To be a Citizen in the 21st century is both an Art and a Skill.
Even more so to be an Informed and Active Citizen.
The old primer has been replaced by the need to understand and navigate a New Language—one that draws its etymology from the analog world, yet communicates and creates within the realm of the digital.
As a result, no other form of literacy seems more essential than that of Active Citizenship. This literacy derives its “verbs” from the arts of Media, Technology, and the Social and Knowledge Sciences, as well as from Philosophy and Humanism (if we wish to avoid the very real problems of an unregulated capitalism).
The ECI, the Heroic City of Naoussa, and their partners are launching a series of initiatives addressing these issues, initiatives that focus on and concern Europe’s soft underbelly: the Balkans. By nurturing the Sciences of Communication—so essential for understanding, coordination, and the peaceful coexistence of peoples (as well as for production, the economy, and everyday life)—they hope that with the NJF they are placing a small stone in the much-needed edifice of harmonious and educated coexistence.
May it be so.
Marios Nottas
Head, European Communication Institute
