Hungarian citizens were shocked by the news, because even though the national carrier’s bad financial situation was well-known, Malév's rescue plans were being negotiated during the past few weeks. Many claimed the cause of the company's ill fate was bad financial management. In January, even the 2007-2010 state financial aid to the airline was deemed illegal by the European Commission. Eventually, business partners lost their trust in the company, and this tipped the balance on Friday when Dublin and Tel Aviv airports refused to give take-off permissions to Malév flights.

A Malév commercial, music composed by Gábor Presser

According to A REPÜLÉS Szakmai blog (THE AVIATION Professional blog) [hu], the last Malév flight landed in Budapest on Friday at 08:46 UTC (09:46 AM in Hungary), arriving from Helsinki. The words that the pilot said to the air traffic controllers have been shared by Hungarian netizens on many sound- and video-sharing sites:

Pilot: On behalf of the last Malév flight’s crew, we would like to thank you for the good, several-decade-long cooperation. See you.
Air Traffic Controller: We also thank you and wish you a good rest, I hope we will meet.
Pilot: Hope so, under some different name.

According to AIRportal.hu [hu], on Friday evening 14 Malév planes were returned to their lessor ILFC at an airport in Ireland. (See here for Malcolm Nason's photos of the Malév planes at Shannon Airport in Ireland.)

Csaba Demeter, a pilot who was among those flying the planes back, shared his story on Facebook [hu]:

[…] Around midnight we arrived to EINN [airport code for Shannon Airport, Ireland], landed one after another and rolled nicely, to salute in this way the past period. We stopped one after another, on rolling-roads, on parking spaces, we stopped them, unpacked and turned off the lights, our planes were in the darkness. It was an awful feeling, WE HAD TO LEAVE THEM THERE. We were hoping for a call [saying] COME HOME WITH THE PLANES this was just a dream or a bad joke. But nothing like that came. THEY STAYED THERE. All of them. :-( […]

People shared their thoughts on the sad fate of the national carrier. Csaba’s memories on Fékszárny blog [hu] tell the best what Malév meant for the citizens of this small Central European country:

I flew a lot with them, I have many good and many bad experiences as well. I wouldn’t tell about those because there is nothing special among them. Why I very much loved to fly with Malév and it always enjoyed priority in contrast to the others is that they were OURS. After being away from home for a long time they were the first signs of coming home. The mentioned white-blue painting with the Hungarian tricolor, the greeting at the door and the Hungarian newspapers. I usually spent 2-3 weeks abroad and not in cities and comfortable hotels, but in deserts and other great places. So coming home was always a big joy and its first messenger was the crew of the Malév flight. After a long, stressful trip even my eyes filled with tears when landing at the Ferihegy [airport]. It was a very bad [feeling] to look at the pictures and read the news on the internet. Let’s hope not all is lost, it would be good to see the red-white-green planes again.

Csaba

According to Véleményvezér blog [hu], the national carrier “got into the perfect storm” of Hungary's economic dynamics:

[…] Malév got into the perfect storm from this perspective: it should have survived almost a decade of economic stagnation and almost a decade of mismanagement; whilst the two phenomena amplified each other. It did not survive and this is yet another nail in the coffin of our dreams and illusions about the leading position of Budapest and Hungary in the region.

Until a new Hungarian carrier is founded, Origo news site reports [hu] the pilots of the “Malév Hungarian Airlines Virtual” will keep on “flying” with the Malév call signs.

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Men shoveling snow from a street in Sarajevo. Record snowfall has paralyzed transportation in the Bosnian capital, where a state of emergency has now been declared. Photo by Sulejman Omerbasic, copyright © Demotix (5/02/12).

Serbia's national television network, RTS, and other media reported on Friday 3 February, 2012, that a state of emergency has been declared by the government, while citizens have been reporting critical situations throughout the country and that municipal services have been doing a poor job of tackling the snowfall in many urban areas.

In an article titled “Serbia Blocked by Snow, State of Emergency in 27 Municipalities, Recommendation to Call Off School Attendance” [sr], the Head of the State of Emergency Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Predrag Maric, is reported to have stated on Friday:

27 municipalities in Serbia have declared a state of emergency due to heavy snowfall. Maric has told Beta news agency that the most difficult situations are in Sjenica, Ivanjica, Prijepolje, Crna Trava and Surdulica, where the height of snow has reached approximately 2 meters. According to him, power supply is “relatively good,” outages are being fixed quickly and there have been no long power outages.

Maric also announced the possibility of declaring a full state of emergency nationwide, which the Government did on Sunday evening, cancelling school throughout Serbia at least until Friday, February 10, among other things.

Several actions have been organized by the online community in Serbia and the region to fend off the snow and to attempt to regain a functional state in urban areas at least, such as a #lopataup (”#shovelup”), organized by one online community leader, Zoran Torbica, and other local Twitter users.

In the meantime, Al Jazeera Balkans, the recently established regional office of Al Jazeera news network in the region, has joined forces with the team from Ushahidi to set up a platform for tracking verified information on everything from road blocks, power outages to other critical points and information in the entire region.

Ushahidi is an open-source platform for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping, which was also used in Serbia just after the earthquake in Kraljevo in November 2010 to map and track damage in the area.

Haris Alisic, who heads the New Media team for Al Jazeera Balkans, launched the platform on Sunday evening, and many members of the online community, including some of the region's GV authors, have joined the Al Jazeera-Ushahidi team in curating, tracking and verifying reports from the region.

The adapted Ushahidi platform can be located on Al Jazeera's official site, while reports can be sent in by anyone using the following channels:

- via SMS to +387644218661
- via Twitter by using the hashtags #kolaps #sneg #snijeg #lopataup #iskljucenje
- via email to oluja2012@aljazeera.net
- or by entering information directly into the form on the”pošaljite izvještaj” tab on the Al Jazeera page

If you would like to volunteer your time to help map critical areas and are familiar with using online tools, please contact the author of this article, or Haris Alisic via Twitter, or leave a comment here on Global Voices, and we will contact you for more information on what you can do to help. We also ask that you all begin reporting from your area on Twitter and using the above-mentioned hashtags on Twitter, which are automatically collected by the platform and then reviewed and verified by Al Jazeera and volunteers.

Bosnian men are trying to push a car away from the deep snow. Photo by Sulejman Omerbasic, copyright © Demotix (5/02/12).

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According to the Hungarian Interior Ministry's report [hu], some 400,000 people expressed their support for the government at the peaceful - and cheerful - event.

‘We are the Hungarian people and we stand for Orbán's government!'. Photo by Redjade, used with permission.

Those who thought Fidesz-KDNP had lost the trust of the Hungarian citizens, drawing the consequence from the extensive foreign media coverage of the opposition protests in Budapest, were challenged this time by the fact that the government elected in 2010 with a two-thirds majority still enjoyed the support of many. Fidelitas, a youth group derived from Fidesz, shared some 360-degree panoramic photos of the march.

The protesters marched from Heroes' Square to Kossuth Square by the Parliament, where brief speeches were delivered. The main organizers of the event were Zsolt Bayer, author of opinion pieces at the conservative daily Magyar Hírlap, Gábor Széles, a wealthy Hungarian entrepreneur and owner of Magyar Hírlap, and András Bencsik, editor-in-chief of Magyar Demokrata [hu], also a Hungarian conservative daily.

The right-leaning blog Mandiner has been very critical of the government recently, and, at first, their blogger, Dobray, who visited the Peace March, also had some doubts regarding the event [hu]:

[…] Compared to what I had anticipated, the march came off even better: the mass of 400,000 (probably fewer than that, the protest maths [competition of whose protest had more attendees] was started by Bencsik at Kossuth Square when he said, referring to a television report, that they were 1 million, which was evidently an unreal figure) walked the distance, and, as no other options were listed on the program, no lame events happened. The puritan minimalism goes hand in hand with a portion of boredom well known from the first, eventless left-wing rallies. But it's hard to pick at that. And that there were some groups with Arpad's striped flags [a symbol of the far right] was not a big deal, we are used to that, they don't do any trouble. We will worry about some Arpad stripes protesters in a mass of a couple of hundred thousands if the left wing expels from their community the comrades parading in the USSR and Che t-shirts. […]

The fact that describes the complex situation in Hungary best is that the government's supporters oppose the talks and future agreements on the bailout from the EU and the IMF, while the opposition is in favor of reaching the agreements as soon as possible, in order to strengthen Hungary's volatile economy.

Pro-government protesters criticized EU/ECB/IMF for pressure on the government to take more bailout loans. Photo by Redjade, used with permission.

Many protesters arrived from outside the capital. The blog of the city of Ócsa wrote [hu] about why they considered it important to participate in the march:

People set off from almost every settlement of the country to express their solidarity with the government elected with the two-thirds majority, with its leader Viktor Orbán and with everyone who has been attacked in the past days. The marchers stand up for the sovereignity of Hungary and stick to the achievements of democracy, they can't stand that foreign politicians, businessmen, banks are willing to administer their lives. […]

Véleményvezér pointed out [hu] that most of the protesters were elderly:

[…] it was very striking that most of the marchers were aged 50 or older. They are the ones whose private pension savings were not taken away, almost none of them has a foreign currency loan, and the government specifically tried to support them, through measures like the one-time 8-percent pension makeup or by implementing the institution of securing employment for older persons. […]

'We voted for Orbán and not for Goldman Sachs'. Photo by Redjade, used with permission.

Dobray hints at the rumours about paid protesters and organized travel to the rally location, the accusations raised by opposition members:

[…] So now we are even, now really each and everyone has brought politics to the street. And it's funny that at any sort of protest the actual side opposing the protesters tries every method to discredit the other's event; and tries to find those whose travel has been paid for, who were paid to come and who were cheated, etc. Everyone is generous when it's about their protest, but if it's about the other's, they turn petty and suspicious. The neighbour's lawn is always wilted. I also would be happy if the Peace March didn't get listed among the ultimate arguments of Fidesz government allowing them to knock down all the opposing opinions. […]

Zoltán Ruzsbaczky of Mos Maiorum blog published a guest post [hu] on Konzervatórium blog, noting that the huge number of the pro-government supporters may signify the arrival of a new stage of democracy in Hungary, with a lot of people daring to stand up for their opinion:

[…] Of course, this needs a government that applies this trust and successfully navigates the tempestuous sea of international politics and with its economic policy it sets Hungary on the track of growth. Besides this, one can't get by those masses who still oppose the politics of the government. We will learn only later what the long-term effects [of this march] will be, [and whether there will be any].

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Middle East North Africa:

Yemen: The Amazing Life March Arrives in Sanaa
From Yemen we have the amazing story of the historic 264km Life March, which is the longest since Mahatma Gandhi's 390km long  Salt March in 1930. During the Life March, villages and towns came together to give food and drink to the thousands of people who marched for four days straight through winding mountain passes protesting the immunity that outgoing President Saleh asked for himself and his aides and family for the killing of protesters in the Yemen uprisings.

However, the march didn't seem to sway the newly formed cabinet members who approved the bill: it will now go on to parliament for it to become a law.
Yemen: Saleh Gets Away With Murder…He Gets Immunity

It is those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the rest of Yemen to live a life of freedom and democracy, whom Yemenis feel they must never be forgotten nor should their blood go in vain.

This next video is a silent remembrance for those who died during the peaceful uprising:

Some online activists are also promoting an online campaign against a stimulating herb chewed by many Yemeni men and women for hours on end, sometimes daily. The campaign is for a day without using the leafy green plant, Qat:
Yemen: January 12, a Day Without Qat

As blogger @Afrahnasser, proposed on Twitter:

An average citizen in Yemen wastes 8 hrs in searching money for qat, another 8 hrs in chewing qat & the rest 8 hrs in sleeping @NoonArabia

The idea of the campaign is to turn those hours spent on qat into active endeavors which build up Yemen.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

Ethiopia: Swedish Journalists Found Guilty of Terrorism Charges
Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson crossed from Somalia to Ethiopia illegally which caused the Ethiopian authorities to detain and put them on trial for supporting terrorist activities and crossing illegally into the territory, although the defense claims that they were performing their duty as journalists to report both sides of the conflict. This next video was used as evidence during the trial, where the journalists are seen planning their journey as journalists

Western Europe:

Spain: Fighting for the Right to a Home

Families who got into debt to buy a home and ended without jobs or income to pay for them are being helped by an organization aiming to stop families from being evicted and to give them temporary homes in foreclosed and empty houses when they aren't able to stop the banks.  The video on this post shows their success in avoiding an eviction and keeping a man and his 13 year old son off the streets.

Eastern and Central Europe:

Hungary: Memories of Barvalipe Roma Pride Summer Camp
Growing up Roma in Europe can make children feel stigmatized and rejected by their peers, causing them to hide their origins and feel ashamed of their heritage. The Barvalipe Roma Pride Summer Camp aimed to give Roma youth a chance to discover their roots by learning the language, history and cuisine of the Roma people.

East Asia:

Hong Kong: Protest Against Luxury Brand to Defend Local Identity
A luxury brand which doesn't allow for photographs to be taken of its store is not news, but when they stated that the rule only applied for local residents of Hong Kong and not tourists from Mainland China, the people of Hong Kong made their anger known through a flashmob outside the store.

Latin America:

Chile: Wildfire in Torres del Paine Shocks Netizens
The wildfire in one of Chile's top touristic spots, National Park Torres del Paine had netizens blogging and tweeting about the fire, both as experienced by those inside the park at the time of the evacuation and recorded it on video as well as from concerned people following the news and updates.

Central America: LibreBus Project Presents its Documentary
The documentary follows the activists who climbed on board a bus driving through 5 different Central American countries to spread the message of free software, the defense of freedom of speech and content sharing.

Colombia: Salsa Song Criticizes Bus Rapid Transport System
Public transportation makes it easier for people to get from one location to another without having to use their own vehicle, however, when that public transportation system is overcrowded, it can become a torture instead of a relief. The salsa song (with translated captions) shows what it is like for people to use the popular Transmilenio System in the capital city of Bogota.

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Although the rallies are growing more and more frequent, we confine this coverage to the protest that took place last Monday 2 January, presenting some Hungarian citizens' views on the event.

The purpose of the January 2 rally was to speak up against the new constitution designed by the governing Fidesz and KDNP parties. To celebrate the constitution, the government organized a high-profile event at the Hungarian State Opera. The rally against it took place right outside the Opera.

Non-governmental organizations, civil movements and some opposition parties allied for the time of the protest to demonstrate that opposing the government's politics results in joint forces. The organizers wanted to avoid the influence of party politics on the event, and therefore only the representatives of civil movements and trade unions were the speakers.

A screenshot of the New York Times

Still, the presence of political parties raised doubts in many. Tracey framed this in an article [hu] on LMV community portal and stated he/she wouldn't attend the protest:

[…] My first thought: is democracy in danger? I think it is not.

The current government has buried only one interpretation of democracy, it was the parliamentary democracy, but this was made possible by the previous governing parties since they discredited democracy, its institutions and like in a banana republic they used power to gain profit. The whole political elite of the past 20 years of transition is responsible for what Fidesz is doing, irrespective of [political] colours, so talking about a democratic opposition, ‘offering [the parties in opposition] comradeship', for the civil movements it's simply a dangerous self-delusion–except for if they want to give some party a leg up. […]

After the protest, Kékpóni drew a different conclusion on Kettős Mérce (Double Standard) [hu]:

Though there were many things I disagreed with concerning the event, I still attended the protest held on Jan. 2, whose message is summarized in the slogan “Still, There Will Be a Republic of Hungary.” I felt that the fight for democracy and association are keywords I can support with the feeling of ease. […]

According to the calculations of Fideszfigyelő blog (Fidesz monitor) [hu] some 32,000 or 50,000 people attended the protest. There were conflicts between the majority and the extreme-right protesters, who were also allowed to hold a 'small counter-rally' at the same place (as you can see on this YouTube video). Kettős Mérce reported [hu] that two activists of LMP (Politics Can Be Different party) were beaten by the extremists, one of them was searched by the police.

All in all, KA_Steve, one of the speakers, was happy with the outcome [hu]:

[…] I don't know how to put it but it was somehow uplifiting to see that self-satisfied politicians drunk with power are not able to organize an undisturbed celebration of themselves, even if they like it or not, they are obliged to celebrate the illusion of the System of National Cooperation, moving behind the four lines of police cordon, facing the citizens who are expressing their dissatisfaction loudly. […]

According to some rumours, high profile guests of the constitution's celebration had to use an escape route under the Opera to leave the building, journalists of index.hu news site interviewed [hu] the guests leaving through the Opera's back doors.

Kékpóni says the protests are just the tip of the iceberg:

[…] I am frankly happy for the shaping of a new Hungarian resistance, but I feel that the protest and anger focus only on the government measures, while what's being neglected is the fact that the system we are living in has not just got into crisis, this is just a more and more threatening consequence. Democracy will not end because of Orbán, it will end because we have not created it yet and we have not experienced yet the recognition that we have to do something for the creation–if we recognized it, there wouldn't be an Orbán system! […]

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Too many young Roma today do know enough about their own history, achievements, and identity to develop a sense of pride regarding their heritage. Few schools currently teach Roma history and language. On top of this, mainstream society—supported by the educational system—focuses on assimilation, denying young Roma the opportunity to explore their own ethnicity and creating an environment that rewards them for suppressing their heritage. It has to be mentioned that pride does not come only with knowing your language and history but also knowing other people you can identify yourself with. Outside of their families and communities, many young Roma do not often have many Roma role models to look up to. This is also a big reason why many of them are not part of the Roma cause.

So they brought about the Barvalipe Roma Pride Summer Camp in Budapest, where 28 former beneficiaries of their programs came together to learn about each other, about their differences and similarities as Roma youth from across borders and nations. This next video shows an overview of the Summer Camp and interviews with participants who explain what impact the camp had for them:

Barvalipe participant Alina Serban was interviewed in RomaWoman.org where she explained why the experience was so important for her: it brought together so many different people who also happen to be Roma. That is what being Roma is about for her, not just one single identity, not one single stereotype:

Violeta Naydenova is the program coordinator for Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives and was the Barvalipe camp director. She described the impact of one of the summer camp's activities where the 20 Euro camp fee the participants had to pay was used to buy sewing machines for a charity serving Roma women and children as well as school supplies for an impoverished community:

I was honored to read in their camp evaluations that this action was one of the most liked, following the Roma history and language classes, debate sessions, and trip to Auschwitz. It proved that once people are given the possibility to learn about their heritage many people embrace it, like it, and feel proud about it.

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Mr. Mong was fired in January from a public radio channel for observing a minute of silence on the morning news program, protesting against the then introduced media law.

He has published an article [hu] about the content of the letter first on origo.hu, a Hungarian news site. This happened following an interruption to the talks between the Hungarian government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week because of the two laws the government insisted on introducing. In his letter, Mr. Barroso advised the Hungarian PM to withdraw the two cardinal laws on the Hungarian National Bank and on financial stability for not being compatible with the European Union's legal system:

[…] These laws contain provisions which could be in contradiction with the Treaty and interfere with previously issued European policy advice. The Commission has serious doubts on the compatibility of the current version of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) bill with Article 130 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. I also regret that the last drafts of these laws have not been subject to a consultation with the ECB which repeatedly expressed its concerns. […]

Since the credibility of the journalist had been questioned by several government officials (by the government's spokesman, Fidesz faction leader János Lázár [hu]), Mr. Mong decided to share the letter on his blog, mixing the order of the three parts and dedicating them to the officials and the minister leading the talks with the IMF. (Part one, Part two, Part three [hu]) In the fourth post [hu], he shared the whole text and pictures, confirming that he had a hard copy of the letter. This post was dedicated to Máté Kocsis and Sándor Pintér.

“How could the letter of the president of the European Commission get to journalist Attila Mong?” was the question raised by the member of the Hungarian Parliament, Máté Kocsis (also known for being the advisor on homeless issues of the governing party). The formal question [hu] was sent to the Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, just a few days after the Hungarian Constitutional Court ruled out a part of the much-debated Hungarian media law in effect since January 2011. The decision was made in favour of journalistic source protection.

Signature of José Manuel Barroso on the letter sent to Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, as published on Napi Fix

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The City is for All grassroots group, fighting for the right to housing in Hungary, published this statement on their blog:

[…] Mate Kocsis, mayor of the 8th district forbade rummaging through garbage in the 8th district. Despite the fact that the ombudsperson for civil rights found the Budapest ordinance unconstitutional, hundreds of homeless people have been subjected to short-term arrest by the police in the past months on the grounds of the ordinance, and dozens of self-made homes have been destroyed by the authorities. […]

Sit-in in front of Hungarian Parliament for the protection of homeless peoples rights. Image by Janos Kis, copyright Demotix (17/10/11).

European Federation of National Organisations Working With the Homeless (FEANTSA) published a press release condemning the regulation passed on November 11:

[…] The drafters of the law argue that imprisoning homeless people is a “dissuasive” form of sanction. This is very cynical and ignores the fact that homeless people are often obliged to use public space to survive because of a lack of services, especially ones adapted to their needs. Framing homelessness as an offence subtracts the question of homelessness from social policies. It also constitutes a denial of state responsibility for what is often a result of structural problems and belies a culture of blaming homeless people for their situation. […]

The day after the law passed on November 11, a citizen group called Börtön helyett lakhatást (Housing, Not Prison) organized a sit-in protest in Máté Kocsis' mayor's office. (The mayor of District VIII is also the advisor of homeless issues to the governing party in Parliament.)

About 30 protesters were arrested by the police and interrogated until late night. Kettős Mérce live-blogged [hu] the events at the office and shared a photo gallery of the sit-in.

Index.hu news site's video of the sit-in and the arrests with English subtitles is here.

A week later, a silent protest was organized [hu] in front of the Parliament. A photo gallery of Kettős Mérce is here. A ‘counter-post' [hu] was published on Mandiner, also with a photo gallery of the same event.

Börtön helyett lakhatást group called for solidarity with the homeless by staying on the streets of Budapest on the night when the regulation is coming into effect (Night of Solidarity Facebook event [hu]).

KA Steve, an activist known for hacking the District VIII regulation, blogged the following on Kettős Mérce [hu], stating that the modification will fail because citizens finally have to stand up and say no:

[…] From December 1, 2011, thousands of innocent people may be sent to prison. This is not about disputable stances, abstract political questions, smaller or bigger shady dealings, ridiculous paintings [referring to the new Hungarian constitution which has been illustrated with paintings ordered by the special commissioner of the Prime Minister], and it's not even about social justice. It can't be repeated enough times: this is about the fact that innocent citizens may be sent to prison.

And this is our responsibility. Years later, our grandchildren will ask what we have done, but it's eventually us who will have to account for our conscience. And saying “I ‘liked' the news” or “commented on them” won't be a satisfying feeling. […]

Today the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) started a campaign [hu] against the modification of the law, calling on citizens to write protest letters to the Minister of the Interior and to Máté Kocsis, the referee of the homeless issues.

The campaign goes with the following video that compares the price of two nights spent at luxurious Budapest hotels to the price of spending two nights on a public bench. It should not be evident, but, of course, the latter one is more expensive.

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She was born in Transylvania (then part of Hungary, later Romania), moved to France at the age of 30, and has lived in London since July 2008.

According to one of her followers on the photography sharing website, Flickr, Patrick Barry Barr, she is a “role-model to people of all ages who desire to lead full and active lives of learning and doing.” He said (in 2005):

Julie70 exhibits a spirit that belies her age, as we tend to think of people in their 70’s, and I marvel at her enthusiasm, the way in which she relishes meeting strangers and sharing her enthusiasm with them. I will be 67 on 11 May, and when I grow up I want to be just like Julie Kertesz.

Self portrait – Julie Kertesz

Julie loves learning and has never stopped studying – not even when it was forbidden by the communist regime of Romania. While working in Paris, she returned to the classroom as a mother of two, only to leave university at age 43 with a PhD in physics.

As she describes in her life story on her blog, there is life after 70:

We are not giving up!
Each of us does something, either to live better or to rest alive.
Alas, I met also old people who looks as if they did already give up, and even some very young ones.
Lonely, in the metro.
Just look at them in the metro of Paris. How different with the man I met yesterday, working in the market. And so many others of us, living our lifes as full as possible.
Ok, we have a certain age, but we do not feel old inside!

Julie uses Flickr, blogs, and personal storytelling to inspire others. In a comment on her blog entitled “Courage to laugh at yourself” (in French) a reader shows appreciation for her endeavors:

[…] tu sais Julie, tu es Une Sage, je le pense. Tu m'aides souvent dans des moments compliqués, je me dis “attends, l'effet Julie va se produire, ça va aller”.

Perhaps the source of such wisdom is the readiness to dare to experience something new. In the video below, Julie uses her fourth language to illustrate some of her first-time experiences between the ages of 25 to 70:

It was precisely at the age of 70 that Julie discovered photography. In 2006, she created the !afterclass! group, a masterclass on Flickr where 2,500 people get together to learn photography. She also created the people reading group; the never too old group; and strangers no more:

No more strangers. I met them, I spoke to them. I remember them.

This last group inspires people to approach others and, with every interaction, a beautiful human being is unveiled. Click on the pictures below to discover the delightful stories Julie uncovered through “human Interactions” with strangers.

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