cafebabel.com

Kirtimai: Lithuania's Roma on education and 'missing England'

('Annie Rutherford',) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:36:54 -0000

Less than 3, 000 Roma live in Lithuania. Representing 0.1% of the population, there are still enough Baltic 'gypsies' to serve as a scapegoat in a country feeling squeezed by the crisis. However, in one Lithuanian village, Romualda, Svetlana, Konstantin and Konsela are helping the community to lift its head

Nightlife in Vilnius: ethnic minority benders

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:12:17 -0000

6.7% Polish, 6.3% Russian, 1.2% Belarusian, 0.7% Ukrainian, 0.1% Yiddish, 0.09% Tartar…approximately 115 communities of ethnic minorities were listed in this vein in a 2001 census in Lithuania. How integrated are these groups in local society? One way of finding out is by hitting the tiles

Multiculturalism in Piazza Vittorio, Rome

('Sebastian Baciu',) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:30:51 -0000

Rome's Piazza Vittorio Emanuele was once a prime example of integration, but today some residents claim that the area has since become overrun by 'Chinese trash culture'. The good news is that there are efforts to unite the district's inhabitants through art

University initiation rites debate hits France and Belgium

('Amy Hargreaves',) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:36:06 -0000

In the UK at least three people had died by 2008 because of initiation ceremonies for undergraduates, whilst recent incidents in France and Belgium featuring physical abuse and comas have helped raise awareness about a dangerous student ritual

Contentious Guéant circular rejects work visas in France

('Annie Rutherford',) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:07:12 -0000

France’s governmental memo on employment for their residing non-European students caused quite a commotion, and we’re not talking Jerry Maguire style. Graduates like Nabil Sebti are taking a stand against what could either turn into a long-term policy of sealing France off or be a strategy to gain votes in 2012 elections

'Our School' documentary: segregated Roma schools despite EU funds

('Linda Krajcso',) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:40:25 -0000

When directors and producers Mona Nicoară and Miruna Coca-Cozma followed three Roma children in a small Romanian village for four years, their film initially about a success story of integration became one about the realities of ethnic segregation. Interview

Six years after riots, French discuss French 'banlieue'

('hkeet',) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0000

In France you will get a different response to this question about its high-rise estates in the suburbs depending on whether you listen to the 'cliché factory' that is the media or the personal experiences of its inhabitants. Above all, it is the magnifying glass of France’s collective identity problem, and all of Europe is involved

Huzun, bourgeois, opposites: what is Orhan Pamuk’s Turkey?

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:49:05 -0000

Negotiations over Turkey’s accession to the European union began in 2006 but Europeans remain on their guard; the fear of the unknown is well known. The nobel literature prizewinner is one of Turkey’s main figureheads though he was accused of insulting Turkish identity. View from Poland

Confused, Cameron? Don’t abandon multiculturalism just yet

('Daniel G. Ross',) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:23:39 -0000

There's nothing particularly new in the British prime minister's 5 February claims that multiculturalism has failed. But there is something worrisome about his speech, and not only because other English-speaking countries are looking to Britain as they debate the merits of their own multiculturalism policies. View from Canada

Cameron vs. multiculturalism: British, Belgian, Spanish, Romanian press react

('euro topics',) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:25:53 -0000

In a call for ‘muscular liberalism’ at the Munich security conference, the British prime minister blames multiculturalism for exacerbating Britain's problems with radical islamists. While cautiously commending Cameron's objectives, Europe’s press criticises his methods on the grounds that they play into the hands of the extreme right

Three muslims in Brussels: (almost) ordinary citizens

('Nettah',) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:15:00 -0000

Being Belgian and muslim poses no particular problem for Omar, Younes and Mourad. They don't wear the burqa, which is banned in Belgium, yet are often turned away from bars. In the EU capital, tolerance and rejection go hand-in-hand

Angela Merkel: 'multiculti' German society failed, but islam 'has a place'

('euro topics',) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:06:17 -0000

The German chancellor's statements on 16 October have provoked the Slovakian, British, Dutch and Polish media - both immigrants and host societies have to work on integration, or the extreme right will win. Press review

Romain Galati: 'In ten years people will be speaking more languages'

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:03:22 -0000

To mark the European day of languages on 26 September 2010 we spotted a project where learning languages and promoting integration went hand in hand. Meet the founder of Language Exchange International (LEI)

Berlin launch: Anti-islam book by German bank exec Thilo Sarrazin

('eurotopics',) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:25:08 -0000

The former politician launched his book 'Deutschland schafft sich ab' ('Germany abolishes itself' on 30 August in Berlin. Criticism of Germany's immigration policy is legitimate, writes the Italian, German and Austrian press, but don't attack muslims. Translated European press review selection

France's 'war on criminality' aside, focus on Parisian Roma in 'social insertion villages'

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:19:08 -0000

Four years after their creation in Europe, 'social integration villages' are being presented as a 'Roma paradise'. European associations for minority protection expose some of the difficulties facing the most discriminated community in the EU. Meanwhile, the French government has since planned to dissolve 300 Roma settlements, whilst the UK is seeing its biggest Romany gypsy site, Dale Farm in Essex, bulldozed

Popping into Chinatown in Manchester

('Ana D',) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:13:09 -0000

Known as a Chinese village of north England, the neighbourhood is one of the most peculiar in Manchester, being the second largest tourist spot of England after London. One of the odd distinguishing factors of multiculturalism is the local community enclosed in its borders

In a country of 400, 000 muslims, the Swiss vote to ban minarets

('euro topics',) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:40:42 -0000

On 29 November, the people of Switzerland voted to ban the construction of new minarets. The referendum initiated by the Swiss people's party and the conservative federal democratic union has dealt a severe blow to religious peace in the country, write the Estonian, Swiss, Portuguese and Austrian press

Backstage: story of a Senegalese street vendor in Rome

('Alexandra Baxter',) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:25:14 -0000

‘La petite vendeuse de soleil’ is a moving film first shown at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the 'director's fortnight' category. It tells the story of a young Senegalese girl who is a street vendor for the newspaper ‘Soleil’, a common job for immigrants living in European cities. Off the cinema screens, we meet Ndjogou Thiongane in Rome, who accompanies us on a visit to the great mosque, and tells us his own story

Spain-EU: confusing electoral 'auberge espagnole'

('Matthew',) — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Debates on Europe in Spain are frequently a misleading paradox. On the one hand, public opinion is attached to the European Union, which facilitated the economic and political modernisation of the country. On the other, the lack of 'political pedagogy', the campaign for the European elections in June being no exception, leaves the EU as a distant and unknown political reality

Björn Kuhligk at Frankfurt book fair 2008

('Ed Saunders',) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:00:00 -0000

Turkey is the guest of honour at this year‘s Frankfurt Book Fair between 15 – 19 October. Interview with the author from Kreuzberg, Berlin, who spent a month in Eskişehir as a ‘city writer’

Jacques Barrot on immigration: ‘member states are compelled to solidarity’

('Matthew Pagett',) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:21:27 -0000

Stopping in Paris for a citizen hearing on 2 October, the vice president of the European commission, and head of the ‘Justice, Freedom and Security’ directorate general, on the controversial path of the EU's immigration policies. Interview

Mika Waltari: from Helsinki to Istanbul

('Media Consulta',) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:13:44 -0000

2008: the EU’s year for intercultural dialogue and the centenary of Finnish writer Mika Waltari’s birth, who travelled Helsinki to Istanbul by train in 1929. For the integration train, Turkey may be only a stop along the way, but a necessary one. Imaginary journey via Berlin

Turkish love story on Danish shores

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

With 3.8 million Turkish immigrants in the EU, we head to Denmark with the seventh largest Turkish population in Europe. Aydin Ozturk, 50, settled in Odense with a Danish partner and found his place in society

Didier Awadi: 'Artists too often have big egos'

('Kate Stansfield',) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The Senegalese hip hop pioneer, 38, invites his fellow rappers to speak out and campaign for a harmonious continent with his latest album 'Presidents of Africa'. Plus an exclusive video interview from Dakar

1968: a tour of Europe's revolts

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Spain, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and Germany - spinning through Europe's uprisings during that infamous year of rebellion