history, that we have a chance of this scale: a large crowdfunding to solve a pressing political issue. Given the amount that is needed and the fact that there are five days left, it is a bit unlikely that it will succeed (even if the raised amount has doubled since yesterday). The funny part would be if it did succeed. It would be an unprecedented act of applied and democratic philanthropy.