Greece: There were 21 neo-nazis in parliament and the little one said, roll over
The wonderful Greek word ‘charmolypi’ describes the exact sentiment of the majority after the 6 May elections: joy (hara) and sadness (lypi). There is relief, because the two major parties were punished, but also scepticism about the rise of extreme right and the course of the country Read article
Silence of statues in Budapest's Memento Park, House of Terror
Budapest’s Park, built shortly after the fall of communism, commemorates the visual iconography of four decades under communist rule in the Hungarian capital. In sharp contrast to its frozen lethargy, the House of Terror bursts with life. Could things have been different for Hungary today if it had a revolution back in 1989?
Poland's young funky priests recruiting at Euro 2012
Empty tribunes of the PGE Arena (the recently built Gdańsk stadium), freshly laid grass and five set of robes proudly rustling it. After all Europe's high-profile sporting event is also a chance to score and join the team of God, according to the Gdansk seminary
Polish, Czech, Finnish and German media on Euro 2012 boycott
On 30 April EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso announced that he will stay away from the Euro 2012 in Ukraine as long as constitutional principles are violated there. Many politicians of European countries have rejected the idea, finding a boycott ineffectual and the discussion surrounding it hypocritical
Multiculturalism in Athens: a climate of one's own
The capital of Greece lies in a basin surrounded by four mountains and the gulf to the south. Athens, a product of internal immigration, is a city built in the fifties, its buildings true to eastern Mediterannean styles. The 2004 Olympics was probably one of the peaks of it most recent history, yet not even a decade later it has been fitted into a straitjacket it had not quite counted on. Immigration is one of those wretched restraints on the garment of Greece, a phenomenon dating only two decades back, and now uncomfortably zoning in on the touristic but poor centre of the city and its rising crime levels. As a member state of the European union, Greece is in strict charge of processing its own asylum applications and dealing with its own ethnic minorities. Of the latter, elements seem to work in relation to the time of integration of said community. For example, take the popularity of Turkish soap operas and Bulgarian-Albanian street dancers, with the deadlocked demands to give this European capital a mosque. Ultimately, Athens has many other basic problems at this moment in time, and Athens is also not Greece - read the pulse we have taken of its multicultural climate, some weeks before the elections on 9 May (Image 'Apollonian Resonance' (cc) AlicePopkorn/ flickr/ alicepopkorn.de/)
Gallery | Immigration
- Video Robots don't cry: trio dance 'popping' multiculturalism away in Athens
They don't have enough money to attend professional dance schools, so the street becomes their education. This trio of youngsters aged between 17-22 are one of the positive signs of multiculturalism in the Greek capital. They meet everyday at Syntagma Square, and spend the day together, dancing until dusk, joined by friends here and there. We meet the Albanian, Bulgarian and Greek urban dancers, who shun the problems of a city which was once their parent's 'American dream'. This video is part of the fifth edition in cafebabel.com’s 2012 feature focus series on 'multiculturalism in Europe'. Many thanks to the team at cafebabel Athens
London to Berlin via Amsterdam: hyper-local citizen journalism grows
‘Hyper-local blogging’ concerns new blogs or online magazines characterised by their dedication to a particular area or locality. They may be a hub for local restaurant reviews, digital archives for local history or grow into daily, regional online magazines. Editors, contributors and readers explain their popularity
Ethnic violence in Skopje: Macedonian magic circle
Attempts to raise inter-ethnic tensions escalated on 16 April when four twentysomething men and an older eyewitness were murdered near the capital, triggering riots. Since the victims are Slavic-speaking Macedonians, the speculation is that the murderers are from another ethnic group - but we don't need this boat to be rocked again
Britain's 'The Office' still successful as German remake 'Stromberg'
A dismal open-plan office with neon-lights, paper stacks and telephones ringing non-stop is not the usual setting for a comedy series, and yet it has proved successful, as the British comedy 'The Office' can testify
Brunch with…
The Experimental Tropic Blues Band: 'We started in the playground and haven't stopped since'
With the support of the independent music collective 'JauneOrange', the TETBB trio has been an explosive part of the Walloon rock scene for over a decade. Between a barge in Paris, recording in New York and a joint, the 'best Belgian rock band of all time' explain the then and now
Culture event guide
Hanif Kureishi: ‘Sex is not dangerous enough; the real danger is falling in love’
‘I like rich people and I like poor people and I like strange people. It’s the ordinary people that get on my nerves,’ sums up the English playwright and screenwriter at the Fabula literary festival in Slovenia this spring, who manages to ‘insult’ the audience within his first few seconds onstage
Tower of babel
Rain check
With the final round of the French presidential elections and the early yet long-awaited Greek and Serbian parliamentary counterparts cropping up all on 6 May 2012, there's a variation in the number of citizens who are tempted to 'pass' on voting after the month of showers...
EU week
British, Dutch, Czech and Swiss press on Breivik Norway trial
Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of mass murder, pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in Oslo on 16 April, claiming he was acting in self-defence when he killed 77 people in July 2011. Although the Norwegian constitutional state is duty bound to grant Breivik a fair hearing it must prevent him from using the trial as a political stage to spread his ideas, commentators write
Yum Niam
Devouring Sigrid Verbert, a Belgian food blogger in Italy
It's not just scrumptious cuisine and pretty photos in a book. Its pages won't just dunk you into Italy, Belgium or Germany, but inside Europe good and proper. Just as gastronomic traditions mix and merge, 'il Cavoletto di Bruxelles' constructs tastier realities
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