February 04, 2025

DAGR FEB 2025 Newsletter


 

NEWSLETTER - Shoulder Arms, Forward March!

 

In this Newsletter

  • Chair’s Message
  • Upcoming Events
  • ICYMI
  • Volunteer Opportunities
  • DAGR News and Views
  • On our RADAR - DA Priorities

Dear Friends,

With the new year, the new Trump Administration has taken the reins of power in America. It has wasted no time in gutting public services, assaulting basic principles and offending everyone’s sense of common decency. Ahead of us, may be one of the most challenging periods America has ever faced.

For us Democrats Abroad, there are several issues that may have a direct and immediate impact on our community of Americans living overseas. The new Administration may try to marginalize us by stripping us of our right to vote, or imposing new restrictions on foreign-born family members.

But here in Greece, and around the world, Democrats are preparing. We have elected a new ExCom (aka Board) to guide us for the next two years, and I am honored to have been named Chairman. Because as consequential as last year’s elections may have been, the next elections – first, for Congress in 2026 and then for president in 2028 – may be even more consequential.

It’s more important than ever that we stay engaged. And we begin the new term by asking you -- our members – what matters to you and what you think. We have launched a survey to hear your views (LINK in Volunteer Opps below) and welcome your feedback. We’re in this together.


Alkman Granitsas
Chair, Democrats Abroad Greece

Thursday, FEB 06 - 18:00 EET
DA’s Taxation Task Force at the 2025 US Expats Conference

“What is the New Residency Based Taxation Proposal and How Would It Benefit US Expats? The webinar will educate people on the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act and changes expected for its reintroduction this year. Online via Zoom. RSVP for free here  If you can't make the webinar at that time, RSVP anyway to receive the recording.

Sunday, FEB 09 - 09:00 EET (That’s morning!)
Film and discussion: "I Am Not Your Negro"
February is Black History Month! Join the DA Global Black Caucus for this 2016 documentary based on the unfinished work of James Baldwin. Directed by Raoul Peck, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film explores the history of racism in the U.S. through Baldwin's recollections of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. RSVP here.
Check out the Black Caucus events page for happenings all across the month!

Tuesday, FEB 11 - 19:00-21:00 EET
Happy Hour in Thessaloniki
Steady as she goes,Thessaloniki! The chapter is back for its second year at The Dubliner, building on the first, with attendance ticking up, a good bit of fun and spirited debate in the mix. Check the DAGR Events page this week for details.

Tuesday, FEB 11 - 18:00-20:00 EET
Happy Hour in Athens
Downtown venue to be confirmed. They're looking for just the right mix of friendly, warm and quiet enough to have a rousing discussion. Check the DAGR Events page this week for details.

Tuesday, FEB 18 - 19:30 EET
DAGR ExCom Meeting
The Dems Abroad Greece board, aka ExCom, meets every month. This month will be the first for the newly elected 2025-6 ExCom. Members are welcome to sit in and come up to speed on the many things your board has to handle. Get a leg up on upcoming events in planning, and much more. Reply on this email for the Zoom link.

And that’s not all …
See what other country committees and global caucuses are doing, on the DA website Events page.


DAGR Annual General Meeting (AGM) Wrap Up
The AGM, on Jan 29, saw a year-end wrap up and election of new officers amid a very successful ‘hybrid’ meeting. With the proper equipment at the main site, the meeting could be seen and heard in living rooms around the country. Dems Abroad is all-volunteer and member supported, so getting to this level of ‘artificial togetherness’ was a milestone. There were others, a most successful year, with the exception of the US federal election results. Read the summary article at the website. Minutes and reports will be available to DAGR
members upon request.

BREAKING: Ken Martin Elected New Chair of the DNC
After weeks of pointed Q&A sessions with members of the Democratic National Committee, the candidates stood election and Ken Martin, currently the Minnesota state chair got the seat. Our DA Chair, Martha McDevitt-Pugh relayed to us during her stop in our AGM call that these interviews were not light-weight! They really were looking for dynamic leadership. Thankfully, it was a close race. We have a good bench! The Guardian UK has more details.

Martin Luther King Day - Jan 20, 2025
Democrats Abroad international celebration of Dr. King's life and legacy, with special appearances by Jane Elliot and Bishop Robert H. Kelley, III, of the Africa committee. Ms. Elliot is the internationally known teacher, lecturer, diversity trainer, and recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award for Excellence in Education. She developed the seminal blue-eye/brown-eye exercise to help her students understand the personal discomfort of discrimination. 2-hr video.

Travellin’ Music
So many songs seem fitting for the past month. The Surfaris' "Wipeout" comes to mind. Economist Paul Krugman suggested the CCR hit, "Bad Moon Rising." Senator Amy Klobuchar yearned for Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm." We're definitely not playing "YMCA" nor any related events and photos. Finally, it seems a lot of folks took the Fiddler into the voting booth with them, humming "If I Were A Rich Man." Dream on! Then it's back to reality and up the resistance.


GREETINGS! Uncle Sam Needs You. So does DAGR.

Autumn, 2024. Project 2025 hit the headlines.

We remembered Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” And decided she was Cassandra.

Then came the election and the results and much speculation. Yes, they sure will! No, they couldn’t possibly! The sadness, depression, grieving among some. Anger. But a glimmer of hope.

And then, it was January 20. The once-and-again-king, armed with a carton of Sharpies, proved Angelou right.

Less than two weeks later: Absurdistan is us!

What now? Small groups in Dems Abroad and allies at home are forming up for action. A few are well underway. There will be lots of options, from the simple clicking of a petition to a bit more effort, picking up a phone and leaving a polite but scorching message on a lawmaker’s voice mail. And beyond.

To get us rolling here, DAGR is starting with a member survey. We want to know how you experienced the election and what your concerns are now. It's short and easy, and we’d love to hear from everyone.

So, let's get started. Please click in to this google form and share your thoughts. If you have any problem accessing the google form, just email Irem Tunc for a copy of the survey.

February 2025. Joan Baez: “Action is the antidote to despair.”


AI & Election Interference: Local Experts Weigh In
Part 3: AI, Art and Human Creativity    

In this third installment, Linda Manney interviews Konstantina Kapanidou, practicing artist and art teacher at Pinewood American International School of Thessaloniki. What does AI mean to human interaction as it’s expressed through art and fostering creativity?

McKinley via Wikipedia - Opinion
Not all that long ago, the good were gold; the dull were lackluster. But, the current glut of freely edited flotsam on the Internet? Well, that’s a different story. And it’s a story oft-revised to sell some point of view. For instance, President McKinley is this week’s fav role model of our current office holder. Dusted off, polished to a high shine in Wikipedia, Mr McKinley is better than he actually ever was. And we are forewarned to fact-check!

DAGR’s Weekly Reader
Included here are those mostly longer articles favored by political wonks (like us), but there are a few shorter videos mixed in. Have a look over each week’s offerings. And feel free to send us articles you think might fit here in the month ahead!
JAN w1  JAN w2  JAN w3  JAN w4


February is Black History Month ... Here's Why
USAToday lays out the history, how it came to encompass a whole month, and its current range of celebrations. There's a lot of history between its foundations and today. Not to be missed here is the video included of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson's Broadway debut, a treat she obviously enjoyed to the fullest. Great month! Good stuff to think about!

Lessons about Tuskegee Airmen Quickly Returned to Air Force Basic Training
Seth Robson at Stars and Stripes marks the service of the Tuskegee Airmen, first African-American military pilots, in WWII. USAF command, apparently, thought the President’s order to remove all DEI references from training materials applied to this courageous, and very effective, unit. It was re-revised to include them again, just in time for Black History Month, after a loud national outcry. Oh, and they can mention women flyers now, too.

No. We Should Not Move Beyond ‘That’
Elon Musk says Never Remember. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, William Kristol, one of those never-Trump allies at The Bulwark reminded us that what our forebears did is not a reason for guilt. We are responsible for what we do now. And … despite Elon, we have a responsibility to remember!

Trump voters are not the obstacle to climate action many think they are
A UK anthropology candidate studies a North Carolina fishing village for a sense of what fuels the Trump voter who still believes climate change is real. It may be a model for talking with ‘the other side.’ And finding solutions.

What Stand-up Mayors are Doing in Face of Trump’s Deportation Sweeps
Denver’s Mike Johnston believes his approach to immigration, not Trump’s, is working. And he’s not planning to give in. Good ideas, legal and humane. Pass them on!

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Devastated in November. Distracted by holidays in December. Waiting for reality in January. And so far, it's looked as bad as Project 2025 warned us it would be. And yet? As a nation, we've been here before and we've come back better than ever. As Black History Month is so well-positioned to remind us, and as the song said, 'change gonna come.'

Join us in helping make it happen!

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