A petition on Avaaz.org points out that this week could decide the future of Greece and Europe. The organizers of the petition say that Greece is set to either meet Germany’s demands to continue crippling its economy to pay foreign banks, or withdraw from the euro. Both outcomes could be disastrous for ordinary people in a country where half of Greece’s youth are unemployed, 4 in 10 of children live in poverty.

According to the petition, the only other option is for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to finally give up on her austerity crusade to slash and burn Greek social democracy, and agree to give Greece’s economy breathing room to recover. “The problem is that when you slash spending, the economy collapses, so the government gets no revenue, and the debt crisis actually gets worse!” says the site. “Merkel knows this moment is historic and cares about her reputation as the leader of Europe – let’s send her the message that if Greece and Europe go under this week, it will be her belligerent ideology, and not Greece, that will be blamed. Join now – let’s get 1 million of our voices all over German newspapers, radio and TV in the next 72 hours.”

The letter to Merkel is as follows:

We, citizens from Germany and around the world, call on you to stop forcing an austerity package on Greece, and instead move to hold a conference to restructure and reduce Greek debt. Austerity measures have totally failed to deal with the debt, and instead have caused unimaginable pain on Greece’s most vulnerable. Since the cuts, youth unemployment has risen to near 50%, infant mortality has increased by 43 percent, and 4 in 10 children live in poverty. We urge you to change course and put people before banks. This is your responsibility and you can fix it.