The Athens Democracy Forum, organized by The International New York Times and the United Nations Democracy Fund, will take place in Athens from September 13 to 15. During this event, a group of diplomats, students, executives, politicians, leading thinkers and journalists will gather to debate on the state of democracy and the challenges it faces today.
The forum will have a full agenda that includes talks which will address electoral and political matters, and current trends to strengthen democracy.
For the activities of September 15th, Smartmatic CEO and founder Antonio Mugica is scheduled to take part in a panel accompanied by Nikos Konstandaras (@Nkonstan), journalist and chief editor of Greek newspaper + website Kathimerini, and by former CIA agent Valérie Plame Wilson (@ValeriePlame). Alison Smale, The New York Times Berlin bureau chief, will be the discussion moderator, where relevant subjects such as the digital age, cybersecurity and data privacy will be covered.
The panel aims at providing answers to key questions asked by people on a daily basis. Where is the line between privacy and cybersecurity? Who decides how much access should governments have to our data? Who owns our personal information which will stay in public domain forever?
The Athens Democracy Forum will be held to commemorate the International Day of Democracy, a date celebrated every September 15th since 2007, and promoted by the United Nations (UN).
The theme chosen by the UN for this year will be “Space for Civil Society”, and how democracy contributes to enable societies to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems through participation.