By Maria Patsarika What makes a citizen? I wonder, reading Matthew Engel’s article“UK citizenship tests: why we need them.” Does a certificate personify all attributes of citizenship in all its complexity? During the seven years that I spent in the UK the prospect of coming back home (to Greece) kept at bay the anxiety of […]
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 […]
Helping strengthen civil society in Greece.
The Human Library does not consist of actual books but of people who are willing to share their stories and experiences with others, in order to fight prejudice and promote diversity. Human Library Greece was initiated in October 2009 in Athens by a group of volunteers, in collaboration with the global network of Human Libraries […]
Matthew O’Brien says in this month’s Atlantic, “No, the United States will never, ever turn into Greece.” What he means is that, contrary to the view of certain economists, the US will never “spend itself into bankruptcy.” According to the popular wisdom O’Brien seeks to debunk, “too much public debt makes markets nervous. Nervous markets […]
By Krysta Kalachani Have you seen this article on EnetEnglish? It circulated a lot on twitter the other day; you can find more info with the hashtag #skouries. The article is about Police files containing transcripts of interviews between Tolis Papageorgiou, the founder of Hellenic Mining Watch, and 11 newspapers, news agencies, and websites both […]
“We didn’t decide that Greece was in trouble; Greece was in trouble…” — Jean-Claude Juncker
An annotated collection of recommended articles about Greece and the eurozone, updated regularly by Politis’ summer staff intern, Miriam Kamil. To July 5, 2012 Ann Appelbaum of the Washington Post had this to say on June 29 about the immediate post-election climate in Greece. It is an excellent recap of the events of the week […]
Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford posted this article on the Moyers and Complany blog. It depicts one of the most extreme visions of 21st-century American decline in print. Politis reposts excerpts of the article below. “The streets are so much darker now, since money for streetlights is rarely available to municipal governments. The national parks […]
By Javier Solana Once again, Europe has peered into the abyss. But the tentative agreement between Cyprus and the troika (the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank) probably means that the worst has been avoided. Big losses for large depositors in Cypriot banks will now be imposed, and the country’s […]
“When the civilian bystanders to the attack ran toward the first blast to give aid to the victims, without a second thought for their own safety, the primary desire of the terrorists — to paralyze a populace with fear — was already thwarted. ” — Dennis Lehane
By Maria Patsarika I read an article by Thanasis Skokos in Protagon yesterday about corruption. Actually, it is one of the many articles out there discussing the extent to which politicians who have misused power and public funds are now confronting justice and people’s outrage. Laying responsibilities on the financial side of things is a […]
Nick Malkoutzis has a probing analysis of the circus act that is the current Greek Parliament in the English pages of Kathimerini. In this instance he writes about the debate this past Thursday over whom to investigate in the ongoing saga of the infamous “Lagarde list.” The debate turned into a finger pointing match between […]
“… we still have a system that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.” — Bryan Stevenson
Advance notice, for immediate release The Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service is commemorating 15 years of public service initiatives this spring with a Festival of Civic and Urban Culture, consisting of a series of events conceived to celebrate different aspects of citizenship in the city of Thessaloniki. The next in […]
By Zaid Jilani A few weeks ago, the massive consulting firm Deloitte came to my public policy school – the Maxwell School at Syracuse University – to conduct what it called a “case challenge.” The students who participated were separated into groups and presented with a sample consulting challenge. At the end of the multi-day […]
By Kostas Vaxevanis Journalism is often either invested with magic powers or blamed for all that is wrong in the world. Both positions are wrong. Journalism is the way, lonely most of the times, of truth. Often colleagues discuss journalistic objectivity as a mausoleum where we kneel down. There is no objectivity. What matters is […]
Participedia is an open global knowledge community for researchers and practitioners in the field of democratic innovation and public engagement. “We live in a world in which citizens of most countries are asking for greater involvement in collective decisions. Many governments, non-governmental organizations, and even some corporations are responding by experimenting with ways to increase public […]
What: Debate on US Democratic primaries, premiere of get-out-the-vote campaigns, selection of the best «Vote here» signs, mock exit poll, masterclass in social media, and more When: Monday, May 23, 7-9 pm Where: La Place mignonne, Ethnikis Aminis 4 click here for the map Who: Alec Mally (former US Consul General of Thessaloniki, Democrats Abroad Greece) […]
I have been going through Shedia’s website recently. Shedia is a street paper part of the International Network of Street Papers. It is a very well organized website now, compared to the last time I had checked it which I think it was almost a year ago (maybe even more). I have been buying this […]