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

Cannabis legalisation: shopping for reality in Vienna

('Naomi R',) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:00:18 -0000

The Austrian capital has one 'head shop' for 100, 000 residents. It's perfect for cannabis amateurs, especially as the business is now commercial and legal, though smoking it in public is still not legal

Croatia’s writers and playwrights: no post-war no-hopers

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:00:00 -0000

It’s impossible for the moment to imagine a literature and theatre scene in Croatia which does not blend in the story of Yugoslavia’s collapse. The wounds are too fresh, holding back the development of a certain maturity. One young generation of playwrights and writers between Zagreb and Split literally put the streets on their stages and pages, as they move between the daily quest for an identity and the desire for renewal

'Shooting galleries' in Europe: political jab or social cure-all?

('ruth gray',) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:45:00 -0000

Supervising the use of hard drugs or not is an issue that's cropping up across Europe, with some countries tackling it with a different intensity than others; the UK has three injecting clinics. While eight progressive governments have already established the centres, others wish to silence such crazy calls for change. All in the name of morality. Obviously...

Mushrooms, worthy hallucinogens of paradise

('samantha',) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:57:09 -0000

The beneficial properties of mushrooms are renowned: springing up out of the ground from nothing, they are one of the first foods eaten by human beings. What is perhaps less well known is that it may well be the mushroom which was responsible for the birth of the human species

Puff marijuana, not tobacco in Holland’s coffee shops

('Sarah Truesdale',) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:00:00 -0000

The anti-smoking law takes effect from 1 July in The Netherlands

Mujahideen Khan: 'we do not know who the Taliban is right now'

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Afghanistan remains a huge challenge for NATO. Whilst officials met in the Bucharest's Parliament Palace from 2-4 April, a group of Estonian journalists cast an eye back with a mujahideen in the Afghan mountains

As drugs and violence rise, Mexico's democratic hopes fall

('John Smith',) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Mexicans are losing confidence in their institutions, justice is absent, women are murdered and narcotics traffickers keep the pressure on an increasingly violent society

Cocaine Spain

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0000

plus the never-ending story of Kosovo

Beer over Gaudi

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:00:00 -0000

In Barcelona, unlicensed street performers, sleeping on park benches and drinking and urinating on its streets is illegal. How has the civic by-law affected society one year on?

Sport: Brussels' Achilles Heel

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:00:00 -0000

As an international UNESCO convention on doping takes place in Paris, Pietro Mennea, Italian former Olympic champion, discusses the 'crime'

Transe ('Trance') - journey to hell

('Jo Ashworth',) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:00:00 -0000

The controversial new film offering from Portuguese director Teresa Villaverde premieres in France on December 27

Terry Gilliam – eternal youth

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:00:00 -0000

Terry Gilliam spent half his life in London, where he created Monty Python with a group of like-minded comedians. At 65, the actor-director’s spirits remain as imaginative and animated as ever

Girls hit cinema screens

('G. Ring',) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:04:00 -0000

Films about girls in the suburbs are all the rage in Europe

Alternative lifestyles: 'I came to Amsterdam to live in a squat'

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:00:00 -0000

In the 1980s, a political movement of squatters changed the face of the Dutch capital. Today, young apolitical Eastern Europeans are joining the squatter movement