democracy international: DI-Newsletter 8-2011: European Network Academy of Social Movements

NEWSLETTER

27 July 2011

www.democracy-international.org

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Meet us in Freiburg

All over Europe people are calling for more participation. In this newsletter we present Micaela Bracciaferri – she was involved in the Italian referendum campaign and talks about the movement, which was supported by millions and used direct democracy to achieve a major success.

We will use the summer to network with other organizations. A good opportunity is the Attac Academy of Social Movements in Freiburg (Germany) – Erwin Leitner from Austria initiated our appearance here.

Regards

Ronald Pabst/Vanessa Eggert

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Contents

1. Meet us in Freiburg

2. Interview: Italian Protest and Beppe Grillo

3. Direct Democracy in Greece

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1. Meet us in Freiburg

We will talk about direct democracy with people from all over Europe at an event organized by Attac. It will take place from 9. to 14. August in Freiburg (South Germany).

democracy-international.org/freiburg-summer-academy.html

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2. Interview: Italian Protest and Beppe Grillo

In recent months, people are more and more going to the streets to voice their discontent and anger. Greece and Spain set good examples as several hundred thousand citizens are demonstrating. Yet, this is not an absolute new phenomenon. Many countries have a history of citizen's engagement: the Beppe Grillo movement has been active in Italy since 2007, engaging masses to voice their demands. Many Internet scholars believe it to be among the first campaigns mobilized by social media and the use of blogs. We have talked to Micaela Bracciaferri, a participant of this movement:

www.democracy-international.org/italian-protest-beppe-grillo.html

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3. Direct Democracy in Greece

Antonios Bouchagiar and Mihalis Gousgounis have published an report on the situation in Greece. They explain the history of referendums in Greece since 1945, the situation on local direct democracy and comment the announcement of the government: it declared its will to hold a referendum soon.

www.democracy-international.org/direct-democracy-greece.html

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