Current RSS news Multikulti on the ground
Multikulti on the ground
Vilnius, Вiльнюс or ווילנע: spotlight on Lithuanian capital’s tiny ethnic communities
Lithuania has enjoyed a rich multicultural heritage since being part of the Grand Duchy. Independence was restored for the third time in its history after the collapse of the soviet union in 1990. The motto of this second republic echoes the European union, which the northern country became a member state of in 2004 - ‘Tautos jega vienybeje!’, or ‘strength through unity’ (to the EU’s ‘united through diversity’). A Spanish-Italian-French-German-Russian-British team of journalists and photographers take the temperature of multiculturalism in ‘Vilna’ by focusing on the Jewish (0.3%), Belarusian (1.3%) and Baltic Roma (0.1%) populations. In the capital, Vilnius, dynamic 'foreigners' gradually make a name for themselves in institutions as varied as universities, NGOs, bookshops and nightclubs. In images, we draw multicultural parallels with the buildings which occupy just under a third of the city’s area (Image: (cc) Severin Sadjina/ flickr)
- Read the special edition Vilnius, Вiльнюс or ווילנע: spotlight on Lithuanian capital’s tiny ethnic communities
- Ladies what oppose Belarus in Vilnius
- From San Diego to Vilnius: all Jew you need for a library in Lithuania
- Kirtimai: Lithuania's Roma on education and 'missing England'
- Nightlife in Vilnius: ethnic minority benders
Multiculturalism in Italy: a Roman cocktail
Is Italy racist? This is the question posed by European media, some of which don’t hesitate to point to a lethal dose of racism particularly following the murder of two Senegalese in Florence. However, four journalists and a photographer sent to Rome by cafebabel.com chose instead to talk about the multicultural imprint of a nation which counts 5.4 million immigrants from non-EU countries. Of course, it’s not all sweetness. The Roma continue to battle for a decent future, while young Italians are fleeing a country which is losing its identity. However, second generation immigrants are aware of the civic role which they can play, while the piazza Vittoria in central Rome is a multicultural epicentre, a mixed drink shaken up in the most open of kitchens. In the view of these diverse facts, cafebabel.com is serving up a Roman cocktail which will warm you to embrace the ‘other’, turning away from the bar-side brawls stirred up by press-gang headlines. (Image: © Ehsan Maleki)
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