Heranças Globais – Memórias Locais

On 15th July 2015 Die Zeit published this piece. Here is the original English language version.

The Eurogroup Meeting of 27th June 2015 will not go down as a proud moment in Europe’s history. Ministers turned down the Greek government’s request that the Greek people should be granted a single week during which to deliver a Yes or No answer to the institutions’ proposals – proposals crucial for Greece’s future in the Eurozone. The very idea that a government would consult its people on a problematic proposal put to it by the institutions was treated with incomprehension and often with disdain bordering on contempt. I was even asked: “How do you expect common people to understand such complex issues?”. Indeed, democracy did not have a good day in yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting! But nor did European institutions. After our request was rejected, the Eurogroup President broke with the convention of unanimity (issuing a statement without my consent) and even took the dubious decision to convene a follow up meeting without the Greek minister, ostensibly to…

O PIB a crescer pode significar que a sociedade está a decrescer – sou aliás frontalmente contra as “teorias do descrescimento”. Em descrescimento estamos nós, com as medidas recessivas. Na Barca do Inferno fiz um pequeno resumo. No meu novo livro Para Onde Vai Portugal?, tentei explicar isto sob a forma de ensaio, em curtas palavras, ou seja, como o PIB tem aumentado por exemplo com a destruição dos serviços públicos. Nós não temos que decrescer, temos que produzir o que vale a pena e não produzir o que não vale a pena. Temos cimento a mais e literatura a menos; temos carro individual a mais e relações sociais a menos; temos a tecnologia da saúde a engolir o diagnóstico médico e temos 75 teatros recuperados mas menos de 1/3 é que têm actores – o resto são monos fechados. O “que vale a pena” são escolhas políticas. São escolhas…

For the Project Syndicate page click here.

ATHENS – Three months of negotiations between the Greek government and our European and international partners have brought about much convergence on the steps needed to overcome years of economic crisis and to bring about sustained recovery in Greece. But they have not yet produced a deal. Why? What steps are needed to produce a viable, mutually agreed reform agenda?

This is Chris Taylor’s second post to the Incluseum about his work creating the Department of Inclusion and Community Engagement at the Minnesota Historical Society. You can read Part I here. You can also access DICE’s Mission, Vision, and Values document here for more detail. What do you think? Do you have something similar at your museum?

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In my first post, I outlined the journey undertaken by MNHS over last few years that culminated with the creation of the Department of Inclusion and Community Engagement (DICE). In this post, I focus more on the vision of the department. To reiterate, our mission is:

THE DEPARTMENT OF INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (DICE) supports the Society’s goal of sustained engagement with diverse communities. The DICE will help guide internal and external strategies across all historic sites and museums to embed inclusive practices in our work to ensure…