Direct Democracy Festival, September 6-8 in Thessaloniki
Close after our conference this weekend the annual “Direct Democracy Festival” will take place in Thessaloniki! We encourage anyone who have the possibility to take part! Below you find the full program.
Facebook event for the festival
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Political / Cultural Programme of the Direct Democracy Festival 2017 (September 6-7-8 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTh)
Wednesday 6/9
19:00 / Documentary: ”Greek underground songs”, Bill Mousoulis. Will be followed by discussion with the director
20:30 / Topic: ”The commons and the struggles to defend them”
Alexandros Kioupkiolis (professor at AUTh, writer): The state and the commons of self-organisation: two conflicting concepts
Giorgos Papachristodoulou (Babilonia Journal): The fronts of the water as commons
Panayiotis Bochotis (accused in the Karatza case)
Elli Damaskou (Struggle Committee of Megali Panagia)
Niki Dimitriadi (Direct Democracy Festival)
23:00 / Concert
Pseudoprofites, Lostre Community, Monimos Katoikos, Technotomy (Part 1)
Thursday 7/9
18:00 / Ping pong tournament
19:00 / Documentary: ”Dreaming of life”, Morteza Jafari. Will be followed by discussion with the director
20:00 / Topic: ”The West in crisis, nationalism in use”
Philimonas Patsakis (writer, Babilonia Journal), Changing the authoritarian paradigm and the movements
Dimitris Rousopoulos (writer), The Resistance to Trump
Konstantinos Savopoulos (Direct Democracy Festival)
22:00 / Flamenco Performance, Eleni Germani and Sophia Kiorpe
23:00 / Concert
Radio Clash, The Accuracy, Chupacavlas, Technotomy (Part 2)
Friday 8/9
18:00 / Ping pong tournament
19:00 / Documentary: «Golden Dawn: A Personal Affair”, Angélique Kourounis. Will be followed by discussion with the production crew members, Loukas Stamellos and @ypopto_mousi
19:30 / Theatrical performance: ”The girl called Thursday”, by the theatre group “Apo ton Pempto sticho kiolas Faltsoi”
20:00 / Topic: “Communalism and communities in the contemporary revolutionary demands”
Daniel Chodorkoff (Co-founder of the Institute for Social Ecology, Marshfield)
Democratic Confederalism: the legacy of Murray Bookchin
Havin Guneser (Women’s rights and Kurdish rights advocate, Hamburg) From Communalism to Democratic Confederalism : Concepts and Implementations
Grigoris Tsilimantos (Direct Democracy Festival)
23:00 / Concert
Revma 102, Gulag, Lost Bodies, Million Hollers
Photography Exhibition: During the three days of the Festival, a photography exhibition with the title “Lonelinesss” will be presented by the photography group jpeg of Mikropolis at the location of the Festival.
Thessaloniki International Fair (DETH) Demonstration: Saturday 9/9, at 17:00, Meeting point: Arch of Galerius (Kamara)
I think Direct Democracy is a good tool to advance our representation. Some argue that it surrenders matters to “mob rule”, which can be influenced by those who own or control the media. But I believe it is more difficult for the elite to influence the masses than to surreptitiously line the fat pockets of a few politicians, or even threaten them. But to alleviate the possible threat of mob rule, a mechanism can be put into place as currently exists between for example a congress and senate. An idea may be proposed by congress and sent to the senate for approval. For some reason the senate might make tweaks or changes to the submission and send it back. In the same manner, any citizen of a country or region should be able to propose an idea and the rest be able to vote on it. If an idea has a popular vote, it can be sent to congress for processing. If the educated lawmakers have an objection, they can send it back to the people with an explanation why they think it is not a good idea. In this way the general public becomes more informed, also because they are now more engaged in politics and feel that their voice has a difference. As opposed to feeling disenfranchised and not bothering to show up at the polls every four years to elect one politician or another who all mostly seem to serve the corporate interests or their funders anyway.
For this reason I have created a forum at http://arealdemocracy.org/ where anyone in a particular region can submit an idea and the rest vote on it. Do we want our tax dollars to go towards fighting a new war? We should be entitled to vote on such important matters. The internet now allows for such constant referendums without the need for great costs. The discussions should be ongoing, and most importantly, to engage the general public to get involved, like the ancient Greeks, fathers of our democracy, who would gather in the square to discuss and debate issues. Obviously with our greatly expanded population this is no longer practical, but the internet certainly allows for it.