By Elizabeth B. Seliotes Bolling [Editor’s note: Politis welcomes Alaska-born Hellene Elizabeth B. Seliotes Bolling, who will contribute notes on the experience of a diaspora Greek during the crisis.] Being an American of Greek blood who grew up in Alaska but is living in Greece, I experience treatment from the older Greek generation that sometimes […]

By Bill Frezza. It is often said that to get a glimpse of our future we should study the lessons of the past. Or we can observe the fate of those marching a few steps ahead of us down a road we seem determined to travel. Take Greece. Long hailed as the birthplace of democracy, […]

The Dukakis Center will host a virtual launch of “Still at Aulis: Essays on Crisis and Revolution in Greece and the Eurozone,” a Kindle e-book by David Wisner, Executive Director of the Center, on Thursday, March 6, 2014, from 12 noon throughout the afternoon. Interested parties can follow the event on the “Still at Aulis” […]

The Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center in Public and Humanitarian Service, in collaboration with  News-Decoder, Paris, and the ACT English Program, will host a Masterclass in New Media with Nelson Graves, Founder and Director, News-Decoder, on Monday, April 18, at 12 Noon, at The Met Hotel, Thessaloniki.   “News in the Digital Age: Challenges and […]

I read a tongue-in-cheek article by the wags at Reform Watch Greece some weeks ago which got me thinking about one of my favorite Balzac stories, Cesar Birotteau. The middle class has been decimated, so the argument goes, the principal victim of the sovereign debt crisis. Depending on one’s reading, the Greek bourgeoisie has been […]

“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 rolodex of prospective donors. It’s good for the candidates and the voters alike.” Dan Cantor (Executive […]

By Niko Adamopoulos Editor’s note. Niko Adamopoulos is a summer intern at the Dukakis Center from Colgate University, where he is a junior in international studies. While in Thessaloniki he will volunteer in local humanitarian efforts with refugees and migrants from Syria and other countries. Here he compiles an annotated list of blogs on citizenship […]

By Kathryn Lukey-Cout​socostas* Globalization has us readily accepting goods from other lands into our homes. But can countries absorb imported citizens just as easily? Whenever I join the crowd to criticize a line-jumper in a queue in Greece, someone inevitably tries to muzzle me with the classic insider-outsider putdown: “You’re not Greek.” Apparently, only locals […]

By Paschos Mandravelis Most people look back on their college years with nostalgia. Those were carefree and uncomplicated days, but three times a year, the sensation of nonchalance was brutally interrupted. In late May, early September and mid-January, the backgammon board, students’ favorite pastime, would slam shut. Traffic at students hangouts would halt. Students would […]

Politis has posted a lot lately on the potential impact of IT companies like Google on politics. George Packer has an excellent article just out in the New Yorker which examines the question in some detail. Many IT engineers and researchers, while apolitical at face value, have a deeply embedded belief in the social utility […]

By Nikos Konstandaras Greece’s future depends on its revival beginning before its people’s patience runs out, on the economy stabilizing before the next period of political unrest undoing all that has been done. At this risky time, citizens have shown greater maturity than most politicians – they hope and they endure, they struggle in the […]

Two very symptomatic editorials featured in the Sunday news, both tending to focus blame for Greece’s woes on specific elements in Greek society. In the first, an editorial in the New York Times by Kostas Vaxevanis, the editor who published a version of the so-called Lagrarde list with names of Greek citizens having large deposits […]

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-year sleep in 2011 Berlin. There is no explanation for how or why this has happened, but that is […]

By Politis A group of activists have been protesting the opening in Berlin of the European Barbie Dreamhouse, a new theme park which the protestors are calling “pink hell.” In an interview in Deutsche Welle, the leader of the “Pink Stinks” movement, Stevie Schmiedel, described their action as follows. “Basically we have a press stand […]

By Fotinie Efstratiadou A law pertaining to uninsured vehicles has recently been passed in the Greek Parliament and will enter into force on April 15, 2013.  The law concerns owners of vehicles that will be found to be uninsured through database cross examinations conducted by the National Information Systems of the Greek Ministry of Economy, […]

Greece’s position in Deloitte’s 2013 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index is outright depressing. In terms of current competitiveness and of projected rankings for 2018, Greece is dead last among the 38 countries surveyed (1/10 for each category, ten being the highest ranking possible). China tops both lists.  

By David Wisner Several months ago one of my Greek undergraduate students wanted to do a bit of research on the incidence of ministerial amendments to Greek legislation. We asked a renowned specialist, who informed us that governmental personnel act anonymously and are not required to make such information public before a plenary vote, implying […]

From the AP in Davos. “Three women angry over sexism and male domination of the world economy ripped off their shirts and tried to force their way into a gathering of corporate elites in a Swiss resort. Predictably, they failed. The ubiquitous and huge security force policing the World Economic Forum in Davos carried the […]

Excerpts below from an article by Clark Boyd of Public Radio International’s The World on possible consequences of the recent arrest of members of Golden Dawn. The author cites Politis’ good friend Brady Kiesling, former political affairs officer at the US Embassy in Athens. …/… “[I]n the wake of the arrest of a number of […]

America’s Very Own Golden Dawn By Francesca Kareivis As I am enrolled in several political science classes in my study abroad program, the issue of Golden Dawn has been brought up in discussion quite a bit. Many students and professors have referred to them as neo-Nazis and fascists.  I decided to do some research of […]