Athens Democracy Forum 2021: Resilience and Renewal

What have we learned from the pandemic? And how should we confront the economic and social fallout as we tread the formidable road ahead?

The astounding speed with which vaccines were developed against Covid-19 and the resilience of the world’s democratic institutions offers hope that the same zeal can now be applied to the unrelenting challenges of our society today: climate change, social inequality, polarized politics, fraying economic systems and a fraught relationship with technology.

Every year, the high-powered think tank – Athens Democracy Forum – gathers the great and good from Greece and abroad, to give one of our most sacred western ideals – democracy - a healthcheck.

Accordingly, this year, the three-day Forum calls on speakers and delegates to roll up their sleeves and apply the lessons they’ve learned since the pandemic turned all our lives upside down to real, actionable ideas for the future. For democracy to evolve, partnerships must be forged between public, private and civil society. 

Or to put it more simply, we need to double down on the “demos” - the people - in democracy. All of the Forum’s sessions -- panel discussions, keynote talks, conversations and interactive workshops -- will revolve around this core belief.

The 2021 event, organized by the Democracy and Culture Foundation in collaboration with The New York Times, the Municipality of Athens and Kathimerini, will once again offer the general public free on-line access to this vital symposium. The live gatherings will be held at Grande Bretagne Hotel, EMST (Museum of Contemporary Art), and the Ancient Agora for a special Aristotle Address. Topics to be explored include:

•    Alternative Tools of Democracy
•    From the Ground Up: New Economic Models
•    Wake Up to Climate Change
•    Disinformation's Black Hole
•    Rethinking Work
•    Art as Activism
•    Fast-Track Democracies

You can check out the full agenda here.