To mark the International Day of Democracy, International Herald Tribune and Kathimerini newspapers convened, in cooperation with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDEF, the "Athens Forum 2013: Democracy under Pressure" in the Ancient Agora of Athens -- the birthplace of democracy. The event, which can be watched in its entirety here, was part of the Herald Tribune's The Global Conversation series of high-level debates and panel discussions on key global challenges. Panellists included ministers from India and Sweden, two of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDEF's top donors.
The discussion examined the state of democracy in the world and the pressure resulting from economic, social and religious factors. Participants included Antonis Samaras, Prime Minister of Greece; Giorgos Kaminis, Mayor of Athens; Carl Bildt, Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs and "the best connected world leader", according to a new study of Twitter; Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development of India, the world's largest democracy; New York Times columnist Roger Cohen; Masha Gessen, Russian-US journalist author; Sultan Al-Qassemi, leading blogger and voice on the Arab Spring; and Annika Savill, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDEF Deputy Executive Head.
As Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the 16 September Forum, the meeting place in the Agora reminds us that the practice of democracy is not a spectator sport and that it is more like a marathon than a sprint.