17 Jan 2022
Op-Ed: A Democracy Relies on a Critical Approach to the Past
The following is a translation of Maria Grever's opinion piece "Democratie steunt op kritische benadering van het verleden", which was published in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, 7 January 2022. The piece was written in the context of the recent dissolution of the Russian NGO Memorial. For more on Memorial, please also see the statement and appeal published 24 November 2021. In his interesting but ominous article about the dissolution of the historic organization Memorial by Russian President Vladimir Putin, journalist Hubert Smeets (NRC, 30-12-2021) concludes: "Woe to the land where the call for a national canon becomes so compelling that in the end, only one consciousness remains.” The abolishment of Memorial is intended to stifle any criticism of the…
6 Jan 2022
THE THIN LINE between propaganda and fake news: a blog post
On a cold day in November, we enjoyed Dylan Wray’s plenary seminar: THE THIN LINE between propaganda and fake news. Attendees joined in from across the globe; spanning Vietnam to Turkey, Norway to Portugal, Albania to Canada, Croatia to Denmark and Slovakia! Dylan’s presentation set the tone for the thematic webinar: Fake & Real, as webinar series on Propaganda and Fake News, which was organised in collaboration with the House of European History. As any good plenary does, we began with defining some crucial terms, such as 'Fake News' and 'Disinformation'. Dylan then took a turn to the secret power of history teachers: how they are equipped to instil skills in their students that will help them determine the…
5 Jan 2022
Call for Country Experts on Education
Call for Country Experts: Be part of the largest ever data collection project on education A team of researchers based at the University of Glasgow, together with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project at the University of Gothenburg, is working on a project connecting systems of government with educational policies and practices in countries across the world. They will measure up to twenty novel indicators of education practices for all countries in the world and build a completely new database on education, accumulating the knowledge of more than 1,000 education experts. The data will be made public in 2023. They are looking for participants for their project to act as a Country Expert on Education. Country Experts will be asked…
