香蕉秀

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the graduates. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)

Speaking at Boston College's 146th Commencement Exercises on May 23, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave members of the Class of 2022 an urgent assignment for their post-香蕉秀 lives: Save democracy from the perils of nationalism, populism, and a pervasive technology that seems to cause as many problems as it has solved.

鈥淵our first responsibility is to radically reimagine democracy in the 21st century by, first of all, not neglecting your civic duties,鈥� said Mitsotakis, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. This did not necessarily mean entering public service鈥攁lthough he offered encouragement to those considering it, because 鈥渋f the best and brightest don鈥檛 enter the public domain, then you are leaving space for others to do so.鈥�

Those choosing other walks of life, Mitsotakis continued, 鈥減lease remember the lesson of ancient Athens, where democracy flourished for the first time: In order for a democracy to thrive, all its citizens must be involved, in one way or another, in the affairs of the state.

鈥淩einventing democracy for the 21st century may sound like a tall order. But this is the challenge ahead of you. I urge you, don鈥檛 leave it to others to ensure the survival of our democratic ideals. If you think you are the best and the brightest鈥攚hich you should, because you are graduating from this great school鈥攖hen assume your responsibilities. Because you cannot outsource this responsibility to anyone else.鈥�

• .听
• Video of the main Boston College Commencement ceremony and breakout school graduation ceremonies is available at the Commencement 2022 website (scroll down).
  
  After an unseasonably hot and humid weekend, a pleasant, comfortably cool day in Alumni Stadium greeted the 4,450 undergraduate and graduate students who received their degrees at separate ceremonies held around campus after the main Commencement event.
  

He recalled 鈥渢hose heady days,鈥� when the speaker at his 1990 graduation from Harvard University, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, was laying the groundwork for the reunification of his divided country. Eight months before, the Berlin Wall had fallen (鈥淚 still remember getting goosebumps watching the events unfold on television鈥�), and within a year the Soviet Union would collapse, as would communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and 鈥渢he last vestiges of the Cold War would be swept away.

鈥淲e believed then that the West鈥檚 economic triumph over the Soviet Union had irrevocably demonstrated that democracy was the ideal form of government for all time and all people,鈥� said Mitsotakis.

But instead of achieving the promise of a free, peaceful, and just world, he said, 鈥渕y graduating generation and its leaders, I am afraid, took its foot off the gas.鈥� Politicians and experts thought that economic liberalism would create more open societies in China and Russia and thwart autocrats鈥� efforts to topple democracy. His generation鈥檚 leaders, he said, assumed that a rising stock market and other hallmarks of the global economy would create widespread prosperity instead of inequality. This in turn produced 鈥渢he sirens of populists鈥� offering 鈥渆asy solutions to complicated problems.鈥�

Gallery photos by Caitlin Cunningham, Justin Knight, and Lee Pellegrini

听