What is it to be European? (Well I’m an Australian so I’ll ask you, dear audience!). What is it to be Italian? Or French? Or Greek? Is it the type of food grown and eaten from a specific location on a map? Is it the invisible line drawn by the ‘powers that be’ to delineate one from the other? Who exactly are those ‘powers that be’ who are drawing lines all over the place and why did ‘they’ start doing that?
Ok so I’m not even going to try to conduct a Yuval Harari-an analysis of the historical and geo-political structures that have coalesced over the course of human history leading to the European Union… Google it, it’s remarkable. In this podcast episode, however, it was my absolute pleasure to welcome Despina Spanou back to the podcast to shed light on what the bloc is doing right now to support its citizens at this time.
As time was limited for this conversation, we didn’t touch on all of the areas that we could have; there are obviously a never-ending stream of challenges and opportunities faced by Despina and her team when trying to promote the European Way of Life at this critical juncture in time. The primary take-away for listeners should be this: Despina and indeed so many of the people working for the union are working 28 hours a day 8 days a week to carry the torch of hope in an international, peaceful and incorporative framework that was generated the day the EU was born.
So, listen (and skip my damn 2 minute meandering introduction if time is tight!) share and take your hat of for the folk on the citizens’ payroll paving the way for a better future in a time of uncertainty.
Links referenced in the chat (here, here and here).
Info on our guest here.
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The Secure in Mind project
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Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.
Notes (credits)
This episode sits on a for profit platform for the convenience of access to a large audience, for which I am grateful! It means the messages, conversations, controversies and more that are discussed in Secure in Mind can reach a wide audience of English speaking, risk and security loving enthusiasts the world over.
As our world shifts, so does our awareness, commitment and action to design and build new frameworks of structural norms to achieve what we all want – enough food on the table, a roof over the head, shared positive experiences and all this in a peaceful, secure environment.
This shifting of a world must also set its sights on raising up the levels of support, respect and, from a practical day to day level, financial remuneration and protections for people in front line positions throughout the world.
