Stories from Quick Reads and Slovenia
Serbia Mourns British-Serbian Legend Timothy John Byford
Author, actor, educator, television and film director Timothy John Byford died in Belgrade on May 5, 2014, after a long illness. Born in Salisbury, England, Byford spent most of his life in Belgrade, where he moved in 1971 and later became a naturalized citizen of Serbia. As news portal InSerbia...
European Citizens Call for the Protection of Media Pluralism
“European institutions should safeguard the right to free, independent and pluralistic information”. The quote, from the Media Initiative website, summarizes the main idea behind a pan-European campaign that aims at urging the European Commission to draft a Directive to protect Media Pluralism and Press Freedom. The Media Initiative is running a European Citizens’ Initiative – a tool...
Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia and Brazil on Winning Streak at Girls’ U18 Volleyball World Championship
As the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) blog reports, the Serbian, Turkish, Slovenian and Brazilian under-18 girls’ national volleyball teams showed outstanding results on the weekend of July 27-28, some with a perfect win-loss ratio. Full stats and results are available and regularly updated on the Federation's website.
Slovenian Start-Ups on Kickstarter
Four Slovenian tech start-up companies have exceeded their initial funding expectations and managed to accumulate a total of some 400,000 U.S. dollars in funding on the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarted over the last year. Slovenia, a Eu country with a large and growing unemployment rate, has a growing ICT industry...
Eastern Europeans to Boost UK IT Industry
The UK labour movement restrictions placed several years ago to prevent migrants from Romania and Bulgaria from moving permanently and seeking employment in the UK will be lifted on January 1, 2014. Some predict large migrations of workers from these two countries, among the poorest in the European Union, while...
Europe's Frozen Conflicts
Black Sea News publishes Natalya Belitser's paper [en] – “Transnistrian Conflict: State of Affairs and Prospects of Settlement” – written for the international conference on “frozen conflicts” in Europe, which was held in September 2012 in Bled, Slovenia (via Andrei Klimenko).
Parallels Between Religious and Copyright Wars
Rick Falkvinge, the founder of Pirate Party, reinterprets the wars of religion that devastated Western Europe in the XVI and XVII centuries in terms of the current struggle to control information through overbearing legislation related to copyright and freedom of expression: The religious wars were never about religion as such....
Regional Bloggers Attend Blogomanija Conference in Serbia
Dozens of bloggers [sr] from Serbia, as well as from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia, attended Blogomanija [sr], a regional blogging conference that was held in Serbia on Dec. 7-9. Among other things, they discussed [sr] the impact of blogs and social networks on social and political...
Slovenia: “Second Republic (Again)”
Sleeping With Pengovsky explains the current political situation in Slovenia (more – here and here): […] [PM Janez Janša] already controls the parliament. He controls the economy. And as of last Sunday, he also controls the president of the republic. […] The only unknown in this scenario are protests. The...
“The Slovenian Uprising”
Sleeping With Pengovsky comments on Slovenia's presidential election (GV text is here) and on the protest movement – “which appears to be totally decentralised and operating via Facebook”: […] At the moment protests in Slovenia are directed against many different targets. Mayor Kangler, Mayor Janković, prime minister Janša, interior minister...
Albania: Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival
The Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival 2012 opens in Tirana today. This is the third time that the festival is being held; this year's theme is “TALK TO ME – multilingualism and communication”; the program of the three-day event is here.
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 in Amsterdam on Sept. 21-23: “three nights of music, creativity, movies and inspiring debates!”
Russia: “The True Blasphemy” – Slavoj Žižek on Pussy Riot
Russian collective “Chto Delat? // What is to be done?” published an essay by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who considers Pussy Riot “conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea,” and fight against the cynicism of power-mongers who strive to return Russia to the...
Croatia: 2.8 Million “Inappropriate” Books “Purged” During the 1990s
In “Libricide,” Ante Lešaja has documented the process of “purging” of “unsuitable” books from Croatian schools and public libraries by the right-wing HDZ government in the 1990s. According to a Jutarnji List interview [hr] with Lešaja, the “purging” was based on ideological and ethnic criteria and affected books “written in...
Slovenia: Family Code Referendum (and Other “Election Season” Updates)
Sleeping With Pengovsky has been covering Slovenia's referendum on the Family Code (here and here), the mayoral by-elections, and the upcoming presidential election.
Spain: Documentary in Production on the Healing Power of Flamenco
Sin Ruido, or Noiseless in Spanish, is a documentary on Flamenco Dancer Inma Lobato and her work teaching and training people with mental problems. The film [es] will focus on the impact the lessons have on the well-being of the students in Spain, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina.
CEE: “Spotted by Locals”
Spotted by Locals: Experience cities like a local features a few dozen locations, including CEE cities of Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Warsaw, and Zagreb. A random sample post from Zagreb, Croatia: Hrelić Flea Market – The Aleph of Zagreb; from Bucharest, Romania: The Haunted...
Slovenia: Dec. 4 Elections Updates
Updates on the upcoming Dec. 4 parliamentary elections – by Dr. Filomena and Sleeping With Pengovsky (here, here, here, and here). Pengovsky concludes: “The way it looks right now, Janša seems poised to win on 4 December. However whether or not he will be able to form a coalition remains...
Slovenia: Photography Under Legal Attack
Stefan Geens of Dliberation discusses how photography is under legal attack in Slovenia, since the country's information commissioner has decided that all faces in published panoramic photography should be blurred out – a decision with great consequences for the Slovenian photo scene.
Slovenia: Election Campaign Updates
Updates on the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections campaign in Slovenia – at Sleeping With Pengovsky, here and here.