VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

So, I traveled to Thessaloniki for the Greek Easter, and you can imagine my surprise when at the tolls just outside Athens I saw these flags by the Greek Communist Party please note the hammer and sickle symbol at the top of the flags. Now, my first reaction was total surprise! I asked myself whether this photo would be possible on any other European highway; I am now back in Vienna, Austria and it really strikes me as impossible. Also, along with the flags, there were volunteers covering all lanes, with fryers explaining the values of the communist party with the slogan "Trust the KKE in the upcoming EU elections". I must say that this is one of the first campaign moves from a Greek Political party for the upcoming European elections, scheduled between 4 and 7 of June 2009. The message was clear enough: even if you don't agree with the Communists, vote for them in the European elections to send a "message"... whatever that means... Also in the same fryers the...

It was awesome to be part of this very interesting discussion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . The Minister ( Ms Dora Bakoyannis ) along with a number of Bloggers and people active through social media had an opportunity to exchange views and debate concerning the role of the Internet and web 2.o technologies with concern to politics and political communications. It was quite interesting brainstorming ideas and suggesting technologies that can become instruments for developing foreign policy, while bringing together the Hellenic community overseas. All the people involved were excellent in their remarks and I personally believe that it was a great opportunity to exchange views and hopefully shape political communications strategies in Greek politics. My talking points included: Permission Marketing techniques, Online political communications, facebook groups concerning the issue of Macedonia Communication tools of a Foreign Ministry website. I must say that I...

The Internet is a vital two way communication tool for sharing information and opinions and for building communities of people with common interests and ideas. According to the Greek observatory for the information society, there was a rise in the number of people that connected to the Internet over the last two years. Greek political parties have developed web sites in order to attract new members and improve communication with the public, especially during the election period. In addition, concerned citizens with political Blogs have entered into the political arena and added to the ongoing political discussion. In the past two years online communities and the Blogsphere have become as important as mainstream media, creating a new forum of political debate. The recent Greek national elections of September 2007 had three very unique characteristics. The pre-election period was very short (30 days) as compared to all previous elections over the last three decades. Two weeks before the ...