A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
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How geeks are taking over government
Posted June 14, 2013 by Politis
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 government.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iahpVvPkCf4
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Around the town: 5/24/13
Posted May 24, 2013 by laura
This weekly feature offers a glimpse of what is happening in and around Thessaloniki. Compiled by Laura Strieth. Thu 23rd May- Ondatropica- Colombian musician:Mario Galeano, and an English producer: Quantic, have joined forces to create the Ondatropica project. This project endeavors to explore and expand the tropical sound of Colombia in its rawest form and […]
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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 […]
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Giving up the ghost
Posted July 26, 2015 by DW
It was a metaphor that was not uncommon in earlier moments of the crisis, that of Greece as a patient on life support. The notion of a sick man of Europe has a long pedigree after all. It has come back with a vengeance now, most recently in the form of a commentary by Maria […]
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Creativity sentenced to death
Posted February 8, 2013 by M P
By Maria Patsarika I never thought academic writing could be that frustrating until I started practicing it. And it’s not because I prefer live dialogue to print dialogue (although I do); writing is a pleasure, whether you are the author or the reader. It can be as natural, direct and emotive as a conversation between […]
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Triumph of the statisticians
Posted December 25, 2012 by Politis
By Politis “A year in a word: Grexit,” runs the headline of this article in yesterday’s Financial Times. Coined in February 2012, when speculation on Greece’s fate in the eurozone was reaching frenzy, the term later spawned its very own progeny — the Brexit. Sounds like a very bad sequel to the Hobbit. What has […]
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Where in Athens not to go out alone at night
Posted June 7, 2013 by Politis
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.
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A few thoughts on urban citizenship
Posted April 27, 2012 by pdcadmin
By Anna-Maria Konsta In today’s insecure globalized world, where state and supranational structures seem to be collapsing, there are good reasons to reconnect citizenship with the city, especially if we focus on a “bottom-up” approach of citizenship and on citizenship as practice and participation. Contemporary urban theorists emphasize a number of characteristics of cities and […]
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More measures? (sigh)
Posted March 1, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Andy Dabilis Following a report from Greece’s creditors that shows tax collections are far off course despite big tax hikes, the International Monetary Fund has warned that unless revenues rise and tax cheats are caught that the government will be forced to impose more austerity measures. That has included previous big tax hikes, including […]
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One crook for another
Posted February 28, 2013 by Politis
This one’s rich. According to todays Chicagoland blog in the Chicago Tribune, “Republican voters are suggesting the 2nd Congressional District replace one felon with another after picking ex-convict Paul McKinley as the candidate to run for the seat recently ceded by former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.” Jackson pleaded guilty last week to misusing campaign […]
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What makes a [good] citizen?
Posted March 17, 2013 by MK
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 […]
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Why the future of Greece lies in the rise of a new civil society and education
Posted January 15, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Yannis Theocharis A light breeze of transformation stems to have started blowing silently in Greece. The younger generation has inspired a wave of voluntary initiatives and actions targeted at resolving collective problems in the last couple of years. The recent manifestations are numerous and exciting: voluntary-based events that encourage structured debate and spreading new […]
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This is citizenship in action!
Posted February 24, 2012 by pdcadmin
By Maria Patsarika October 27, 2011 may now seem as a distant instantané of the eurozone crisis. However, at that time, it was seen by many as a victorious day, after having agreed a deal that slashed the Greek debt to 50%. As with all such deals, however, this one, too, had winners and losers; […]
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Privatization woes
Posted January 28, 2013 by Politis
Excerpts from Vangelis Mandravelis’ analysis of the myriad difficulties faced by Greek authorities seeking to move ahead with Greece’s privatization program, from today’s Kathimerini English pages. “Although Greece has been discussing its privatization program for almost three years, precious little has materialized to date. In essence, the sell-off program is yet to start, given that […]
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Politicized Greek porn?
Posted February 5, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Kostas Kallergis In an attempt to identify with the widespread anger in Greek society, targeted mainly against corrupt politicians, the country’s biggest porn production company has produced its latest gem, a politicized porn movie (!?!?!) where terrorists rape Ministers’ wives. The movie’s title is “Impact” (the rhyming Greek headline translates into something like “The […]
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She faces the music
Posted May 12, 2013 by M P
By Maria Patsarika “She faces the music” – I can’t think of a better way to express my own thoughts about Kiki Dimoula, a great (the greatest?) poet of our times, and the uproar that her apparently xenophobic public comments caused. My inital reaction was surprise and disappointment in her. Greek intellectuals appear perplexed, lacking […]
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A Farewell Lecture
Posted September 6, 2016 by Politis
Note from the Editors. Alan Henrikson is the newest Member of the Honorary Advisory Board at the Dukakis Center. We reprint his farewell lecture, delivered recently at the Fletcher School, as a token of our rewspect for his long and distinguished career. Fletcher: A Great Place to Teach—and to Learn by Alan Henrikson Dear Friends, […]
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Is this news newsworthy?
Posted February 26, 2013 by KK
By Krysta Kalachani A couple recent articles, the one in Proto Thema, the other in To Vima, relate to an older (2011) news story about a big fraud that was taking place at the Kallithea office of IKA. One of the employees exposed a case of fraud where some employees had found ways to collect […]
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Foreign media and press freedom in Greece
Posted February 1, 2013 by Politis
A few weeks ago the Dukakis Center hosted Reuters investigative journalist Stephen Grey, whose articles on cronyism and corruption in the Greek banking sector roused the ire of local media outlets, to the extent that he was accused of being on the vanguard of a new Frankish invasion. Politis has commented on more than once […]