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DEAR D.D. COLLEAGUES,
being a founding member of WDDM and for more than three
years its elected spokesperson, I consider that today's "soft" situation of WDDM
with its very good site, thanks to Mirek and a few others , without the
horrible trroubles we faced when we tried to make it a formal Organisation and
open to everybody for new D.D. Initiatives in each country ,
under the auspices of WDDM is much better than in the past years!
Of course I would prefer to see it
more active, although we had excellent dialogues in our site until recently
(what happened and silence came in the meantime?), but I feel more efficient and
stronger in our many many D.D. activities in Greece, when I am referring before
different audiences in the coordinating role and in the D.D. Data Bank of WDDM
(now we try to enforce DD changes in the revision of Greek Constitution, that we
would never had the self -confidence to propose if WDDM, NDDIE or IRI
Europe would never have been existed).
So , I am proud having influenced today's
existence of WDDM by one or the other way!
George L. Kokkas
"Forum for Citizens' Democracy" - Coodinator
----- Aρχικό μήνυμα -----
Αποστολή: Δευτέρα, 30 Οκτωβρίου 2006 7:10
μμ
Θέμα: [WDDM] To WDDM and D-Europe: Why
can't DD groups get their act together ?
Dear
everyone,
Someone wrote me a reply. For privacy reasons I will not tell
you who it is (this person can come forward if s/he wishes to do so), but I’d
like to share my response with you.
Kind regards,
Filia den
Hollander
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Received your note on learning by doing from the WDDM
listserve. Nice note, although I'm troubled by the way that organization
works. No charter, no organization, no agreements. And some who would keep it
that way because they prefer cursing the darkness over lighting a small
candle.
The point is that WDDM – as is
Democracy Europe – is ‘just’ an internet community, with virtually no
opportunities to meet in the flesh. So what happens when it comes to getting
“organized” – and this has happened before – is bickering on wording(s) or on
points of view of what DD means. So those who actually want to act,
act. And they take the risks that are involved, such as becoming too
homogenous as a group, or start projects which may not be of genuine
relevance, or, internal power struggles and the loss of valuable
people.
It is very hard to be flexible and to “shift” from one frame of
reference to another in time and in the right (humane and clear-sighted)
manner.
In Europe we had, as a DD movement, one focal point to work
towards to, and this was simultaneous national referendums on one day on the
EU Constitution, and, additionally, to push toward a more democratic EU
Constitution. For various reasons the focal point collapsed. One reason being
that the EU Convention didn’t make it in finishing the EU Constitution on its
planned date (10th of June 2004, I believe), which scattered the ‘simultaneous
referendums’ project. Another reason being that money resources came too much
from one direction (there was power involved).
So in that sense, the
European DD community is in a similar crisis as the EU institutions: no real
answer to the current situation.
But the EU institutions have started
to get their act together
...
Best,
Filia
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