14 posts tagged “news”
Happy New Year my fellow Voxers,
it's been a while since my last (noteworthy) post. You can blame the Navy for that! Every morning I have to wake up at 5 am, drive for 40 minutes, catch the ferry to Salamina island, work for 7 to 8 hours and then go back home at around 4 pm. I sleep most of the afternoon and then catch up with my friends and of course sleep for 4 to 5 hours. Sometimes, I feel that 24 hours are not enough.
Last night, I took some time off from my social activities and browsed my favorite medium, the internet. Most of my browsing time was spent on "The Daily Beast", which is -for me- a worthy alternative to the "Huffington Post". Best part of the experience? Checking out the "Sites We Like" section. I'm expecting Harlot's Sauce Radio to appear on top of that list in the next months! And I have to add the "Cheat Sheet". Spend five minutes to read it every day and you are ready to go.
In the meantime, Gaza and the Greek riots have been keeping me busy these days. We are on a downward spiral and noone can reach the breaks. In Athens, we are expecting the riots to continue after tomorrow. I don't know if arson will be on the menu. I think that we played enough with fire. Now it's the time for the "social fighters" to set their goals clear and decide their "weaponry". If destruction continues, the majority of the Greek population will not be able to support their rightful cause; to ameliorate our society, politcal system and financial apparatus.
Yet, something awful happened two nights ago. Since the murder of Alexander Grigoropoulos, whose death sparked the current social revolt, there is a disturbing rumor hanging that things will reach a closure when a polica officer will die.
A group of people (that goes by the name Public Rage) attacked (with massive guns) the group of officers who protect the Ministry of Culture and one officer was badly injured. Right now, he is at the hospital fighting for his life. This is just brutal. Is death the solution? Certainly not. I always believed that the "eye for an eye" principle was behind us.
As for Gaza, I will later post a series of links to articles and videos regarding the war that goes on down there. The situation is extremely grave and international attendance is needed. The stability of the Middle East is at stake, while the price of oil is rising again. Coincidence? Maybe, but from my experience nothing just happens. Any ideas on a greater plan? I am open to suggestions.
That's all for now!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hello my fellow Voxers,
the sixth day of riots is coming to an end, but violent incidents are still taking place in the center of Athens. Today, many police stations around Attica (Glyfada's included) were attacked but no casualties were reported.
Since I am in the army I don't have the time to blog as frequently as I want. Therefore, I am posting this link to a very elaborate wiki. Please check it!
I am getting a bit tired by Al Gore's efforts to raise awareness on climate change issues. I believe that he is stuck in a vicious circle. His award-winning personality has raised more eyebrows than the causes he supports. Yet, he made a point at the Web 2.0 summit and I am glad we are starting to talk about the purpose-driven Web. My master's thesis was on this topic and this NYTimes article justifies my essay.
There is more than blogging about our lives or sharing photos in Facebook or chatting on MSN. Social activism has gained a great potential through the Web 2.0 trend and we are still far from truly harnessing it. Maybe, we could learn a thing or two from Obama's web campaign. Hence his presence on YouTube, official blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc. was a crucial element that convinced young voters to vote for him.
Hello my fellow Voxers,
The last few weeks I have been watching the news on the developments of Sarah Palin's candidacy as a VP for the Republican party. You might ask yourselves why should a Greek citizen bother about what is going on in the american political scene. Well, we live in an interconnected world. What happens abroad can effect domestic policies.
As for Sarah Palin, she frightens me for many reasons. First of all, she believes that global warming and climate change are God's will and not man-caused. I encourage spirituality and religious beliefs, but this is on the brink of fundamentalism. Is it fair to dismiss our responsibilities by "accusing" God? Could this mean that in the time of war, Palin (as a VP) will spearhead a "Holy War"? Doesn't this remind you of jihad?
Second, I am really dissappointed by a group of Clinton's supporters who are planning to vote for Palin. So the criterion to elect someone is not his/her views and values but his/her gender? How hypocrytically sexist this is! Third, she has no foreign policy knowledge and experience compared to Joe Biden. Fourth, I am against guns and hunting. Fifth, her political background seems cloudy and sketchy. And sixth, her personal agenda seems larger than the american nation's welfare.
No I don't care about her personal issues and the gossip that surrounds her. The "dirt" can only harm the political debate. People have consumed so much energy to throw dirt on her that they have missed the important issues of these elections.
No I don't care if her only difference from a pitbull is just her lipstick. I do care that her conservatism is narrow-minded in an era where flexibility is an important asset for a global leader.
PS. Even though I am pro Obama, I have to congratulate McCain for his speech at the Republican Convention. I have to admit that his speech was more focused than Obama's. Yet, I dislike Cindy McCain's speech. During her time on the stage I had the impression that she was lying. The "stepford wife" style creeps me out!
Hello my fellow Voxers,
today I am going to talk about our personal privacy in the web realm. Michelle Solange started a conversation last week and now I have finally something to add.
A couple of days ago a group of Greek bloggers were invited by Greek members of the European Parliament to attend a series of meetings in Brussels. Besides the usual informational sessions about the mechanisms of the European Union, the group was lucky enough to attend a session regarding our personal privacy in the Internet Era.
Nikos Drandakis from Nylon posted an important video from that session with the Dutch member of the European Parliament Sophie in ‘t Veld and I am re-posting it here.
Take a look. You might find it really interesting!
"Bitter Bitter Scott McClellan! Where were you when the rest of the world was shouting what you NOW decided to support and write about it? What did you do when the media of the rest of the world were showing pictures and videos of green bags filled with soulless bodies left in the desert? Oh, I remember what you were doing! You were staging publicity stunts that showed how successful the war was. You and the rest of the gang were giving orders how to direct the fall of Saddam's statue in Baghdad so that the American people could believe that the Iraqis were really happy.
You and your team aren't the ones who used Fox Channel for your political propaganda during the War? Were you a part of it?
I just wish people like McClellan could recognize their responsibilities and move forward. Or, if they want to harm the Bush administration by any means, they should write a book about the real causes of the War. Enough with the lies."
This news piece really caught my attention today. When we want to talk about the War On Terrorism, we usually forget about some side-effects and this incident is surely a non-intended one.
Mum and Dad return to their home, they check their voice-mailbox and Boom! they are in the battlefield.
I can't even imagine their horror. Listening to the gun shots and explosions for three minutes. Sometimes, we neglect that these soldiers have families, parents and loved ones who every day hope that their sons will return safe. When the War started, someone could kind of easily justify it, but now I don't see the point anymore. It's a vicious circle and if the Democrats win the next elections, it will be the vanity fair Republicans have to pay.
I support the Obama candidacy, but I have the feeling that Clinton could do better in the elections. From what I have read, Clinton is more favored by the citizens compared to Obama who has more super-delegates. It's really a hard choice that the Democrats' supporters have to make. Yet, I have a question: Will the Democratic Party sustain its cohesion after The presidential candidate is elected? Will Obama's supportes vote for Clinton? Will Clinton's supporters vote for Obama?
Few months ago, the Greek Socialist Politcal Party (PASOK) members and supportes elected the new President of the party among three candidates. When George Papandreou was re-elected as the leader of the party, the supporters of the other two candidates were kind of "turned off". I wouldn't like to see this happening in the Democratic Party.
Some of you might ask why I am so worried about these elections. Well, the answer is not that hard. The US are the primary political and economic force in the world. What happens there affect the rest of us, since our First-civilized- world is networked through many factors. We need to understand that every part of state politics define not only our daily life but also our future. For me, the US need to reinvent their foreign affairs agenda. No matter how many troops they have in the Middle East, the people in that region will never adopt our idea of democracy and civil rights. They have centuries old traditions and laws that they respect and follow.
What happened to the "public diplomacy" idea? Can the American society afford another war? Can the world?
Another article by the Greek Foreign Minister, Mrs. Dora Bakoyannis. I can't remember any other Greek politician with such an international press presence. Even though, I don't support the New Democracy political party, I have to give her some credit. I also like the fact that her team has a strong social media strategy. She has an account for Twitter, from where her staff informs us about her daily schedule, where she goes, to whom she to talks, etc., an account in Flickr with her photos, a group in Facebook and a YouTube profile with her videos. In her personal website, she has a "citizen corner", where all Greek citizens can send her their thoughts and discuss about current affairs.
As I was reading the Sunday papers, again, I came across an article on the Media section regarding the new blogging law that the Greek state wants to adopt.
According to this article, the Greek Ministry of Justice is drafting a new law for all Greek bloggers, which will not have any relationship with the first draft that was published a few weeks ago.This new law will not offend the right to anonymity in blogs, but it will facilitate the procedures of revealing a blogger's identity.
This new law will give the authority to whoever feels offended by a blog post to report the incident to the Greek Department of Electronic Crime Indictment (part of Greek Police Authorities) and demand the revelation of the blogger's identity in order to prosecute the latter according to the law.
According to sources from the Ministry, the government doesn't want, for the time being, to add clauses that will characterize blogs as information media and force the blogs' owners to post their true identities, while the law will continue to conceive the offense towards a person as a misdemeanor and not as a felony.
If the Greek parliament enacts this new law, it will be the first blogging law worldwide and it will bring many technical and ethical issues under the spotlight. One major issue that wasn't addressed in the article is the needed infrastructure for this law, as Vrypan (leading Greek blogger) states. The companies that give access to the Web don't usually hold personal data. Will this change? Will they have to keep a log of our personal web communications? Will our privacy be threatened?
I know that there are laws against defamation, but, from my point of view, the persecution of a blogger goes way beyond. Blogs started as a free medium of communicating our views and ideas without discrimination and they have nothing to do with organized media companies. I know I have a blog because I want to share my opinions on current affairs and personal issues with the rest of the world.I try to not swear a lot due to my personal values and not because there is a law. Yet, how could I know if my criticism on public figures is considered a misdemeanor? Do I have to discriminate my personal thoughts?
I support the idea of internet regulations to some extent, especially on issues that have to do with children pornography and economic frauds,but I don't support the idea of the government judging my thoughts. I am not a journalist, but I am an active citizen with strong opinions on political and social issues. And frankly, I don't like the idea of "Big Brother".
If they start discriminating our writings, what will be next? Our photos and videos? The Web, so far, has proved that is self-regulated, meaning that people who contribute to it, like you and me, are the same who protect it and the "social web" trend is making this effort more easy. The core of the Internet lies in the sharing of unbiased information among people and a strict regulation will only harm it.
I have the feeling that a new social movement is about to rise in Greece and this time to protect something very important, our very own freedom of speech. People who defame other people will always exist. Just because a government can wipe out their existence in the digital world doesn't mean that they will cease to exist. They will always be here and the Web community has shown that when these people go far, we can "regulate" them!
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