ATHENS – Communication has never been as convenient as it is today, thanks to smartphones, video calling, social media, and other technologies that seem ideally set up to facilitate meaningful dialogue and serve our innate human need to communicate with each other. And yet we are more divided than ever, socially alienated, and unable to find common ground and trust one another.

Around the world, polarization, the rise of populism, hate speech, and the deterioration of public discourse are eroding the bedrock of democracy: dialogue.

On Wednesday, November 25 at 11:30 AM EST / 6:30 PM EET, the SNF DIALOGUES, whose mission for the past three years has been to encourage open discussion of pressing topics, will focus on “The Power of Dialogue.” At this 37th DIALOGUES event, the discussion will focus on the quality of public discourse and how conversation can give us an opportunity to find common ground and use our differences as an asset, rather than an obstacle, in solving the challenges that confront us all.

Participants in The Power of Dialogue webcast:

• Nikos Alivizatos, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Athens
• Dimitris Christopoulos, Professor in the Department of Political Science and History at Panteion University

Hahrie Han, Director of the SNF Agora Institute, will address the polarization that marked the 2020 U.S. presidential election and the fault lines in American society around the crucial issue of the pandemic. Sydney Nixon, an SNF Paideia Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, will share a message about the importance of dialogue and the need for students to have access to an education that prepares them to take an active role in open discussions.

To watch the next live DIALOGUES webcast, The Power of Dialogue, register at: https://www.eventora.com/en/Events/snf-dialogues-2020-11 

The DIALOGUES are curated and moderated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

Follow SNF’s monthly DIALOGUES series on social media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SNFDialogues 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/snfdialogues

#SNFDialogues

#ThePowerOfDialogue