Obama discusses democratic culture with SNF’s Dracopoulos in Athens
Former US president Barack Obama took to the stage of the Greek National Opera’s Stavros Niarchos Hall in southern Athens on Thursday for a conversation with Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos.
He participated in the SNF Nostos Conference 2023 (June 21-23) held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, which this year was dedicated to mental health.
He began his speech alongside Dracopoulos, with whom he discussed strengthening democratic culture, and the significance of investing in the next generation of leaders.
Obama said democracy can work out if given a chance, but it is also a difficult form of government rule, because you have to coexist with people with different ideas than yourself. What is particularly dangerous, he noted, is the extreme-right populist parties in Europe and the United States that give the impression that they will do anything to win elections and tear down norms or manipulate voting rules.
He also spoke of the rise in inequalities, particularly by the use of new technologies, which widened the gap.
The 44th US president was introduced by Sophia Kouvelaki, the Founder and CEO of The Home Project, a nonprofit that provides child protection services to unaccompanied refugee children in Greece. Kouvelaki was one of the participants in the Obama Foundation Leaders: Europe program.
This marks Obama’s second appearance at the SNFCC. He has spoken again at SNF in 2016, during his last international trip while in office.
Researchers and activists from a wide range of fields are coming together for the 2023 SNF Nostos Conference to discuss the progress of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative and tackle topics such as loneliness and its effects on mental health, the role of arts, Artificial Intelligence and technology overall.
[AMNA]
