Hackathon Project: Winning Hearts and Minds in Europe

Over the past few years we have been getting very frustrated with the debt that has been loaded onto us in Ireland. Vast sums of taxpayer money – from both Irish and European families and individuals – have been put on the line to “bail out” failed Irish banks, which in turn have been bailing out many irresponsible European financial institutions.

I would like to make a contribution to the effort to better our lot.

We, the young people of Ireland, are being forced by our government, the ECB and the European Commission to pay for the mistakes of private banks. In order to maintain European stability the debt of private banks is rapidly becoming the debt of the Irish people.

This is a Europe-wide problem and requires a European solution.

A large problem for our negotiations with Europe is that we do not have the support of European citizens. How can we expect Angela Merkel to lower our interest rate when her voters are opposed to a bailout? Is it surprising that Nicolas Sarkozy is pressuring us on our corporate tax rate, when many French voters think they are giving us a big gift, with no strings attached?

This is an education problem. Our European neighbours are as decent and compassionate a people as we are. I think we can win them over.

We can explain our situation to them; that it is the Irish taxpayer who is bailing out the European financial system and not the other way around. We can ask them to put pressure on their governments to stop this bailout of banks by the Irish and European taxpayers.

As a first step in this movement, we want to make a catchy, educational animated video with a supporting online campaign. It will be aimed at Europeans, to simply explain our situation and ask for their help. If we do this well and win them over, together we can put pressure on our governments to act.

This is an ambitious project but one that could make a huge impact on the future of this country and the European project.

To make this happen, we need talented volunteers, including:

• 3 Animators
• 2 French speakers/translators (1 man, 1 woman)
• 2 German speakers/translators (1 man, 1 woman)
• 3 web developers / designers
• 3 marketing / media people (with experience in Irish, German and French campaigns / media)
• 3 analytical people with interest in Irish economics / finance / politics

We have developed a draft script and a plan for a weekend to make it happen. Over the weekend of the 14th – 15th May, we will meet in a central Dublin location to write, animate and film a video, prepare a factual presentation, and develop an online petition. There will be many debates, creative working, and new friendships.

Sound like something you’d like to get involved with? E-mail me at europeandireland@gmail.com, leave a comment below or say hello on Twitter. Tell us what role you would like to play, any relevant experience (or working samples), and a bit about why you want to get involved.

This is going to be a fun weekend that could really make a difference to our future. We’ve already had an enormously positive response to the project offline. If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to help pull our country back from the edge, here’s your chance!