cafebabel.com

Pan-Slavism, Slovio and Polish the 'status symbol'

('Francesca Reinhardt',) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:00:00 -0000

The Slavic languages all have their roots in Proto-Slavic. Since the twelfth century, however, they have drifted apart. One of them reached its zenith in the seventeenth century: Polish

Double discrimination: roma women in central and eastern Europe

('ZoeBBee',) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:30:00 -0000

Romania has recently announced plans to evict roma from the northern town of Baia Mare, in a move which could leave hundreds homeless. The move emphasises the continued urgency of the theme ‘roma women in central and eastern Europe’, discussed during the European women's lobby’s conference in Budapest on 7 April this year. The lobby aims to bring the double discrimination that roma women endure to the attention of European decision-makers. Interview with Brigitte Triems, the lobby's president

Arab spring 2011 and Europe’s fall of communism in 1989

('Daniel Novotny',) — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:00:08 -0000

As the Maghreb goes through its transitions, a look at the lessons learned from central and eastern Europe. Opinion from Daniel Novotny, deputy director of the research centre at the association for international affairs in Prague

Ukraine feminists ‘Femen’: topless a political weapon

("Miriam O'Brien",) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:05:00 -0000

At first the 300 members of the feminist community came to the streets to protest against the expansion of sex tourism in the Ukraine. The 12, 000 active 'sex pats' are growing under the indifferent gaze of the authorities. Femen has been organising nude performances as a political weapon for three years now. After a run-in at the Italian embassy, Inna Shevechenko vents her anger

Albania-Kosovo mafia, ‘cablegate’ and other cases of blindness

('Laura Simpson',) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:30:00 -0000

After two years of investigation, the council of Europe has accused the Kosovan prime minister of leading an international network trafficking organs, weapons and heroin with the silent acquiescence of European countries. Will these Wiki-Like revelations destroy public confidence in politics? Here's a little theory on scepticism

Alice in Belarus (Wonderland): politician tries to enter local elections

('Peter Robbins',) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:50:27 -0000

This is the story of Olga Karatch, a Belarusian dissident and 'Nash Dom' human rights activist, and her participation in local elections in Belarus. Those were in May 2010, but Olga’s testimony has lost none of its relevance. Unfortunately, it's all too synonymous with the state of Belarusian politics as a whole, and with elections looming on 19 December

Building a mosque in Warsaw: is it all trouble and strife?

('Peter Robbins',) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:00:00 -0000

Muslims in Poland go back several centuries, beginning with the arrival of tatar settlers in the eastern reaches of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The muslim community in Poland has only recently begun attracting attention, with the building of a mosque financed by a Saudi sponsor in the Warsaw district of Ochota. Not everyone is happy

Communism perspectives: 'discontinuous history of art in eastern Europe'

('Oliver',) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:00:00 -0000

3 October marked twenty years after the fall of the communist regime. One exhibition in Paris this summer asked the central question: is there any value in the question of 'east-west’ opposition today?

Esma Redzepova: 'Roma are cosmopolitan'

('Annie Rutherford',) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:30:00 -0000

A mother of 47, a career spanning 20 albums and 40 years and songs in Serbian, Macedonian and Romany. At the Sin Fronteras festival in France, the Macedonian 'gypsy music queen' brings a bit of Roma culture to a country which is planning to export large numbers of its gypsy population 'back' to Romania and Bulgaria by the end of the month

'Come to Romania': quest to brand Bucharest

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:15:32 -0000

Forging a skate culture, redesigning lei banknotes and offering a story to tourists, aside from the palace of parliament hotspot, the result of dictator Ceaucescu's tearing down a third of the city in communist times. These are just some of the ideas to boost the image and GDP of a crisis-riddled country

Bloggers in Romania, hailed by President Terminator

('Caroline Prosser',) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0000

Between fierce entrepreneurs, A-listers, history re-writers and new media journalists, bloggers are thriving in Romania. It's hailed by the president, but not well liked by other media stalwarts. The country, one of three ‘partially free’ medias in the EU (alongside Bulgaria and Italy), ranks a poor 50th on the European press freedom index

Melancholy in Berlin: views of three foreign writer residents

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:43:59 -0000

Very loosely, a 19-year-old Klaus Mann saw 1920s Berlin as 'seductive, gray, scabby, peeling, yet vibrant vitality, nervous, shimmering, phosphorescent, animated, full of tensions and promises.' Italian, Croatian and French writers Gianluca Falanga, Maksim Cristan and Maia Mazaurette give us their noughties take

To be or to be in Berlin: poor but (creatively) rich

('Camelia Ivanova',) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:22:59 -0000

Money and the crisis are not on the agenda for Berliners who can focus on different things, such as art. 'Being poor is not cool, but OK,' is the word on the street. It all looks very promising for someone from Bulgaria, the EU's officially poorest country, where a lack of money, unlike cheap glamour, can never be a virtue

Cheese People: 'European' face of Russian music

('Natasha Doff',) — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:12:33 -0000

From the banks of the River Volga just west of the Urals mountains, which mark the geographical border between Europe and Asia, a funky new band is making a big impact on the Russian music scene: an unsigned, energetic female-fronted quartet with a disco-punk sound. We meet backstage in Moscow

A brief history: döner kebab, fair ambassador to Turkey?

('Suna Ekmekcioglu',) — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:53:26 -0000

One of the most popular late night snacks in Europe is the flag bearer of Turkish cuisine outside of Turkey. Is this a source of pride or sorrow for the Turks? Plus, a recipe for green beans in olive oil

Polish people: 'united in diversity' in Vilnius

('Aleksandra Sygiel',) — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:14:37 -0000

It wasn't the economic weakness of the crisis but the ideological one that harmed Europe most. Who wanted to be be part of the dominoes in the name of solidarity? Unfortunately, the dominoes of each member state provoked nationalist reactions. The region comprising the Lithuanian capital is one of the fewest cities where two nations claim to be at home

University-educated flee and woo Lithuania: emigration and erasmus

('Krisztian Gal',) — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:07:53 -0000

An increasing number of students are asking professor Žilvinas Martinaitis at the University of Vilnius to let them take their exams at the end of May. This would allow them to go abroad - most popularly, to the UK, Ireland or Scandinavia - to work, and return with some extra money in October, a month after the official term start. Lithuanian and eramus students, professors and politicians explain the phenomenon

'Free', 'partly free', 'not free': press freedom in Europe

('Andrew Burgess',) — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:30:00 -0000

American NGO Freedom House uses three categories to rank the degree of press freedom in countries across the world. On 3 May 2010, world press freedom day, each region of Europe learnt its category: the press in western Europe is 'free', central Europe is 'partly free' and in eastern Europe the press is 'not free'. But there are signs that the trend could change

French, Spanish, Czech and British youth on euroscepticism

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:12:36 -0000

Unpaid interns, taxes, recycling, the parliament in Strasbourg...you name it, our contributors from across the cafebabel.com network have something to say about what irks them most about Europe. 9 May marks sixty years since the Schuman declaration was signed, when it was agreed that France, Germany and others would work together as a federation

Kinda green: five myths about sustainable development in Bulgaria

('Hanna Sankowska',) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:17:57 -0000

Ah, the Bulgarians. They're relatively apathetic. Most companies are interested in either doing only the legally required minimum for the environment or in using their ‘green’ activities as marketing tools. But counterintuitive though it may seem, the financial crisis actually promotes sustainability

Michael Jackson dies aged 50: eastern EU grab their crotch in tribute

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:48:42 -0000

On 25 June, the king of pop died after a cardiac arrest in LA. He remains a firm musical reference for the 'eurogeneration’ growing up in the seventies and eighties. Ukrainian folk rock, Lithuania’s late MJ and Bulgaria’s Wacko Jacko wannabe – soundtrack tribute in videos

What communism means to three central and eastern European women

('Kate Robinson',) — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:00:00 -0000

Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin wall, what does communism mean to Cecilia, 22, from Bulgaria, Katharina, 20, from Slovakia and Anna, 28, from the Czech Republic?

Five years of enlarged Europe – no longer a land of gold

('Gemma Turner',) — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:23:23 -0000

Five years on from the great European expansion into the east, the eastern and western members are still oceans apart. The distance is not only geographical and the differences not only ideological

Jose Manuel Durão Barroso: ‘We don’t need another EU commission candidate'

('eugenie stephenson',) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:32:12 -0000

The conservative and incumbent will be running to renew his mandate for another five years as the head of the executive branch of the EU. ‘We are building a supranational democracy’ with a double legitimisation system ‘in which consensus is the most important,’ he says in Warsaw

Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia: domino game of governmental crash

('Astrid vW',) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:15:20 -0000

On 22 March, Hungary’s socialist prime minister, businessman Ferenc Gyurcsany, announced his resignation for 14 April. There is a huge amount of strategy beneath his move and it reveals a trend appearing in central and eastern Europe. Today, the Czech Republic establishes a new chapter

No to eastern European rescue package

('euro topics',) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:24:10 -0000

The EU countries want to better co-ordinate their national bank rescue plans and economic stimulus programmes. At an informal summit meeting in Brussels on 1 March, protective measures for individual industries and an aid package for eastern Europe were rejected. Reactions from Denmark, Portugal, Romania and the Czech Republic

David Cerny: 'president Klaus is a d**k'

('Hanna Sankowska',) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0000

We met the politically engaged sculptor, 40, in 2007. Labelled by many as 'the scandal maker', he is back in 2009 to pinpoint the Czech presidency of the EU with his installation of national stereotypes at the European parliament, alleged to be a hoax

Bronze Soldier and Russian minority in Tallinn: ‘it’s complicated’

('Filip Jurzyk',) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:02:26 -0000

In April 2007 the soviet statue was uprooted from Tallinn’s city centre. It angered the Russian-speaking minority, a third of the population. Have lessons been learnt one and a half years on? Investigation

Estonians feel recession, but there's a euro at the end of the tunnel

('Susannah Readett-Bayley',) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:00:00 -0000

‘We have been too optimistic’ - a gentle landing was predicted for Estonia’s 2011 entry into the Eurozone, but the economy is entering turbulent times following its exponential growth. Interview macro-economic expert in Tallinn

Photos: 111 000 Russians in Estonia

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Beyond the historic gates of the old town, around the commercial centres, behind the motorways - the Russian-speaking minority mill on with life in the district of Lasnamaï in Tallinn. Photo feature

Animated Dreams in Tallinn: film articulates art and the market

('Matthew Pagett',) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:00:00 -0000

While the older generation of illustrators, working from former soviet studios, export their art thanks to public financing, the younger ones attempt to reconcile artistic creation and getting paid. The local festival kicked off on 19 November

Youth in Estonia: no country for student activists

('Helen Swain',) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:00:00 -0000

Talking politics to Estonians is more likely to make the temperature drop than the Baltic chill, whilst Europe is remote from students' daily concerns

Photos: Prague Spring, forty years on

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:30:00 -0000

On 21 August Prague commemorated forty years of it’s famous democratic ‘spring’, which ended revolt in the capital this past century. The spontaneous protest caught the world by surprise, before it was reprimanded by the Soviet regime. Images

Biking is trendy, politics is not in green Budapest

('Akli Hadid',) — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:00:00 -0000

Resistance groups may be fighting pollution in Budapest, but there’s a long way to go from holding bicycle protests to creating a political impact. How can ecological thinking blossom in the Hungarian capital?

Hating on Hungarian Tescos

('Kate Hollinshead',) — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:00:00 -0000

Whilst shopping malls spring up like mushrooms, more and more shops in the city centre stand empty. Where does the course lie between tradition and modernity in Budapest?

Photos: metro culture in Budapest

('Pedro Pic\xc3\xb3n',) — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:00:00 -0000

You can’t evade the underground in everyday life in Budapest, which has the second oldest metro system in Europe after London

‘Buda-sex’ and the Hungarian porn industry

('Akli Hadid',) — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:00:00 -0000

Budapest is famous for being one of the world’s sex capitals. Pornography, sex toursim and prostitution converge in the Hungarian capital, to the delight of some and the frowns of others

Drinking trademark Budweiser beer in Bohemia

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Czech beer came to the world’s attention again in April after a century-old dispute with the US over the naming rights to its Budweiser beer was settled in a Luxembourg court

Czech cinema in the 'Hollywood of the east'

('Ed Saunders',) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Light comedies and export hits: Czech cinema rides on the wave of success. But in Prague young fresh filmmakers and independent cinemas push against the mainstream

Prague ‘Hyde Park’: dead speakers society

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The Czech capital is banishing a young Brit’s project from the city centre after the first Speaker’s Corner in Europe outside of the UK became a hotspot for extremists

Romania: welcoming NATO

('Luciana Grosu',) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

One international summit, 26 countries, thousands of different voices - one of the youngest EU members welcomed NATO officials and the international media to Bucharest from 2-4 April 2008

NATO summit in Bucharest: Albania and Croatia to join

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

On 2 April NATO invited the two candidates to join the defence alliance, but leave Macedonia waiting

Europe’s eastern bloc palaces

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:30:00 -0000

Berlin, Bucharest, Vilnius and Warsaw - four examples of what to do with those eastern state building dinosaurs

Babelblogs: Macedonia, cloning and praying in Berlin

('Susannah Readett-Bayley',) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Europe is often seen as boring and bureaucratic - not the case with cafebabel.com’s community blogs. European debate is in full swing, bloggers are up in arms and words are flying

Easter in Europe: all about the egg

('Francesca Reinhardt',) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Everywhere you look, display windows, promotional offers, Easter markets and cards are covered with bright, beautifully decorated Easter eggs

Au pair Alices in washing up land

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

It’s an enticing experience which draws many young people abroad – but the catch lies hidden behind closed doors

Fresh new faces at the Berlinale Talent Campus

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Between 9 and 14 February, the German capital played host to 350 up-and-coming film enthusiasts from all over the world

Katarzyna Kozyra: plastic penises and ribbon vaginas

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The Polish sculptor, video and installation artist, 45, probes the theme of the body as a costume - what it is like to be a ‘real woman’?

Günther von Hagens: dead bodies 'Plastinator'

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The German anatomist has created quite a furore with his ‘Body Worlds’ exhibition throughout Europe. Since November 2006, visitors to the Plastinarium workshop in Guben have observed how corpses are plasticised

Hamburg: European metropolis?

('Ed Saunders',) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Built in lavish style in 2006, the Europa arcade in the centre of Hamburg is the city’s new landmark shopping centre. 'Europe' can at best be imagined here