With each passing day, the once great nation, the cradle of democracy and the birthplace of Western civilisation, Greece trembles in fear of what tomorrow may bring.
Realistically, it is too late for the Greek government alone to batten down the hatches now when the country owes an exorbitant €271 billion (equivalent to £193bn or $303bn) to its creditors, some of who include the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Commission (nicknamed as the Troika) and Germany.
In concordance with the financial crisis, a 29-year-old Briton, Thom Feeney, who works for a shoe store in London came up with the brilliant idea of crowdfunding to bailout Greece by way of tapping into the collective power of people throughout the globe. As impressive as the campaign sounds at first glance, digging deeper brings about its many loopholes.
What many fail to understand is the true extent of how far European propaganda, especially Germany’s, reaches on the matter of consolidating the Greeks’ outrageous stigma as “pampered and lazy”. The stereotype is deep-seated both within and outside of the European continent, which is how the latest data published by the OECD on average European citizens’ working hours hit the headlines in numerous countries.
Contrary to most European’s beliefs, it turned out Greeks actually work the longest hours in the European Union. However, once an idea stays firmly rooted in the minds of people, no matter what new contradictory outcomes rise to the surface, people are predisposed to stick to the old and familiar knowledge.
Keeping this in mind, whether Feeney’s well-intentioned crowdfunding will greatly bolster a sense of solidarity among Europeans remains a speculation – one that is founded upon false hopes of utopian thinkers. Although it is highly unlikely that accumulation of pocket change will lead the crowdfunding project to success, if it does succeed, realists’ preconception about Greece would only be strengthened.
Another related issue of Greek Bailout Funding is the dangerously thin line that separates solidarity from charity. Sotiris Koukios, from Alexandroupolis, asserted that the terms “solidarity” and “charity” were too often confused and said: “Charming initiatives are always charming.”
The main cause of this problem lies with the ambiguity of the campaign founder’s vision, impractical goal setting and the lack of planning to see to its success. For example, it is not yet clear through what channel or means Greece would be able to procure the collected money. When Greece has had a solidarity account for public donations that have been open since March 2010, on what basis is the crowdfunding more effective than the already existential and well-organized method of raising money? To make matters worse, Feeney’s outbursts of non-committal pledges, as well as improbable goal-setting, render people to wonder if he has other secular intentions than purely “extending a helping hand”.
Without a doubt, Feeney’s interviews on a wide range of news media have contributed immensely to marketing Greek products worldwide, and not to mention, the Indiegogo crowdfunding website. Furthermore, Feeny promised a postcard from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to all donors who pledged 3 euros, even though he has not actually discussed the campaign with Tsipras.
To top it off, Feeney arbitrarily assumed that Tsipras would be pleased to reward a small Greek island to the donator that pays for Greek’s entire debt. Yet, crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo are neither bound to the law, nor can they be held accountable to guarantee any perk delivery to the donators, even if the target set by the campaign founder had been achieved.
As the proverbial saying goes: “A cornered rat will bite the cat”.
Greece might strike out and opt for Grexit in the worst case scenario. If things get too complicated, Greece can always choose to default on the billions of euros it owes to its creditors. However, if the situation comes to that point, using the euro as a form of currency would be out of the question as Grexit is the other side of the coin for default. The consequence of default is an indelible stain on the country that will subject its people to suffer generations of embarrassment and be condemned to at least a generation’s worth of poverty.
Fortunately, the worst has not come to pass at the moment. Unlike the Greek Bailout Funding, Greece is in the process of loan talk re-negotiation with Germany and the IMF, while simultaneously juggling with the parliamentary votes. Thus, it is quite obvious that the myopic, unaccountable and haphazardly-managed crowdfunding is a greater flight-risk than Greece itself.
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