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“Let Me Know that I’m not Crazy”: An Interview with Pavel Turchaninov

Pavel Turchaninov and Frank Burgdörfer — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:46:55 +0000

Pavel Turchaninov is an advocate for reform in Belarus. He lives in Minsk, where he works as a freelance translator for various NGOs and business customers, including the United Nations Development Programme. He studied Linguistics at Minsk State Linguistic University and Contemporary European Studies at the University of Sussex, UK.

An Interview with Pavel Turchaninov.

Interview with Noa Treister

Noa Treister and Gert Röhrborn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:38:18 +0000

Noa Treister finished the Bezalel Art and Design Academy in Jerusalem, Israel and currently in Postgraduate studies at the Media and communication program of the European Graduate School in Switzerland. She is a practicing artist and a curator, presently living working in Serbia. Noa focuses on rethinking socio-economic-political issues in both curatorial and artistic projects. She is currently running the program "Art Interventions" which is an interdisciplinary program of artists and scholars from different fields and media coming together in disenfranchised communities to re-engage with different situations.

Her exhibitions include: "Adama" group exhibition, Israel Museum, 1998-99; "Mapping space" group exhibition, Klenova Gallery, Czech Republic, 2002; "The Fold", solo exhibition, Prague, Czech Republic , 2003; 'Noina Barka', solo exhibition, Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, 2006; 'Mi smo (se) navikli', [We Have Gotten (Ourselves) Used to] solo exhibition, Kragujevac, Serbia, 2007

An Interview with Noa Treister.

Overcoming Opposition: How cultural projects can help to create an alternative life-world

Gert Röhrborn — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:51:35 +0000

Any kind of civic engagement – be it in democratic or non-democratic countries – primarily deals with questions and problems of political culture. Politics, and the role authorities play in it, dominates the picture in authoritarian systems, of course; nevertheless activists should never forget that it is (usually) society which develops a certain type of government. These thoughts are inspired by understanding the case of Belarus as a contemporary sequel to the “normalized” societies of late Czechoslovak and East German real socialism. Its economic development – so far quite smartly – shadows the revived Russian ressource-based global aspirations, and the bureaucratic regulation of life may be taken as an answer to the wide-spread popular fear of change in an era of seemingly universal transformation.

How to measure sustainable development

Kadri Kalle — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:10:29 +0000

When we talk about measuring sustainable development, we of course have to start with what sustainable development actually is. It is the “development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”, according to the most called-upon definition, from the Brundtland Commission in 1987. But here we already come to the first problem – this definition is open to interpretation. Terms such as “needs”, “satisfy” and “development” are loose concepts, defying any real resolution. Where is the line between needs and desires? What are the real needs of current and future generations? These questions must be addressed if we wish to understand the essence of sustainable development.

According to EU sustainable development strategy, sustainable development means a society with dynamic economy, with full employment and a high level of education, health protection, social and territorial cohesion and environmental protection in a peaceful and secure world, respecting cultural diversity. Plainly said, the aim of sustainable development should be to ensure people a good quality of life that would be lasting in time. To define that, we look at the three spheres of sustainable development.

Lost in Translation

Eva Schlör — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:59:36 +0000

Movies with subtitles tend to give the feeling that something is lost. The visual experience of the film is replaced by the necessity to read the text at the bottom of the screen. The dialogue may feel weak or artificial in some way. You get the basic information, but little beyond that. Watching films in languages you know with subtitles in languages you know confirms this impression. Often the words on the screen bear little resemblance to the actor’s dialogue. Besides, subtitles have to deal with the same difficulties that all translations have: not only should they translate words, but import meaning. This gets especially tough with puns, jokes and culture-specific references.

"Subtitles take roughly 30 percent of your attention in the movie theatre," says Petr Sitar, founder and owner of Filmprint, one of the Czech Republic's two major subtitling outfits. Is this really worth it? Do we truly want to see a film if nearly one-third of the experience is sacrificed to reading subtitles? In Belgium the case seems to be an even tougher one. As the country has three official languages (Dutch, French and German), subtitles have to be provided in each of these tongues. You can imagine that three sets of subtitles would pretty much fill up half the screen.

So why subtitle movies at all?

Is New Media killing journalism?

Amy Davies — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:47:38 +0000

So what exactly is ‘new media’ anyway? Not the internet surely? It’s hardly new is it? OK, it’s not as old as the newspaper, the television and all that jazz (hey, jazz is pretty old as well now isn’t it?), but come on – it’s over 25-years-old now. Give it some respect. Sort-of invented in the 1960s, the unstoppable interweb is dominant in most of our lives now, and has been available in the mainstream for donkeys years. It’s also the obvious culprit for all the ills in the world. Never mind new media - might as well call it "new scapegoat". It’s responsible for perverts and kids killing themselves, apparently. Nobody has any free-will anymore; they can only act on what the internet tells them. Supposedly.

There’s no denying that traditional notions of journalism are challenged by their online counterparts. The internet has widened the scope of journalism. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can take part. Obviously, when you knock down the barriers in this way, a great deal of weak and unsuitable material is able to get through; but it also allows new voices to be heard, opens up the possibility for a more diverse and engaged form of media. The internet surpasses old media in its constant, up-to-date nature. It’s also raised the competition. Now that we can read what The Guardian, The Independent, the BBC, Sky News and co. have to say at the click of a button, they must improve the quality of their stories, otherwise we’ll just click elsewhere.

In on the Joke: Understanding Language as Culture

Cornelia von Hasselbach — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:37:59 +0000

Language is everything: It is who we are, how we live, think, act, dream, want, feel, see, breathe, die. It does not describe our cultures, it is our cultures. Observe England between the years of 1200 AD and 1600 AD and you will see the vowels stretch and shift, in a series of gradual changes transforming the language from Middle English to Modern English, which modern linguists have baptized “The Great Vowel Shift”. At much closer proximity, though, what our parents thought was “groovy” is not really that to us anymore, and, even more immediate yet, in our own lifetime there are several carcasses of once excessively used expressions from a former time of a teenage or pre-teenage period of self-expression, now sadly decaying in a slow state of neglect. In most of the cases they will remain deceased and if they return, will only re-appear in newly acquired garment called “retro” or under a thick layer of irony.

Keeping a sharp eye – on society and on social research

Michael Ellerbrok — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:08:34 +0000

There is already a transnational social space. There is a heavily increasing amount of social relations that develop crossways to national borders. Many people commute between places in two different nations. Looking for a job abroad is no longer an exotic thing. Indian Bhangra sound influences DJs in London, New York and Tokyo. Economic globalisation has been the driving force, supported by cheaper air travel, new media, and technological innovation. This is a social fact, one which many forces would wish to prevent. These forces have a stake – economic and often emotional - in preserving the status quo, and any change in the current system could represent a threat. The task is not to build walls (again) or to make existing walls higher. The task is to face reality. In this new social space, we must find ways to cope with that reality and suggest how different kinds of people with different cultural and religious backgrounds could live with – and respect – one another.

Notes from a Strange Continent, Part 2

Lev Rukov — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:21:17 +0000

With Hollywood only a short drive away, it’s difficult to give an impression of what life is like in one of America's poster cities and not to draw parallels to the movies and TV shows that made it famous – and I shall not even try to evade what seems to be so irresistable about this part of the country or maybe even the whole country: the subtle threshold that divides preposterous dreams from expectations that actually have a chance of being met.

The sphere of Hollywood has an air of illusion surrounding it which is symptomatic for a specific way of life. Although its creative society writes unpreceded stories of success, the figures these stories are about – writers, actors, and so on – are not as steadfast as their image wants to make us believe. As local therapists would probably be willing to confirm, they move back and forth rapidly between moments of excitement (brought about by personal and professional achievements) and depression (when these successes can’t be replicated). Such a state inevitably leads to manic personalities, with critical self-reflection and steady improvement on one side and the proud display of achievements on the other. Little room is left for austere orientation among peers, which, since Plato, has been a hallmark of a good politeia, i.e. the reconciliation of ones own life with the lives of others. (Striking writers come to mind.)

Speaking Out in Belarus

Editors — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:08:26 +0000

The Belarusian National Republic existed for only a single year. Independence was declared on March 25, 1918; by 1919, the Soviet Union seized control of the country. Ever since, freedoms—the freedom of speech, press, and assembly—have been under constant threat.

On Tuesday, March 25th, a demonstration was under way in Minsk to commemorate the anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic, that short-lived period of self-rule which came and went 90 years ago. The demonstration was peaceful: waving of flags, chanting of “Long Live Belarus”. Nevertheless, the police broke up the gathering, brutally beating several demonstrators, and arresting more than 100 people. Among those was one of our own authors: Pavel Turchaninov.

Turchaninov was beaten, arrested, and forced to spend a night in prison. He is currently facing a fine of 1,000,000 rubble (about 295 €). Others in the demonstration received even harsher penalties. Some will spend up to 15 days in prison.

In recent years, these anniversary demonstrations have increasingly become a statement against the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. In addition to Minsk, demonstrations of this sort have taken place in cities all across Europe over the past week. The aftermath of such demonstrations reveals that changes need to take place in Belarus. These changes begin with freedom—the freedom to speak out against the government (be it in a newspaper or in the street) without fear of intimidation, beating, or prison.

To many of us, this seems incredibly far away, unreal. Celebrating national holidays has become mostly-empty ritual, a day off from school or work, nothing more. Freedom of speech seems to be a birthright. Yet some individuals, such as Pavel Turchaninov, the luxury of freedom is impossible to achieve, and even a slight attempt to refute the undemocratic system currently in place carries with it a significant risk.

We would like to express our solidarity and our admiration for his courage to actually risk something for a right which is taken for granted by most of us: Freedom. For more information about how you can help, visit the Citizens of Europe homepage.