Each is a battle that requires engagement, sacrifice and a willingness to change. What is unnatural is to resist change, to cling to the illusion that there is some safe, unchanging world that we must forever defend. That was the thinking behind the theme of this year’s Athens Democracy Forum, “The New Abnormal: Reimagining Democracy,” and behind the articles on these pages. These have been the watchwords of the annual Athens Democracy Forum since its inception, and it defined the agenda of this year’s largely virtual eighth forum, which was held Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 and whose highlights can be seen at athensdemocracyforum.org. “By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue,” Paine concluded; “by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils.”Serge Schmemann is a member of The New York Times editorial board and program director of the Athens Democracy Forum.

Source: International New York Times October 10, 2020 09:56 UTC