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2019 Strategy for Development Of
Мај 2Ju020 July 2019 Strategy for Development of the “One Society For All” Concept and Interculturalism VERSION 2 – JULY 2019 Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 3 Why do we need a Strategy for One Society and Interculturalism? ............................................................... 3 Vision ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 The drafting process and structure of the Strategy ........................................................................................ 6 2. Strategic areas ............................................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Legal framework ....................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1. State of play ....................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Кey priorities and objectives ............................................................................................................ 11 2.2 Education................................................................................................................................................. 12 2.2.1. State of play .................................................................................................................................... -
Ukraine: Thinking Together Kyiv, 15-19 May Manifesto This Is An
Ukraine: Thinking Together Kyiv, 15-19 May Manifesto This is an encounter between those who care about freedom and a country where freedom is dearly won. This year Ukraine has seen protests, revolution, and a counter-revolution from abroad. When millions of people gathered to press for the rule of law and closer ties to Europe, the Yanukovych regime answered with violence. Vladimir Putin offered the Ukrainian government money to clear the streets and join Russia in a Eurasian project. Yanukovych criminalized civil society, which only broadened the protests. Then the police began to kill the protestors in large numbers. This brought revolution, a shift of political power to parliament, and the promise of free elections. Russian authorities reacted by invading Crimea, sending provocateurs into eastern Ukraine, threatening to dismember the country, and suppressing Russian civil society. Ukraine today, like Czechoslovakia in 1938, is a pluralist society amidst authoritarian regimes, a fascinating and troubled country poorly understood by its neighbors. It is also home to an extraordinary tradition of civil society, and to gifted writers, thinkers, and artists, many of whom, reflecting on the Maidan, have raised in new ways fundamental questions about political representation and the role of ideas in politics. In the middle of May, an international group of intellectuals will come to Kyiv to demonstrate solidarity, meet their Ukrainian counterparts, and carry out a broad public discussion about the meaning of Ukrainian pluralism for the future of Europe, Russia, and the world. The Maidan and reactions to it, in Ukraine and abroad, raise classical and contemporary questions of politics and ethics. -
Sport and Nationalism: the Shifting Meanings of Soccer in Slovenia
Sport and Nationalism: The Shifting Meanings of Soccer in Slovenia The shifting meanings of soccer in Slovenia Peter Stankovic 12 March 2003 The different meanings attributed to the game of soccer in the recent decades in Slovenia are more than a reflection of the variable fortunes of Slovenian clubs and its national team. From this point of departure the author scrutinizes the most important shifts in the meaning of soccer in the country, arguing that these have more to do with existing relations of power between Slovenia's ethnic majority and minorities, rather than with the game itself. The radical devaluation of soccer in the period between the late 1960s and late 1990s, for instance, could be interpreted as a means of saving the emerging Slovenian nationalist discourse from its threatening inconsistencies,whilst also legitimizing the existing ethnic cleavages in the Slovenian society. By now, its implications for inter-ethnic relations in Slovenia are no less important: Although the national team was to a significant extent comprised of first - or second generation immigrants, the Slovenian nationalist discourse almost completely disregarded this fact, and appropriated their success as a sign of typically "Slovenian" vitality. Sociology has undergone so many transformations in recent decades that it would be certainly quite difficult to find a common denominator of all these. And yet, it is hard not to notice that many of these transformations are in one way or another linked to sociologists’ growing interest in the part of human society, which is basically related to the sphere of private life, leisure, consumption, popular culture, in short, to everything outside of the sphere of production. -
Thinking Europe Without Thinking
Thinking Europe without thinking Neo-colonial discourse on and in the western Balkans Nikola Petrovič 22 September 2011 EU member states draw upon a reservoir of colonial discourse to assert superiority over the extra-European Other; western Balkan states compensate by turning the same discourse against neighbours lower down the ladder of EU accession, writes Tanja Petrovic. “The so-called unification of Europe appears to be carried out with little thought,” wrote Jelica Sumic Riha and Tomaz Mastnak in the journal Filozofski vestnik in 1993. [1] Their critical attitude was primarily determined by the bloody events in former Yugoslavia, which Europe had failed to prevent by, among other things, not supporting efforts to democratize Yugoslavia. In the years that followed, it was primarily academic circles that were critical of EU institutions and EU-related discourses created at the national and supra-national levels. By contrast, the two most “vociferous” EU-related discourses – the political and media discourses – have continued to demonstrate a serious lack of reflection. Today, “Europe” as notion or idea has been almost completely equated with the EU; membership of the EU is the main tool for shaping the new symbolic geography of the continent. Those countries already within the EU can include or exclude, while those who are “on their way to Europe”, or those who do not have the option of membership at all, are excluded. Mitja Velikonja has called this discursive practice in which the notions of Europe and European are equated with the EU “the original sin” of the new Eurocentrism: “Under the pretence of simplification, abbreviation or eloquence (euloquence?), the two terms are simply equated – the political and economic unit appropriates the geographical and historical name of the entire continent.” [2] In this process, “the very process of accession to the EU actually shows how non-European countries may be transformed into European ones”. -
The Netmagazine
Anna Loutfi Feminism, biography and cheshire cat stories A geopolitical journey through a biographical dictionary Anna Loutfi reflects on the use of the nation−state as an organizing principle for central and eastern European feminist history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She detects what she calls feminism's "imperial ironies": feminists in central and eastern Europe acted within international feminist networks, while at the same time were confronted with emerging nationalism in territories that had been parts of former empires. This paper was first presented in June 2007 at the international L'Homme−conference "Imaginary borders in Europe from the perspective of women's and gender history"1. I was invited to participate as one of the co−editors of A Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms, Central, East and South Eastern Europe, nineteenth and twentieth Centuries −− hereafter referred to as the Biographical Dictionary2. The initial aim of my paper was to clarify the dictionary's concept of Central, South and South Eastern Europe, but, in the end, I decided that the difficulty of developing any coherent criteria for such a definition would make for more interesting discussion −− especially with respect to the fascinating, dynamic interplay of geography and what I call "geopolitics', biography/biographical narrative, and gender identity that one can trace through the Biographical Dictionary as a whole. This paper, then, has been developed −− from an original intention to clarify geographical borders, and justify points of geographical exclusions/inclusions regarding the selection criteria of the Biographical Dictionary −− into an exploration of the ways in which the biographical genre (particularly vis−à−vis feminist experience) exposes the political instability of the nation state and its borders as an interpretive framework for personal identity. -
New Asian Migration to Eastern Europe
New Asian Migration to Eastern Europe The Case of the Chinese in Hungary Pal Nyiri 18 October 1999 When migration in post-“socialist” Eastern Europe is mentioned, the first thing that comes to one’s mind is forced and voluntary ethnic migrations within the region and labour migration from east to west. At this forum we are likely to speak more about the migration of the so-called highly skilled, from west to east, which is not only significant in its cultural impact but also much larger in its numbers than it is commonly thought to be. (Over a hundred thousand highly skilled Germans, for example, are employed in Poland.) What I would like to consider is another significant flow of people that entered the re- opened migration space of Eastern Europe: migrants from Asia. I shall not attempt to review the heterogeneous mix of groups that could be classed as Asian migrants, from Indian engineers to Afghan refugees, from Arab students to Chinese traders. Instead, I shall turn to a single example: that of the Chinese, one of the largest, fastest-growing, most important, and most mobile groups in the region. The discussion will centre on Hungary, which has emerged as the main entrepôt of Chinese migration and entrepreneurship in the region; but what is said about Chinese in Hungary can arguably be applied to Chinese in Central Eastern Europe in general. Although I will exclude from my discussion the very particular and complex migration picture of the former Soviet Union, the Chinese are a very important group of migrants in the post- Soviet states as well, a point that I shall return to in some more detail. -
In Defence of Europe's Memory Laws
In defence of Europe’s memory laws Grażyna Baranowska, Anna Wójcik 6 November 2017 The legal regulation of historical discourse poses significant risks. But there are two, exceptional cases in which memory laws protect free speech, argue Grażyna Baranowska and Anna Wójcik. One privilege of political authority is the ability to propagate collective memory. This can be enacted through a whole host of measures, whether by funding archives and museums, erecting monuments, commemorating historical figures, naming public spaces, or producing history curricula. To greater or lesser degrees, most states regulate such activities with legal restrictions. Numerous states are extending these legal restrictions through memory laws, which attempt to enforce state-approved views on sensitive and disputed chapters of history. Commentators such as Nora and Salvatori [1] have expressed concern at such laws. Using the law to sanction historical narratives directly contradicts the democratic principle of free expression. There are, however, two exceptional instances in which it is legitimate to introduce proportionate limitations to historical discourses. The two cases The first case in which memory laws help to protect free speech is to ban the denial or trivialisation of the Holocaust, genocides, and crimes against humanity. Many European countries have adopted an explicit ban so as to condemn historical atrocities and as a pre- emptive measure against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Research by Michael Bazyler [2] shows that, as of 2016, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania punished Holocaust and Nazi-crimes denial. Meanwhile in Andorra, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland the denial of any genocide is punished. -
Monica Isakstuen NOVEL Be Kind to the Animals Vær Snill Med Dyrene Tiden Norsk Forlag 2016 208 Pages English Sample Translation Available PHOTO: PAAL AUDESTAD
FICTION Monica Isakstuen NOVEL Be Kind to the Animals Vær snill med dyrene Tiden Norsk Forlag 2016 208 Pages English sample translation available PHOTO: PAAL AUDESTAD A small family of three is falling apart. They couldn’t make it. Karen couldn’t Monica Isakstuen (b. 1976) made her literary make it. While doing everything right - parting as friends, signing the papers, debut in 2009. Her 2014 novel Replay about pianist Joyce Hatto and the greatest fraud in sharing custody, the way a modern woman is supposed to, everything inside her classical music earned rave reviews, with VG is rebelling. No, the child is mine. I’m its mother. There is nothing modern naming it one of the best books of the year. about me. Isakstuen is one of the participants chosen Be Kind to the Animals is a raw, warm, acute, but at the same time surprising for NORLA’s development programme for novel about being in the ruins of a marriage with the one you care about the new literary talents “New Voices”, a part of most – every other week. the project of Norway as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019. Winner of the 2016 Norwegian National Book Award Brageprisen for Fiction. FOREIGN SALES Albanian (Aleph), Bulgarian (Perseus Publishing House), Danish (Forlaget Gladiator), German (Eichborn), Swedish (Brombergs Bokförlag) PREVIOUS TITLES Avstand², 2009 Alltid nyheter, 2011 (Poetry) Om igjen, 2104 RIGHTSHOLDER Oslo Literary Agency P.O. Box 363 Sentrum NO-0102 Oslo Tel: + 47 22 40 04 65 / +47 922 53 353 'An extraordinary reading Annette Orre [email protected] experience' www.osloliteraryagency.no Hamar Arbeiderblad '... -
Study: Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western
STUDY Requested by the AFET committee Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them Policy Department for External Relations Directorate General for External Policies of the Union EN PE 653.621 - February 2021 DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT STUDY Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them ABSTRACT Disinformation is an endemic and ubiquitous part of politics throughout the Western Balkans, without exception. A mapping of the disinformation and counter-disinformation landscapes in the region in the period from 2018 through 2020 reveals three key disinformation challenges: external challenges to EU credibility; disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the impact of disinformation on elections and referenda. While foreign actors feature prominently – chiefly Russia, but also China, Turkey, and other countries in and near the region – the bulk of disinformation in the Western Balkans is produced and disseminated by domestic actors for domestic purposes. Further, disinformation (and information disorder more broadly) is a symptom of social and political disorder, rather than the cause. As a result, the European Union should focus on the role that it can play in bolstering the quality of democracy and governance in the Western Balkans, as the most powerful potential bulwark against disinformation. EP/EXPO/AFET/FWC/2019-01/Lot1/R/01 EN February 2021 - PE 653.621 © European Union, -
The Struggle Over 1989
The struggle over 1989 The rise and contestation of eastern European populism Bogdan Iacob, James Mark, Tobias Rupprecht 3 September 2019 Eastern Europe is clearly part of a global populist wave, and is now part of the western right-wing populist imaginary as the bedrock for 'pure' European values. Only by looking at '1989' from a new angle can we see how populist governments' rejection of a 'decadent' and 'imperialist' West merely continues a communist stance, despite their strident anti-communist rhetoric. The spread of populist governments in eastern Europe over the last decade, and their nationalist challenging of core tenets of western liberalism, has given currency to talk about a ‘new east-west divide’. A notion has taken hold that draws on a longer history of western views of eastern backwardness: a specifically eastern illiberal ‘infection’ is allegedly threatening the stability of the entire European project. In this vein, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called upon ‘the EU and the people of Europe to resist the backsliding we are seeing in the east’. [1] Yet the parallel ascent of populist parties in much of the West, and a wave of anti-populist mass protests in the east, suggest the divide is not defined by geography alone. As we argue in 1989: A Global History of Eastern Europe, the current wave of east European populism, while rooted in local nationalist traditions, is best understood by also considering its global ideological bedfellows. Nativists in eastern Europe, and those who embrace similar forms of ethnonationalist cultural traditionalism elsewhere, have mutually reinforced each other. -
Short English, H2020
Eirik Vassenden – CV (b. May 3, 1971 in Bergen) Professor of Scandinavian Literature, University of Bergen Telephones: +47 55582459 / +47 40244626 E-mail: [email protected] Eirik Vassenden is professor of Scandinavian Literature at the Department of Literary, Linguistic and Aesthetic Studies at the University of Bergen. He holds a dr.art.-degree in comparative literature (2003), and has published books and numerous articles on both historical and contemporary Scandinavian literature, on literary criticism, and on literary didactics. His extensive research on literary criticism includes perspectives on the history of modern media, and combines theory of the public sphere with detailed, rhetorical analysis. Education: Dr. art., University of Bergen, February 2003 Cand. philol., University of Bergen, September 1996, Comparative Literature Cand. art., University of Bergen, June 1994, Architecture, Art History and Comparative Literature Employment 2014:– Professor, Department of Literary, Liguistic and Aesthetic Studies at the University of Bergen 2012–2013: Professor of Norwegian Literature at Bergen University College 2011–2012: Associate professor of Norwegian literature at Bergen University College 2009–2011: Research fellow at the University of Bergen, Dept. of Scandinavian Studies 2008–2009: Associate professor (in vacancy) at Bergen University, Dept. of Scandinavian Studies 2004–2008: Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen, Dept. of Comparative Literature 2006 (fall): Associate professor (in vacancy) at the University of Bergen, Dept. of Scandinavian Studies 2003–2004: Associate professor (in vacancy) of Norwegian Literature at Bergen University College 1999–2002: Ph.D.-scholarship at the University of Bergen, Dept. of Comparative Literature 1998–1999: Assistant professor (in vacancy) at the University of Bergen, Dept. -
Left Populism of the Macedonian Far-Left Party Levica Research Article
The state for which people? The (not so) left populism of the Macedonian far-left party Levica Research Article Ivo Bosilkov Assistant Professor, University American College Skopje [email protected] Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2021, 8(1), 40-55 10.25364/02.8:2021.1.4 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Contemporary Southeastern Europe is an online, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that publishes original, scholarly, and policy-oriented research on issues relevant to societies in Southeastern Europe. For more information, please contact us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.contemporarysee.org The state for which people? The (not so) left populism of the Macedonian far-left party Levica Ivo Bosilkov ∗ Assessing the political principles of the Macedonian far left party Levica (The Left) has been an elusive task for political commentators and scholars alike since its emergence in 2016. However, the importance of categorising the party has further increased after its success in the 2020 parliamentary elections in North Macedonia, marked by a series of controversial statements by its leader, Dimitar Apasiev. As many pundits interpreted the violent undertones of Apasiev’s words as an indication of Levica’s ‘fascist’ intentions, the focus has shifted away from its key feature: populism. While this article does not attempt to deny Levica’s self-definition as a far-left party, it does scrutinise the party’s claim to be a member of the ‘left-populist’ family of parties. Demonstrating the contradictions between official party communication and social media posts by its leader, the article concludes that Levica is in fact a valenced or polyvalent populist party, as it lacks the inclusivity principle common for left populists.