WePromise European Action Day
You might have noticed the new image that appeared on the sidebar last evening, promoting the WePromise European Action Day, which aims to demand that the next European Parliament defends digital civil and human rights. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m not aware that today is a big day for the fight for Net Neutrality in the United States as well, but we’re talking about very specific and directed calls for action in each of these cases, aimed at citizens of the respective states involved, so I can only actually get involved in the actions that have to do with the European Union.
The WePromise.eu campaign consists of a Charter of Digital Rights that candidates can sign and a pledge to vote for one who did so that voters can take. Sadly, at the time I’m writing this only 3197 people have taken the pledge, so the fact that a total of 366 candidates from 25 of the 28 member states signed the Charter seems to indicate that politicians may be more interested in the issue than the voters. That can’t actually be the case, the real cause probably being mainly a mix between the general lack of interest towards the European elections and the fact that many of those claiming to want to fight for Internet freedom unfortunately tend not to vote anyway because they reject the way representative democracy is currently implemented, but I’m not sure that’s not even worse.
Actually, this latter mindset seems to be quite widespread among activists and regular protesters despite the fact that it only serves to simply rule them out of the equation, to take away an obvious “weapon” they could clearly use. Especially when there are a fair number of options available, including small parties and independent candidates that claim to adhere to an at least somewhat acceptable doctrine, I simply can’t understand how intelligent people who truly want to fight can honestly believe that not voting, or casting invalid votes, may help them in any way, yet I’m looking at many activists, regular protesters, bloggers, journalists, union leaders and other somewhat influential people joining hands here in Romania these days in order to persuade even the few who would want to vote to change their minds. Some admit that a few of those who have no chances may be worth voting for, yet they still claim that casting a valid vote, regardless of who it’s for, merely legitimizes the current system and that shouldn’t happen, while in fact not showing support for those who may be somewhat different by casting a valid vote for one of them is what will actually strengthen the positions of those who have every interest in continuing to enforce this system in the future as well.
Still, that’s a different rant on a different topic. The point I’m trying to make here is that people need to get involved, obviously including by voting but also by asking politicians hard questions, demanding firm pledges and holding them accountable for their promises. In addition, speaking strictly of today, you should also see whether any debates on the matter of digital rights are or have been organized in your country and perhaps also follow the last Presidential debate, which is set to start later this evening, at 9 PM CET, to see whether the issue of digital rights will be tackled and what the leaders of the major groups in the European Parliament have to say about it.
