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.

For the birthplace of democracy.

I'm not saying this supposed success of the fundraising would solve the problems of Greeks. Their political leaders made way too many missteps for Their ride out of Their mess to be a smooth one. I'm not saying this would solve the problems of the Union. It is a question in itself whether a success of this campaign would even work. There are is an overwhelming amount of factors I haven't even begun to consider, like what would any of the referendum results implicate.

What I'm saying is, though, that if we all chip in a bit and succeed, we will show our will to sort things out and help our neighbors in need, which I sincerely believe to be an intrinsic motive of the majority. It's not as much about solving anything, as it is about showing that we won't give up easily on our values as citizens of a much wider community, which became inevitable with the rise of the Web. And what is there to lose? If the campaign fails, we get our money back. If in five days we reach our goal, we will make history. The way I see it, we can only gain by giving away the price of a coffee or two for a day.