The bailouts are not for the people of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, who are bearing the brunt of austerity measures. There is a democratic deficit and growing pent-up frustration in these countries, and few outlets for those who would like to create alternatives.

There is also a sense of disconnect between people in the core and periphery - this sense of “us” and “them” - when in fact, the Euro currency has unavoidably bound people’s economic futures together - including even non-Euro zone countries.

Sara Moreira and I presented some of our ideas about linking periphery countries more effectively, and linking core and periphery to a Greek audience at the PechaKucha Heraklion in September 2011. We talked about bridge blogging, focusing on tourism, and new, innovation and idea based economies.

Linked to this, I am promoting Global Voices special coverage of Europe in Crisis. Our coverage recently was named a national winner of the Charlemagne Youth Prize.