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+layout: post
+title:  "Don't pretend, Represent! - Why I am doing what I am doing"
+date:   2016-07-11 22:00:00 +0200
+categories: politics
+---
+
+Yesterday I was essentially asked if I do the things I am doing, because
+I think someone expects it from me or because I want to do them. Well, here
+is the long and profound answer to that question. But first, what am I doing?
+
+Engagement in University of Hamburg:
+- student council of Computer Science
+- student parliament
+- presidium of said parlament in this election period
+- academic committee (MIN faculty level)
+- CampusGrün university group
+- orientation unit for freshmen in Computer Science
+- general networking of students in Computer Science, the faculty and university wide
+
+Engagement in general:
+- Diem 25
+
+General activities:
+- reading about politics
+- writing about politics (mostly Twitter)
+
+That's all my public engagement and politics related activity. It sure is a lot
+and consumes a lot of my time. The obvious question becomes if it is worth it.
+Some might ask considering the amount of stress in study, job, family and beyond
+why I am doing all of that and to what end. This is the ultimative answer to all
+these questions. Maybe some could ask if I had nothing better to do - yes
+some people might conceive of such a question.
+
+First of all I'd like to state that I am not crazy. With that out of the
+way, let's get to the heart of the matter. To understand my motivations behind
+what I am doing now, it's worth going back to my motivation to study Computer
+Science and how I got to where I am today. During school time I was subject of a 
+lot of mobbing. Essentially computer science became my escape from that and showed 
+me that there were people out there that appreciated my work and what I did. This 
+helped me through the sometimes rough times at school. Therefore it was a 
+[no-brainer](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/no-brainer) to study Computer
+Science at the end of school.
+
+It turned out to be the single best decision in my whole life as not only
+the mobbing ended but I met an awesome row of people that are essentially
+the reason I am the person I am today. They allowed me to develop my true
+potential by overcoming my shyness and becoming more and more capable of openly
+approaching people. In part my engagement in the student council right in the
+first semester was a therapy to force myself to communicate with people I didn't 
+know. At the end of the first semester I got out of it and continued my engagement
+in the department on relative low flame. In 2013 I was part of the comission
+that discussed making the free selection area of the study unimportant for the
+final grade of the bachelor. And I participated in the orientation unit but
+overall I did concentrate on the study. The revelations of Edward Snowden did hit 
+me but I largely continued with business as usual and didn't completely understand 
+the full scope of it. Furthermore the current federal government was elected
+but I voted for the Left party.
+
+The year 2014 changed all of that dramatically. In April I got back into the
+student council and stayed there ever since. In the winter semester I ran
+as solidarity candidate for CampusGrün and the student parliament and I visited
+the 31C3 - my first ChaosCommunicationCongress. Shortly after I saw Citizenfour.
+That was the start of my passion for politics.
+
+After finishing all Computer Science modules except for the bachelor thesis
+at the end of summer semester 2015 I started to participate actively in CampusGrün.
+Furthermore the election of Syriza in Greece electrified me and showed me
+that change is possible if people come together. I followed the negotiations
+with the Troika closely and got more and more educated on the economic
+failings of the EU and how to argue it. Thanks a lot Yanis Varoufakis for that.
+In the winter semester 2015/16 I got more active in the student parliament
+and worked my way from being passively in the sessions to an active
+participant by more actively participating in the preparation meetings.
+
+Therefore I ran again for student parliament and this time with the intention
+of being in from day one. I won a direct mandate and was active part of the
+coalition talks following the election. It was nothing fancy or gloryful but
+it was a learning lesson for life and potential future political engagement.
+In addition I was talked into becoming part of the presidium of the parliament
+and though that is work and I didn't know whether I was fit for that office,
+I took the challenge instead for opting for the easier way out.
+
+Plus the election in the US happened and Bernie Sanders made me interested
+in the political process of the US and invested into the outcome. It made me
+learn about the primary process of the Democratic party, superdelegates
+and the policies discussed by Bernie. Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour
+leader in the UK in fall of 2015. He was another reason for becoming interested
+in politics.
+
+Earlier this year Yanis Varoufakis announced Diem 25 and I immediately
+jumped aboard to change the EU. With the recent Brexit vote in the UK,
+the right wing takeover in Poland and emergency powers in France the shockwaves
+came ever closer. I understood that we don't have time to let our children
+do the dirty work. After a decade of relative slow change on the surface,
+we are back in almost revolutionary times. Things are changing by the day.
+
+With this we are coming to my motivation for my engagement. All of the current
+political events show me that it is now or never that we retake our countries,
+the EU and the political process. In times of change many things are possible -
+both good and evil. It is in these times that the biggest of decisions are made
+that will impact us for decades to come in one way or another. If I were going
+by the book, finish my studies, work in a company and beyond that don't engage
+in the political process, it would feel like betraying my principles and the
+people I love and the millions more that don't have the luxury of being able
+to live a decent life without major change to society. That doesn't mean however
+that I don't like this engagement. If I didn't like it, my engagement would
+be lackluster and therefore couldn't produce the results I want. In this political
+engagement I found the activity that fulfills me wholeheartedly. There will
+be setbacks and not only success and that will be hard but I wouldn't want
+it any other way.
+
+Going forward I will focus on combining both politics and computer science
+with each other by using the best of both to achieve the most with the least
+amount of time and effort as possible. One central idea that comes to mind
+is transparency and Open Government. Why don't put your law proposals up on
+Github for everyone to comment - lobbyists AND ordinary people alike on one
+level? Why don't accept proposals by ordinary people through the same
+interface? Why don't do it in a non-binding way at start with 0 infrastructure cost
+and only minimal additional workload without the need to make a law governing it?
+Why don't attribute the people that helped propose a law and therefore allowing
+them to build a track record? The laws are public texts so the proposal process 
+should be open as well.
+That is some way to be a politician using computer science techniques.
+
+Another would be to develop software that makes it easier for people to engage
+in the political process.
+
+These are the things that drive me. I want to see purpose in what I do. I want
+to be able to say that my activities are doing something good for the people
+coming after me. I want to leave the next generation a better place to live in.
+Simply developing some random software in a random company might earn me good
+money but I won't be happy and fulfilled. Something would miss. I don't know
+if my plan works out but if you don't try you already lost.
+
+And to the politicians I can only say: Stop pretending to care about people
+and actually start representing them. Representative democracy has this name
+for a reason. I'd love to make "Don't Pretend, Represent!" a thing for all
+upcoming elections on local, state, federal and EU level. 
+
+Remember: We are the people
+and we are millions. Let us start coordinating and overcome the egoism that
+only asks what do you want. If we cooperate and care about what others want
+it will be beneficial for each of us. The first step is to talk about
+the problems of the world instead of silencing them, because they are so big.
+But the next step must NOT be to give up. Instead it must be to strengthen
+those who support others, who give hope, who work to make things better.
+And then it must be to do the same and change something while encouraging
+others do to the same. Share successes and let it be known far and wide that
+change IS possible if we demand it.
+
+Don't pretend, represent! Live long and prosper. \/