A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
0
comments
The Sprit of Eidomeni
Posted March 27, 2016 by Politis
The makeshift migrant camp in Eidomeni has been in the news regularly since the end of 2015. Reports today claimed the camp was finally being evacuated by Greek authorities. This would not be the first time. Last November a group of fifteen Dukakis Center interns, from Greece, the US, and several Balkan countries, organized a […]
comments
I am a citizen
Posted November 5, 2016 by Politis
The team at Politis debated whether to share the video below on the blog. In the end consensus was reached that, yes, it was appropriate and worthwhile to do so. Seethe houghts of two of our number below, slightly edited and formatted for posting. I am in favor… after all it can change society’s […]
comments
Destination: bankruptcy (and not just moral)
Posted March 27, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Nikos Chrysoloras It is now official: Cyprus will pay a heavy toll for turning its economy into an offshore financial haven and allowing its banking sector to hyperinflate. But if the purpose of the dramatic eurozone all-nighters was not just to punish and make an example of the island, but to solve the issue, […]
comments
OneRun Boston
Posted May 26, 2013 by Politis
Thousands of runners who never finished the Boston Marathon last month, along with bombing victims and spectators, gathered in the rain on May 25 to run the OneRun, a one-mile road race that spanned the last mile of the Boston Marathon. The race started at Kenmore and ending at the finish line in Copley Square. […]
comments
Understanding children’s participation
Posted April 24, 2016 by Politis
By Maria Patsariki* A couple of days ago, and on the occasion of the Dukakis Center International Conference ‘Civic engagement and the practices of democracy’, a not so surprising theme was brought forward: young people are not interested in, and do not want to do, politics. The quotes were disheartening showing not only a lack […]
comments
Fall 2015 highlights at the Dukakis Center
Posted April 5, 2016 by Politis
During the Fall 2015 semester the Dukakis Center was involved in three major undertakings, conceived above all to inspire young people to take an active role in the public life of their country. First, the Dukakis Center underwrote and was present at the annual Thessaloniki International Symposium organized by the Navarino Network, on Sunday, October […]
comments
Fascists go to school
Posted March 13, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Damian Mac Con Uladh The growth in popularity of Golden Dawn in the country’s secondary schools and the wider problem of how to deal with fascism in the classroom is the subject of a conference at Athens University that starts on Wednesday. Over 20 university historians, social scientists and a psychoanalysist specialising in youth […]
comments
The enemies of public broadcasting
Posted June 11, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner As luck would have it, I happened to log on to Facebook today just around the time that two transplanted Athenian acquaintances commented on news reports announcing the imminent closure and restructuring of the Greek public broadcasting service ERT. The one, a retired diplomat who hobnobs with foreign investors and rails day […]
comments
Saying of the day: 6/28/13
Posted June 28, 2013 by DW
“If history tells us anything, the fight against NSA secrecy is a winnable.” — Gregory Ferenstein, TechCrunch
comments
Does this count as participation?
Posted May 20, 2013 by Politis
Do IT and civic engagement mix and match? What do you think these young people are reading (and/or writing) on their smart phones? Are young people more active as a result of being more “connected?” Maybe, maybe not. Judith Froemming writes, “A true zombie is nothing more than an unconscious being apathetically and lifelessly lumbering […]
comments
New media and the future of journalism
Posted June 28, 2013 by KK
By Krysta Kalachani Let me bring to your attention a very interesting discussion (in Greek) about the new media and new types of journalism in the context ERT, as ERT was / is supposed to be. Worth watching, it tackles specifically the situation in the Greek media.
comments
How frequently do we use opengov services?
Posted April 3, 2013 by Politis
A nice chart below on the top online tasks carried out by frequent users in the UK. Note the lag in opengov service use relative to such tasks as reading the news, making purchases online, or engaging in some form of entertainment.
comments
Are we all gypsies?
Posted October 30, 2013 by Politis
Politis invited regular contributors Krysta Kalachani and Maria Patsarika for their reaction to a recent commentary by Andreas Zamboukas in capital.gr entitled “The identity of being a gypsy,” in reference to the spate of media attention to the blond gypsy girl found by Greek authorities in a gypsy encampment in central Greece and erroneously believed […]
comments
Wanted: leaders and local color
Posted January 21, 2013 by DW
Surveying the panoply of contemporary European leaders, John Lloyd quips in Reuters, “All this grey almost makes you wish for Silvio Berlusconi to return, to lighten the mood.” “At times it seems that Europe, both in its national leaders and in the little-known men who are presidents of one EU institution or another, chooses obscurity […]
comments
The spirit of public service
Posted April 16, 2015 by DW
By David Wisner For EF For the better part of the past decade and a half I have been searching for ways to translate the concept and practice of public service, so commonplace throughout the United States, into the contemporary Greek reality. I learned early on that there is not a direct or literal translation […]
comments
Greek Election Coverage 2012
Posted May 5, 2012 by PR
Hellenic Elections Election Central 2012 Rolling coverage by the team at the Dukakis Center of elections in Greece, France, and Serbia. Monday 23:34 No comment. Tuesday 01:05 Griechenland its unregierbar. Tuesday 00:27 Wealthy Frenchmen are taking their money and running. Maybe they will find some Greeks who left early to avoid the new taxes. Tuesday […]
comments
In praise of public servants
Posted January 9, 2013 by Politis
The Dukakis Center hosted the inaugural Business & Politics Forum in Thessaloniki last month. One of the speakers, Efi Stefopoulou of the General Secretariat of the Government, gave a standing room audience at the Elektra Palace Hotel a brilliant taste of what a truly competent public servant can do. Thankfully, she told her audience that […]
comments
Come to Greece and see for yourself
Posted December 3, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Diego Salas The center of Thessaloniki, by Aristotle square, is normally tagged as a zone for tourists to avoid during times of protests. I had no idea what Greek protests would look like and I didn’t think realistically that they could be as dangerous as the ones in my country (Venezuela), so I went […]
comments
Saying of the day: 3/29/13
Posted March 29, 2013 by Politis
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” — John Kenneth Galbraith
comments
Crimes against ourselves
Posted April 26, 2012 by iankehoe
Recently I read that a group of Greek anti-austerity campaigners want to bring the government on trial for ‘crimes against humanity’ at the International Criminal Court. Understandably, there is considerable anti-government sentiment at the moment. However I’d like to offer another perspective on what is going on, one that might not be popular. The problem […]