A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
He’s back! (HH, that is)
COULD Adolf Hitler come to power today? Timur Vermes poses this question in his debut novel “He’s Back” (“Er Ist Wieder Da”). Told in the first person, the plot sees Hitler randomly wake up from a 66-y...
Niarchos Foundation Conference on Philanthropy
The Second Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation International Conference on Philanthropy will take place in Athens on June 27th and 28th. The conference will be broadcast live on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation website (www.SNF.o...
Saying of the day: 6/22/13
“To me, achieving a global classroom means using education to erase barriers between people of different cultures and backgrounds; it means giving people the opportunity to learn without the limits imposed by physical or ...
Saying of the day: 6/19/13
“We didn’t decide that Greece was in trouble; Greece was in trouble…” — Jean-Claude Juncker
Happy birthday, coalition
By Nick Malkoutzis It is one year to the day since Greece held its second general election in two months and third in three years. What better way to celebrate the occasion than trying to relive the uncertainty and tension we e...
Saying of the day: 6/17/13
“People should appreciate who gets to run for office when you have a [public financing election] system [like the one in New York City]. Librarians run for office, ex-teachers run for office — not just people who have a...
Citizens who want to guard their privacy
Tips from an article in today’s New Scientist on how to resist the efforts of governments to encroach on their privacy. “… for citizens who want to guard their privacy, there are a number of options. Apps like...
How geeks are taking over government
A very matter-of-fact clip in today’s Guardian on how open source technology is helping the British civil servants keep up with their work load — through the creation of “compelling digital services for govern...
Saying of the day: 6/12/13
“Culture is like marmalade. The closer you get to the bottom of the jar the more you try to spread what’s left.” — Anonymous (Paris, 1968)
In praise of subjecthood (of the right sort)
Living in Europe today is akin to being a subject in some latter day Holy Roman Empire, that “political commonwealth under which the Germans lived for many hundreds of years.” So says Brendan Simms of Cambridge Univ...
Saying of the day: 6/9/13
“When police attack peaceful protesters, when protesters attack property, everyone loses.” — Livy Merchant
Whither liberalism
Political and economic liberalism have come under heavy and sustained attack as many countries struggle to find responses to the prevailing economic malaise. But for the staleness of much left-of-center political thinking, libe...
Saying of the day: 6/7/13
“Like the Spartans, Thebans, and Thespians at the Pass of Thermopylae, the Greeks were sacrificed to buy time for the alliance.” — Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph
Where in Athens not to go out alone at night
Crisis maps: an innovative way to measure the very real threat to civil society posed by violent attacks on migrants in Athens. Users are invited to submit reports here.
Paraphrase of the day: 6/6/13
If you are reading these lines, you are very weird. You’re spending spare time considering arguments about politics, which most people don’t bother to do. — Ezra Klein
Inaugural European Citizen’s Summit
The eight networks member of the Civil Society Contact Group, a cross-sectoral coalition of NGO actors, are organizing the first Citizen’s Summit taking place in Brussels from 24 June 13.00 to 25 June 14.00 2013. The e...
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