cafebabel.com

«Me, Myself and Brussels» Intercultural Speed dating June, 21, 2012

Nathalie — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:26:04 -0000

World music in Vienna: Yezidi we can

Dzina Donauskaite — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:22:26 -0000

From a Yezidi party in central Vienna to the world music stage of artists resident in Vienna from Syrian and other origins, the patterns of the Austrian capital's oriental music world don't quite mirror society when it comes to integration. Can oriental rhythms foster social change?

When in Europe, 'gag' as the Chinese do

Nabeelah Shabbir — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:12:00 -0000

The EU and Civil Society: Where do we go from here?

Nathalie — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:29:40 -0000

By Francesca Cerri

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are vital partners for decision-makers, as they are best placed to know population's needs in terms of development. The role of CSOs has to be strenghten from being implementing partners to sharing more responsibility with the State as the developing countries claim ownership of their own development.

12 Hours for Greece

Nathalie — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:58:05 -0000

By Nathalie Jusseaume

12 Hours for Greece is an initiative of citizens of various nationalities living in Brussels, acting in their own name, wishing to address a sign of support and solidarity to the Greek people in times of crisis. This event will be held on 16 May 2012 from 10.00 am to midnight at Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels!

Greece: There were 21 neo-nazis in parliament and the little one said, roll over

Georgios Kokkolis — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:00 -0000

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

Silence of statues in Budapest's Memento Park, House of Terror

Vuksa Velickovic — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:06:23 -0000

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

Agata Jaskot — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:06:54 -0000

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

Job offer: cafebabel.com recruits sprightly Spanish editor

Nabeelah Shabbir — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:32:46 -0000

Innovations in Education

Antoaneta Ivanova — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:45:43 -0000

Come and debate in Strasbourg on Saturday 12th May: The ECI, a new tool for citizen participation?

Alexandre Heully — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:37:07 -0000

“Goodbye blue sky”

Linda Krajcso — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:14:29 -0000

Wing clippings around MALEV

The unexpectedly reported bankruptcy of MALEV, the 66-year-old Hungarian airline, was a surprise even for its employees. Not only a group of services (eg. direct flights to a number of countries) were lost, but also thousand of jobs. And the not so happy ending of MALEV still does not mean the end of the cut-backs at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, because the planned closure of Terminal 1 put more jobs at risk. We asked Bálint Bukta, a flight operations officer at the airport, about 3rd February 2012, the day when the bankruptcy was announced, and about the current situation. (The interview was made at the end of March.)

Cafebabel.com: Bálint, was the bankruptcy expected at all?

Bálint Bukta: There are two main reasons that caused the bankruptcy, one is based on the fact that the airline has never been properly capitalized, and the other is that it has become a “political toy”. It had been known for a long time that MALEV was in big trouble. There were some negotiation with the Chinese in autumn about taking over the proprietary rights, but they declined the investment opportunity after estimating the status of the airline. It was only on 3rd February at 6:00am when everyone was informed about the bankruptcy.Then the company received bankruptcy protection from the State and the employees were surprised by the news. Some of them were in the air flying when they heard that the company they work for went bankrupt. Actually, the reaction of other airports and airlines was surprisingly quick.

Cafebabel.com: What exactly happened at the airport? Who were laid off?

Bálint Bukta: Each employee got a call at 6:00 am saying he or she no longer works from that day. They had to pack up their belongings from the lockers until 10:00 am, and their access cards were disabled. The last flight landed was from Helsinki because it took off before the declaration of bankruptcy. Then there was a gathering for all the emlpoyees in the hangar. Approximately 2300 persons were fired the same day, and but some of the pilots deprived of their jobs at this meeting were asked to fly back the planes leased by MALEV to the owner companies. Each “flight” was undertook by a pilot. The last Dash Q-400 (HA-LQC) was returned to Torp-Sandefjord, Norway by captain Attila Leposa and first mate Edina Leposa, the pilot’s daughter on February 23. The first mate sang a line from Hungarian singer Charlie as a farewell song (it was a well-known Hungarian song with the title „Nézz az ég felé” – ‘Look up to the sky’ – the translator). With the bankruptcy of MALEV the airline’s pilots, stewards and stewardesses lost their jobs, but the subsidiaries partly remained in operation. MALEV GH (MALEV Ground Handling, a ground support unit responsible for the technical maintenance - ed.) dismissed 75%, ACE (Aeroplex of Central Europe specialises in repair and maintenance services at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport - ed.) dismissed 50% of their employees. Mournful days were coming after the bankruptcy.

20th Festival of Europe

Nathalie — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:18:31 -0000

By Carlo Peano

The Europe Day is not a public holiday, so in Brussels the celebration takes place during the weekend with the Festival of Europe. This year it will occur on Saturday 12 May from 10 am to 6 pm.

Should I stay or should I go - The effect of EU integration on brain drain in Serbia

shadow — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:34:15 -0000

Amelia Andersdotter, the youngest MEP

Nathalie — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:28:55 -0000

By Carlo Peano

Cafebabel Brussels has interviewed Ms. Amelia Andersdotter. She is the youngest current Member of European Parliament (MEP) and her party – the Pirate Party – is having success not only in Sweden, but also in other European countries, such as Germany. She works at the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and at the Delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula. She is also substitute in the Committee on International Trade, in the Committee on Budgetary Control and in the Delegation for relations with the countries of the Andean Community.

Intercultural communication for reintegration

Andras Szirko — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:36:28 -0000

A debate on the Western Balkans at Centrál Kávéház held by cafebabel.com

What features characterize the European history of the Balkans? What level of integration do our southern neighbours need and through what means? The Budapest team of European online magazine cafebabel.com organised a debate on 19 April entitled “Encouraging the neighbours – Hungary’s role in the Western Balkans” to get answers to these questions.

Two experts participated in the debate: Dr. Imre Szilágyi, Senior Research Associate of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and Csaba Szikra member of ExperienceBalkan.com, a team organizing intercultural training courses. Two Serbian journalists, Vuksa Velickovic and Valentina Popovic, have also actively participated in the debate from the audience, since they were spending a few days in Budapest as part of the Orient Express Reporter 2 project, the follow-up of last year’s successful Orient Express Reporter.

What’s a Spring without Women?

Elina Makri — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:40:46 -0000

As the Arab world is making a shift and Mediterranean cosmos is in full swing, women of the neighborhood will have a one day get together in Brussels, to discuss various topics.

The meeting is organised by Mediter Network, at 8 th of May in Brussels, and is entitled “Mediterranean women between Arab Spring and the crisis”. Join us!

Journalists! MULTIKULTI on the ground - write for us from Warsaw – 27th June -1st July 2012

Katharina Kloss — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:44:36 -0000

Internships – The First Step to Employment

Antoaneta Ivanova — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:11:02 -0000

Road to London 2012 - Guide

Matteo Minoli — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:17:03 -0000

Syrian protests in Brussels

Nathalie — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:20:50 -0000

By Lisa Kittel

"We support our country and the reforms of president Assad. We don’t want any foreign interference.” That is what Syrians in Brussels were demanding on the 11th of march 2012 and a lot of other occasions.

Second edition of Shake-up Europe!: cafebabel.com’s 4 days training seminar gathering European NGOs in Strasbourg, France

ovidiu tataru — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:09:00 -0000

Cafebabel.com proudly presents the Conference Young Europe 2: Multilingual Creation and Education in Theatre : « Introducing European standards in artistic education »

ovidiu tataru — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:08:17 -0000

Polish, Czech, Finnish and German media on Euro 2012 boycott

euro topics — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:22:24 -0000

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

Transparency unlimited - the pros and cons of security scanners

Nathalie — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:41:56 -0000

By Stanislava Gaydajieva

The debate whether European airports should use body scanners was fierce and many-sided. Should Europe follow the US and install numerous security scanners at its airports? Europe already did. Even though partially. Body scanners were allowed on European airports since 25 December 2009 when a young terrorist attempted to blow up a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

'Debate on Europe' - Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2003 speaks

Nabeelah Shabbir — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:02:03 -0000

Devouring Sigrid Verbert, a Belgian food blogger in Italy

mary maistrello — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:45:00 -0000

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

“EUgoslavia”: Between Balkans Membership and the Yugopean Union

Nathalie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:03:56 -0000

By Aris Kokkinos
Translated by Danica Jorden
Photo : Davide Martinotti

On April 24, Cafebabel organised a debate on expanding the European Union to include the countries of the former Yugoslavia, bringing up the taboo subject of: Are we seeing a Europeanisation of the Balkans, or a Balkanisation of Europe?

MULTIKULTI on the ground - write for us from Strasbourg - 24-27 May 2012

Jacopo Franchi — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:08:26 -0000

Inner-city immigrant-city Athens: look Greek, look lively

Nabeelah Shabbir — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:39:48 -0000

A crisis can exacerbate a ‘them versus us’ feeling, especially with elections on the cards. Half a million undocumented immigrants* makes Greece one of the three European countries (alongside Spain and Italy) to be the first point of welcome for asylum seekers. Far right parties milk the 'foreigners-out' cow, whilst a general mood of mistrust reins

Love never fails, say the "expats" at the Bozar

Nathalie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:50:49 -0000

By Eva Donelli

Exhausting rehearsal schedules, no time for food, "furious” arguments and laughter to release the tension: this is the atmosphere one week before the debut of “Redemption”.

Rise of Turkish soap operas in Greece

Krisztian Gal — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:28:40 -0000

Has this positive phenomenon in Greek entertainment regarding multiculturalism increased due to the crisis? A wave of Turkish novellas seems to be bringing back more 'traditional values' that everyone can relate to via the small screen, regardless of the ancient antagonism between the two cultures

Literature and Eroticism: Cupid Always Draws His Bow

Nathalie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:55:58 -0000

By Maria Moreno
Translated by Danica Jorden

Reflecting the theme chosen for the 2012 edition of the Brussels Book Fair (“Sex, Books & Rock ‘N Roll”), it’s easy to draw a parallel between erotic literature and rock culture. Ever since ancient times, eroticism has oscillated between conflict and freedom. Today, literature holds a mirror to a society that has changed the standards of subversion.

Special dossier "Sex & The City"

Nathalie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:50:16 -0000

Photo : Davide Martinotti

Sex, eroticism... sometimes taboo, often mysterious. In our European capital, sex is everywhere and not just where it's noticeable. It can be found at the end of an alley, around an exposition, on the small screen, inside a book, in the foggy atmosphere of certain student parties, or simply at home. Glamourous, chic, even trashy, sex in Brussels can be seen in many ways. Fearless and intrepid, Cafebabel Brussels shares with you an investigation into what sex has become in the 21st century in our dear capital.

The Tupperware Phenomenon: Gaude Mihi!

Nathalie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:32:25 -0000

By Nathalie Jusseaume
Translated by Danica Jorden

The word for “dildo” in French, “godemichet,” comes from the medieval Latin expression “Gaude Mihi,” or “Rejoice in Me.” Cafebabel Brussels is talking about toys, sensuality and pleasure, as the team participates in a sex toy Tupperware party, right in the middle of Brussels. There is a real surge in Tupperware parties in the capital. This trend is rather recent and women talk unabashedly about sex. But what really happens at these parties? Soft Love, a Belgian company that markets fashion and erotic products, seized upon the opportunity to develop the “home demonstration of sextoys” concept. Soft Love representative Leyla Parent played the game by responding to our questions in order to better understand this new phenomenon. Ladies, to your godes!

Once upon a mosque in Athens: illegal garages but not for raves

English language version of cafebabel.com — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:24:26 -0000

Around 700, 000 residents of Greece’s 11 million people are muslims. The figure is not exact since the government doesn’t make it easy for the community – essentially, the Greek capital is the only European one not to have a functioning mosque

Wonderland: Trying to scratch the surface in London

Daiva Repečkaitė — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:28:46 -0000

Before the blogging platform is updated and a technical solution for allowing comments on blogs again is found by Cafe Babel, the entry, like others, is cross-posted with DaivaRepeckaite.com. You can comment it there.

London has become such a usual travel destination for Central and Eastern European people that it would be difficult to surprise them with anything. Cheap flights to most European countries allow going there for business or for pleasure separatly, without the urge to explore everything possible in one go, and some people already go there only for shopping, or academic events, or to visit friends. There used to be stories of commuting doctors. The city, obviously, is so huge and diverse that whatever patchwork of stories you may have heard before, they will not come together to a coherent entity. As I went to visit there for a second time, my goal was to challenge some of the initial not-so-positive impressions and to finally experience the legendary cultural life to its fullest.

London to Berlin via Amsterdam: hyper-local citizen journalism grows

l.hogan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:05:30 -0000

‘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

Magic Teams in Vienna for Orient Express Reporter 2

ovidiu tataru — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:03:55 -0000

Europe abroad

Nathalie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:22:11 -0000

By Cristina Mariani

The joint statements released after the EU summits tend to be usually embellished with words of sound recognition for the role covered by the EU at a global level. The EU is part with the US of the largest and most integrated in the world trade and investment relationship. The EU is China’s biggest trading partner and China's economy has greatly benefited from Europe's open policies and open markets. This is all true, but beyond the diplomatic rhetoric, what do the major EU partners (US and China) really think about Europe? Cafebabel attended an event recently organized on the “The American and Chinese views on the Euro crisis” to figure it out.

The Experimental Tropic Blues Band: 'We started in the playground and haven't stopped since'

Hayley — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:56:46 -0000

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

Trying to scratch the surface in London

Daiva Repečkaitė — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:07:32 -0000

Before Cafe Babel re-enable comments on blogs and update the blogging platform, all posts are cross-posted with my personal blog - feel free to comment here!

Photos: cafebabel.com 2012 Civis Media online media winner, Berlin

Nabeelah Shabbir — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:27:24 -0000

Sex, Lies and The Media: The Sordid Threesome Unearthed by Jean Quatremer

Nathalie — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:12:48 -0000

By Aris Kokkinos
Translated by Danica Jorden

On his blog in 2007, Jean Quatremer, Libération correspondant in Brussels, was the first journalist to discuss Dominque Strauss-Kahn’s problematic relationships with women. He has today just finished a book on the DSK affair and its effect on journalism. He answers Cafebabel Brussels questions.

Ethnic violence in Skopje: Macedonian magic circle

Boris Kaeski — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:46:11 -0000

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

Russian film ‘Generation P’: pepsi with director Victor Ginzburg

Annie Rutherford — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:00:00 -0000

During the French festival Europe autour de l’Europe (‘Europe around Europe’), one of Russia’s most famous contemporary directors explains how he dedicated five years to the adaptation of the post-soviet generation novel by Victor Pelevin. It's a portrait of a progressive and urban generation of young Russians still a fair distance away from Generation Y

Britain's 'The Office' still successful as German remake 'Stromberg'

Kate Saunders-Puntis — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:00:00 -0000

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

Challenge Future Summit 2012-Where youth shape world’s future TODAY!

Antoaneta Ivanova — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:34:07 -0000

Many people ask me: ”Why EVS in Poland?”

Antoaneta Ivanova — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:31:58 -0000

Prostitution: Go behind the curtain

Nathalie — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:06:22 -0000

By Alfonso de Cea
Translated by Danica Jorden
La Fonderie, in collaboration with Espace P, is hosting until 7 April 2012 an exposition entitled, Prostitution, passez derrière le Rideau… (Prostitution, Go Behind the Curtain). It’s a collection of photographs by Frédéric Pauwels, accompanied by stories of prostitutes in and around Brussels, illustrating the history of the world’s oldest profession.