Stories about Western Europe from September, 2012
Greece: Poster Response to Unemployment Crisis
In blog post entitled ‘Cirque de Grece’ (Greek Circus), Kostas Kallergis shares an Athens poster mocking the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, which is inspired by a poster for Cirque de Soleil's ‘Alegria‘...
Nigeria: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Declines WTO High Post
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy is not interested in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) top job. Pascal Lamy will retire soon and there's been...
Portugal Protesting: “We Want Our Lives”
Before September 15's anti-austerity protest in Portugal titled 'Screw troika! We want our lives', high participation was expected, at least on social media. The austerity measures recently announced by the Prime Minister Passos Coelho seem to have given plenty of reasons for an increasingly broader section of the population to take to the streets.
The Netherlands: Balkan Snapshots Festival 2012
Balkan Buro, a Dutch non-profit “dedicated to providing a platform for artistic and cultural encounters between Western and Southeastern Europe,” announces the Balkan Snapshots Festival 2012, which will take place...
Maghreb, France: The Arc of Revolution is Long but It Bends towards Freedom
Had humanity obsessed itself with the potential pitfalls of every fight for emancipation and always analyze the events under the prism of one segment of society, we all will still be living...
Greece: Petition for Neo-Nazi ‘Golden Dawn’ Group Investigation
Twitter users are promoting an international petition to urge a full criminal investigation into the Golden Dawn party in Greece.
Belarus, Ukraine: No More Gratis UK Visas for Chernobyl Children?
According to this online petition, bringing Belarusian and Ukrainian children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster to the UK for recuperative charity-sponsored visits will soon cost an additional £86 per...
Portugal: More Austerity, Why's the Revolution Taking So Long?
The Portuguese government led by Pedro Passos Coelho is increasingly distancing itself from its electoral promises and from the path which it promised to follow during the election period, generating a wave of discontent which is manifesting itself primarily on social networks.
Kosovo: Prizren Comic Book & Cartoon Festival
Macedonian artist Vesna Nichevska-Saravinova blogged about her participation in the Prizren Comics Festival, organized by the Kosovo Comic Book Artist Association, Xhennet Comics [sq]. Four out of 15 featured artists...
Spain: Storming the Streets (and Web) on Catalonia's National Day
A mass meeting under the separatist slogan 'Catalonia: new state in Europe' has been organised for today (September 11) in Barcelona and huge participation is expected.
Croatia: Promoting Solar Energy at Terraneo Music Festival
UNDP's Voices from Eurasia blog reports on the ecological education program of this year's Terraneo music festival in Šibenik, where guests, among other things, could “test-drive Croatia’s only solar-powered car...
Spain: Investment Scheme of the Rich and Famous Makes Headlines
Discussion of the SICAV investment scheme reignited this summer in Spain, with the debate focusing on some of the well-known people and companies that take advantage of this fiscal tool in order to avoid paying taxes, such as the sister of King Juan Carlos, Infanta Pilar, and filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
United Kingdom: Helen Grant, the First Black Female Conservative Cabinet Minister
Afro Europe wrote a post on the appointment of a black female in UK Prime Minister David Cameron's new cabinet and gave a list of black female cabinet members in Europe [Erratum: The...
France, Yemen: Vanishing Women
Eloïse Lagrenée [fr] has posted on her Facebook page a picture by Yemeni photographer Bushra Almutawakel, illustrating how women could vanish into darkness and invisibility, step by step, under fundamentalist...
Young People, Technology and the Welsh Language
An increase in the percentage of young people able to speak Welsh has coincided with some profound technological transformations. While the presence of the Welsh language in these technologies will not by itself save the language, an absence of the language will surely damage it in the eyes of young people.
Chinese Mitten Crabs Invade German Waters
An interesting post from China Hush on the problems caused by Chinese mitten crabs in German rivers. To tackle the problem, German fishermen are selling the crabs to Chinese restaurants.
Spain: Ecce Homo Cheers Up the Summer
Cecilia Giménez, an old parishioner from the Aragonian town of Borja, Spain, decided to restore on her own a damaged painting of an Ecce Homo by the artist Elías García Martínez in the Sanctuary of La Misericordia. However, the restoration ended up in a terrible mess...
Portugal: Public Television on the Way to Being Privatised
“Portugal will be the only country in Europe without a public radio and television service.” This was one of the first outraged reactions on Twitter, soon after the (un)official announcement of the proposal to privatise Portuguese Public Television (RTP) made by government privatisation advisor António Borges.
Mujeres Mundi, Interviews with Extraordinary Women
Peruvian blogger Xaviera Medina de Albrand is the brains and energy behind the blog Mujeres Mundi, a space where she publishes her interviews with women from around the world. Xaviera talks to us about her life and her blog in this first part of a two-part interview.
Spain: “Merkel Go Home”
The Spanish indignant movement has convened a rally tomorrow, September 6, 2012 in front of the European Union headquarters in Madrid due to the meeting between President Mariano Rajoy and...
