[pp.int.general] Action Day

[Reinier Bakels]

> cautiously question: is there any interest in an european action day?

What would be the theme of the action day?

I would be in favour of a concerted *publication* campaign. But I am not 
sure whether an action in the sense of a demo is a good idea.

As you may know, last year (11/10) there was the "Freedom Not Fear" action 
day for privacy (and against mass surveillance), simultaneously in many 
countries. Apparently it was a big success in Germany. But in  The 
Netherlands it hardly got any media attention at all. It is simply not a 
political theme in The Netherlands. Unlike Germany, we do not have the 
"benefit" of a Nazi and Stasi past! (Well, the state-of-the art population 
administration in The Netherlands in the 1930s (registering also religion) 
was very helpful for the German occupants a few years later to select the 
jews for deportation ... but that is too long ago to be an effective 
political agument)

If you do't appeal to a large constituency, a demonstration may be 
counter-productive: it gives opposing politicians the argument that the 
population at large is not really concerned. I don't know about oter 
countries, but nowadays the Dutch are somehow demonstration-tired.

reinier