In Greece, Germany and throughout the European continent, social media users delivered their verdict on a deal to bail out Greece – and keep it within the monetary union known as the euro zone – with a Twitter hashtag #ThisIsACoup.
Just hours after news of the deal, the hashtag was trending on Twitter with over 423,000 tweets worldwide – a measure of the anger aimed at the European Union and the austerity measures that are being placed on Greece once again.
To find out why Greece could still end up exiting the euro and become a failed state, read the latest from the Globe's Eric Reguly.
I'm Greek. 27 year old. This is not democracy. This is the most embarrassing behavior of European history. #ThisIsACoup
— Chris Kar (@ChrisKar) July 12, 2015As a German national I am ashamed to watch what is playing out here. This is not what we as Europeans built #ThisIsACoup
— BenoHalestrom (@Benjamin_T_Hale) July 12, 2015not for sale #ThisIsACoup pic.twitter.com/kdi9zO8rVy
— george karampelas (@geokarampelas) July 12, 2015Last time I borrow $5 off #Merkel
When I couldn't pay it back she sold my house, car and children.
#ThisIsACoup
— marknpablo (@marknpablo) July 13, 2015Capitalist dictators destroying a country as a case in point. EU dream is over. #ThisIsACoup
— begukov (@kipplik) July 13, 2015The #EU is dead to me #ThisIsAcoup
— Johnito (@JohnitoMusic) July 13, 2015EU leaders might want to consult a dictionary for the meaning of the word 'Union'. #ThisIsACoup
— BalorArtsCentre (@BalorArtsCentre) July 13, 2015The hashtag was propelled by high profile social media users and writers.
Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau used the hashtag in a tweet, “Greece demands respect, democracy, human rights. I am with Greece. #ThisIsACoup."
In a New York Times column, Nobel-prize winning columnist Paul Krugman, argued that the list of demands by European countries of Greece, is “madness.”
“The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for,” he wrote.
The origin of the hashtag was initially attributed to a Spanish physics teacher."The Eurogroup proposal is an undercover state coup against the Greek people,” he tweeted.
La propuesta del eurogrupo es un golpe estado encubierto contra el pueblo griego #ThisIsACoup #Grexit
— Sandro Maccarrone (@smaccarrone) July 12, 2015But a group of Spanish activists, borrowing from the lessons of the Arab Spring where social media was a powerful organizing and protest tool, later claimed responsibility.
“#ThisIsACoup may have started in Barcelona, but it resonated around the world because it expressed a common sense of impotence of citizens in the face of globalised financial powers,” they said in a statement.
Commentators cautioned European leaders that they were ignoring the online protest at their peril.
Huge popularity of #thisisacoup suggests Germany and eurozone in general are at risk of losing blame game big time.
— Hugo Dixon (@Hugodixon) July 12, 2015Could someone slip a note to the European leaders about the scale of anger and disbelief building up across the continent? #ThisIsACoup
— javier moreno barber (@morenobarber) July 12, 2015The Globe’s Michael Fraiman contributed to this report.