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Christos Mavraganis — 2 Comments
26
Oct 15

Māori people: Can the new media make their heritage immortal?

by Christos Mavraganis

If you visit govt.nz and go to the “History, culture and heritage” section, there is a folder, called “Māori language, culture and heritage”. Sometimes there is neither a need for fancy words, nor jazzy introductions to prove how much a country appreciates the historical importance of its heritage. Sometimes just 17 simple words can do the job: “Māori culture is a big part of NZ’s identity, so respecting, preserving and promoting it is vital”.

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Photo by newzealand.com

For those who are not familiar, Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, who as the website describes, “came to Aotearoa (the most widely known and accepted Māori name for the entire country) from Polynesia in the 13th century and created a new language and culture”. Continue reading →

Muhammad Al Waeli — 3 Comments
20
Oct 15

Reflections on the Future of ComDev and Social Action

by Muhammad Al-Waeli

In the 15th Anniversary ComDev seminar that was held from 18-19 of September in Malmö, lot of important points and reflections were made. Tobias Denskus made an interesting talk about the future of ComDev, as a field and as a practice. This post completes the ideas and comments that were made in the Q&A session after the talk.

In general, all experts in the field of ComDev seem to agree that there are no clear boundaries for the field and that what ever could be counted as a boundary, is in fact constantly moving.

Continue reading →

Christos Mavraganis — 1 Comment
19
Oct 15

Social m-INDIA

by Christos Mavraganis

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is going… social and he proved that during his trip at the ‘mecca of technology’, Silicon Valley.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speak on stage during a town hall at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California

Narendra Modi with Mark Zuckerberg – Reuters

On September 29th 2015, Modi became the first Indian head of state who visited California since Indira Ghandi in 1982 and he had a meeting with Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, at the headquarters of the world’s most powerful social network.  Continue reading →

Christos Mavraganis — 2 Comments
04
Oct 15

Around the world with a suitcase full of debt – Can endless loans and development coexist?

by Christos Mavraganis 

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister and president of SYRIZA, which is a left-wind party, has attended the 70th session of the UN’s General Assembly, in the 27th of September 2015, representing his country.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York

Alexis Tsipras during his UN speech – Reuters

The Greek Prime Minister gave a speech during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. This speech could have been the epitome of his political program, but only before he came on power, in January 25th, 2015. Continue reading →

Christos Mavraganis — 2 Comments
26
Sep 15

The borders of human dignity

by Christos Mavraganis

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Aylan Kurdi as an angel – Reuters

The historians of the future will probably refer to the year 2015 as the outburst of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. The war in Syria is in full swing and as a result thousands of Syrian citizens are playing -on a daily basis- the ‘russian roulette’ of escaping the country, mostly by boats. Italy and Greece are the first destinations, before the big dream of the so called developed Europe. This phenomenon, which is related to multiple development issues, is not of course something new. Continue reading →