Dialogues in Summer

One year after a thousand people gathered in Athens’ Mavili Square for an SNF Dialogues discussion, the Dialogues met again, under very different circumstances. On the evening of Wednesday, 26 August, the six participants bade farewell to this strange summer of social distancing on an Athenian rooftop, with the Lycabettus Hill illuminated in the background.

The pandemic has continued to produce unparalleled, unexpected, and alarming results, with discernible impact on countless lives. Yet, our sense of what is going on around us is often limited to impersonal statistics and abstract metrics. The latest SNF Dialogues attempted to uncover the many layers of the pandemic’s consequences. How is the pandemic changing the world? Will the end of the crisis find societies stronger in some ways or dramatically worse off? What have we lost already, and what might humanity gain from this historic period?

Participants in the discussion included journalist and filmmaker Yorgos Avgeropoulos, the SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos, film director Vasilis Kekatos, journalist and writer Lina Rokou, and actor, radio host, and writer Konstantinos Tzoumas.

On the opening of the country’s borders, the SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos commented, “Greece was fortunate enough to have undergone a very calm first wave. I understand why it had to ‘open up’ to tourism, but I think we should have been a little ‘stricter’.” With regard to leadership in the crisis, he said, “to be fair, people saying that there is no strategy on the part of the political leadership does not only apply to Greece, but to all countries worldwide, without exception. For me, trust in institutions has been lost, and this is one of the few things we’ll be left with. It is a constant feeling—not knowing whom to listen to, whom to believe. And obviously the lack of leadership on a global level does not help.” In conclusion, the SNF Co-President asserted once again the need for cooperation between the public and private sectors, stressing that “it is not one or the other. There must be meaningful cooperation between the two sectors for the benefit of society as a whole. What is also needed is social justice.

Having documented Greece’s sociopolitical life for a number of years, Yiorgos Avgeropoulos added, “Greece is a country that could be used as a case study. Having experienced 10 years of economic crisis, with a slew of social problems and a crisis of values, the pandemic came along to amplify the ills of recent years. Now we are expected to suffer one of the biggest crises in the entire Eurozone.”

Yorgos Avgeropoulos on Greece's Crises

As for Greece’s economy, Vasilis Kekatos said, “As a European country, it is terrible that financially we rely exclusively on the ‘feet’ of tourism, which this year proved to be made of clay. There are other industries on which we do not rely, and one can see that, in the end, tourism is the only thing that is not certain.”

Vasilis Kekatos on Athens Life After the Lockdown

Lina Rokou on Pandemic and Polarization

Konstantinos Tzoumas on Distance and Human Relations

In Brief

Promo Video

The SNF Dialogues, which foster exchange of ideas in order to encourage and elevate public discourse, are now a part of the incubator for Media Education and Development (iMEdD) “Inside the Box” pillar. With the exclusive support from the SNF and with its expertise, iMEdD seeks to promote excellence in journalism and to enrich the SNF Dialogues discussions.

The SNF Dialogues are curated and moderated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

*The opinions expressed by Dialogues participants, whether officially representing institutions and organizations or themselves alone, at events, in articles, or in other audiovisual media are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) or iMEdD. Speakers' remarks are made freely, without prior guidance or intervention from the team.