Journalists in most of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) do not have an easy life. They battle against censorship, difficulties strewn in their path by the authorities, and even at times against physical threats and violence. A cliché? To some extent admittedly, as the situation in Ukraine appears to be different: in Europe's largest country there is something resembling freedom of the press.
» read
n-ost, a flourishing network of journalists with its headquarters in Berlin, wants to awaken an interest in Eastern Europe by presenting it from an unprejudiced viewpoint and dispensing with established clichés. An interview with the journalist Matthias Echterhagen, managing director of n-ost.
» read
Russia’s image in the world is not just blemished, it displays deep furrows. That is nothing particularly new. Even before the era of Vladimir Putin, the world’s largest country had an aura of being “terrible, inexplicable, incomprehensible and evil”. The West saw and viewed Russia with the same hesitant, unsettled interest with which one would squint into one’s own subconscious. Has Russia got an image problem or a reality problem? The former Soviet dissident and controversial anti-western TV presenter Mikhail Leontjev has the answers.
» read
Barbara Maier, cultural and scientific mediator, and publisher and author Lojze Wieser undertook a culinary voyage of discovery in the Balkans. The pair invited Antje Mayer to a meal in their house in Klagenfurt where they served Šopska-Salat, goulash and cooled, Rakia, told about dishes they had tasted and philosophised about the social implications Tragweite of eating drinking and preparing meals.
» read
There was a lot of queuing in 1980s Romania: long, tiring, humiliating, maddening, in the cold, in the rain, sometimes with no outcome. Officially, there was no queue in Socialist Romania...
» read
Miljenko Dereta is one of those Serbian Intellectuals whose critical view of the social conditions in his country did not drive him into the camp of the nationalist populists, but instead led him to formulate a differentiated criticism of the changes in the country. Born in Belgrade in 1950, he was active in the Gradjanski Savez Srbije, the Socijaldemokratska unija and the Serbian anti-war movement during the 1990s. Today he is director of Civic Initiatives, a network of NGOs and civilian initiatives in Belgrade. Report spoke to him about poverty and hunger.
» read
Former Yugoslavia is an example of a multinational and multi-cultural society, not least of all due to its religious diversity. Political scientist Vedran Dzihic describes for “Report” the effect of this on the newly founded states and their political and religious representatives. On the symbiosis between politics and religions. A long history of separation and reunion, war and tolerance.
» read
The religious landscape in Russia is very varied. Besides the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, Moslems make up a seventh of the population. In addition, there is a trend towards Far Eastern religious techniques of self-awareness. How the Orthodox Church is coming to terms with this fact and how the atheism that was enforced during the Soviet period has been replaced by new religious needs, is here explained by Russia’s most renowned Orthodox missionary, the Deacon of Moscow, Andrej Kurajev, in an interview with “Report”.
» read
On the role of religion in the former communist countries
» read
Not only in Poland, but also in Russia, members of the clergy are becoming increasingly involved in politics. Yet this is not a local peculiarity – but rather a dangerous trend of the times.
» read
86.7 per cent of the 21.6 million Romanians are of the Orthodox faith, then come the Catholics with a million believers, and in third position are the Calvinist Protestants with 700,000 members, above all among the Hungarians in Transylvania. Râmet Convent is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries in Transylvania, and one of the most modern. The Romanian journalist Kathrin Lauer visited the monastery for “Report”, investigating questions of faith and lifestyle.
» read
Religion and religiosity, Communism and Church. Theologian Ernst Christoph Suttner on the difficult dialogue between the Orthodox and Latin churches in Eastern and Western Europe and the historical background.
» read
Religious groups in eastern central and eastern Europe
» read
The media have been forced into line, scandals hushed up and the population has lost its belief in the constitutional state. Journalist Blaž Zgaga explains why for him today Slovenia can no longer be seen as the Switzerland of southeastern Europe.
» read
Slovenia, the first new EU member state to introduce the euro, took over the presidency of the EU on the first of January of this year. However, price increases and political scandals are now threatening to disrupt the idyll of the small Alpine republic.
» read
Russia observes Europe with mixed feelings. As only few Russians have a passport, the impression of Europe goes little further than a diffuse image. In an interview the political journalist Fyodor Lukyanov describes Europe as an oasis in the international confusion, “a Europe that seals its external borders and leaves non-EU states to wander around outside seeking membership.” Lukjanov very much doubts whether the map will look the same in 50 years time.
» read
What does “the West” mean for Hungary and Romania?
Hungary and Romania are neighbouring countries. Within a space of three years both became members of the European Union, Hungary in 2004, Romania in 2007. For both countries membership of the EU means a return home to the western world. But what does this “West” mean for them?
» read
In official Chechnya people who think differently are extremely rare. One last of them has died: Buvadi Dachijev
This article from September 21, 2006 is the last that Anna Politkovskaya published in the russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”. She was murdered on October 7 in her apartment building.
» read
Jewgenija Albaz is one of those journalists in Russia who, like Anna Politkovskaya, her former colleague from her student days, places her finger on the wounds of the state and its regime. During the era of the Soviet Union she conducted research into the KGB for which she received a number of threats. Albaz still receives threats and is on the “death lists” of various groups on the Internet. In addition to printed articles she chairs a political discussion on Sundays on the liberal radio station “Echo Moskvy”. In an interview with “Report” she offers insights into the everyday world of a journalist in an authoritarian state, in which human rights are of little account and representatives of the media can die for presenting the unvarnished truth.
» read
In the woods on the border of the Czech Republic the Slovak social worker Ludmilla Irmscher battles against women traffickers, ignorant “customers”, insulted authorities and everyday naked violence. Sometimes she gives women who have been forced to become prostitutes a new life.
» read
In many East bloc countries as well as in Yugoslavia from the 1960s onwards there was liberalised legislation as regards marriage, the use of married names, voting and abortion that was seen as the expression of a classless society. Women had a higher level of education and could take up traditionally male professions, childcare centres were widely available, either free of charge or for a very low fee. From the mid 1970s onwards Slovene fathers had the opportunity to take paternity leave. In questions of equal rights between women and men the East was – apparently – ahead. We spoke to Marija Wakounig, Professor at the Institute for East European History in Vienna, historian and editor of the collection of essays: “Die Gläserne Decke. Frauen in Ost-, Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa im 20. Jahrhundert” (The Glass Ceiling. Women in Eastern, East-central and Southeastern Europe in the 20th Century).
» read
What does the small town of Lučenec in Slovakia have in common with the East German prefabricated concrete housing estates in Marzahn or with Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? The fact that women are leaving to earn money to support their families, while the men do the housekeeping. This experiment in swapping traditional gender roles was born out of a crisis, and conflicts are never far removed. A report.
» read
Bert Rebhandl in conversation with sociologist Hartmut Kälble
» read
Since 1989 Slovene society has been one of waiting for the end of socialism, waiting for independence, waiting for international recognition, waiting for economic prosperity and political democracy, waiting for the “normalization” of the rest of the ex-Yugoslav states, waiting for NATO and EU membership, waiting for the implementation of the Euro...
» read
With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria a network has been established throughout the EU with its headquarters in Brussels.
» read
Recent developments in several new member states of the EU, namely the rise of both right wing and left wing populism, have drawn new attention to East-Central Europe. How to explain the current tide of populist movements in the region? And what implications can be drawn for the future of the European Union? Political scientist and historian Jacques Rupnik gives an analysis of the situation.
» read
Statements:
Editor: Sebastian Fasthuber
Hungary always occupied a special position in the former East. The country's language, its position, its history and, even during the communist era, the economic freedoms it enjoyed allowed an astonishing standard of living in comparison to other Eastern European ...
» read
The state ideology imposed by Moscow was hated in Hungary not only on account of the terror and restrictions to freedom but also due to its core that was felt to be a lie. This was, namely, the promise to make all people equal and happy. "A communist always tells lies" is therefore the slogan of moderate and radical anti-communists alike in Eastern Europe, and it was also to be heard during the Budapest protest demonstrations on Parliament Square in autumn 2006. Disputes between the left, the right and the liberals are splitting the country at the moment and the week-long demonstrations on Parliament Square after the "lie speech" of socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány seemed like a predictable accident. Nevertheless, their official labels do not correspond with the real contents of the individual parties. An analysis of the events, the confusion and the historic backgrounds.
» read
Migration researcher Michael Jandl investigates a sensitive topic: migration and illegal employment. In this interview with "Report" he explains why the option to restrict for a certain transitional period the free movement of labour as regards workers from the new EU countries (an option that was availed of by Austria) was only partly successful, and he indicates the form a sensible migration policy might take in the future.
Barbara Tóth in conversation with Michael Jandl
» read » listen
In earlier times, the Gorals were independent, self-reliant farmers in the mountains of southern Poland. They remain a proud people but today they seek their fortune in Vienna, Rome or Glasgow.
» read » listen
Serbia’s hopes of a gradual approach to the EU, which appeared realistic after the end of the Milosević era, the declaration of independence in June 2006 and the separation of Montenegro, have been shattered once more. Serbia has shrunk to a small state in the Balkans. Its many borders (to Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) only make the isolation of the people in this country more evident. For the population of Serbia, strict visa regulations make Europe a distant continent. A report from Belgrade.
» read » listen
Capsizing boatloads of refugees or weakened Africans clambering out of rudimentary vessels onto the beaches of Tenerife or Lampedusa have become part of everyday presentations on our media this summer. Hereby the fact that most of the illegal immigrants to the EU enter across the eastern border is often overlooked. A report on a permanent state of emergency.
» read » listen
Spinning the doner kebab in Neukölln or the fear of liberal political scientists.
» read » listen
Svatopluk Karasek, who was born in Prague in 1942, was a Protestant pastor before he joined the wild Underground movement in the early 1970s and started to preach rock. He was forbidden to practice his profession, imprisoned and subsequently he emigrated to Switzerland. He has lived again in Prague for some time now and since 2004 has been the human rights commissioner of the Czech government. An interview with a wanderer between different worlds.
» read
Interview: In her work The System: prêt-à-porter the artist Barbara Holub, since 2006 president of the Viennese Secession, addresses the shifts in economic structures and social form of appearance using the humanitarian and global circumstances of the Humana relief organization.
» read » listen
In her work The System: prêt-à-porter Barbara Holub addresses the shifts in economic structures and the technical circumstances of communication associated with them in the changing "western" cartographies. A review.
» read » listen
„Bis zu dem spannenden Ende, wo man sich entspannen kann,
lobt man ohne viel Umstände den blendenden Panenka“
(z autorovy kampaně při volbě nejlepšího fotbalisty Rakouska za rok 1983)
» read
Jiří Gruša, a Czech intellectual, author, companion of Václav Havel, president of the International PEN club and director of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, explains what his generation has done wrong after 1989, why an East German like Angela Merkel has shrewder policies in the East and why Westerners do not want to take the slightest risk for the new European freedom.
» read
Statements:
What and who is Europe? A large geographical, political and economic system, but above all a multi-coloured patchwork made up of thousands upon thousands of little individual destinies. We asked four European who work and live in Western and Eastern Europe about how they personally experience ...
social issues & initiatives | Sabine Prenn, Moldavia | Kathrin Lauer, Hungary | Paul Lerch, Czech Republic | Borjana Lindinger, Austria
» read
Neither communism nor modernisation have made any lasting impression on the stubborn people of Maramures County, a Romanian district in the region of Transylvania.
» read
Jeremy Rifkin, the US economist, political consultant and author of the book “The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream” talks about the problems, the hopes and the opportunity of taking Europe towards a future political model. Manuela Hötzl talked with this fan of Europe.
» read
The historian and journalist Karl Schlögel is a traveller, observer and storyteller who perceives processes of change and reinterprets them unusually in a manner that is more essayistic than academic.
The Berlin journalist Bert Rebhandl talked with Karl Schlögel in the following interview.
» read
A female pop icon's Euro-vision of Ruslana Lyzhichko, after the Orange Revolution. In this interview with Eduard Steiner given exclusively for "Report" she tells about the times before the change, the present atmosphere in the country and the Europe-euphoria of Ukrainian youth.
» read
Andrea Zlatar, specialist in literary studies and essayist, was town councillor with responsibility for cultural matters in Zagreb from 2001 to summer 2005. Dea Vidović spoke to her about politicians' ability to learn and the possibilities of partnerships in the so-called "independent cultural scene".
» read
Viennese market researcher Rudolf Bretschneider, director of the Fessl & GFK - Institute, collects data about eastern Europe. What does his mountain of information reveal about the people in eastern Europe?
Florian Klenk in conversation with Rudolf Bretschneider.
» read
An exhibition about saving as a part of everyday life in Austria, held in the Österreichisches Museum für Volkskunde, in cooperation with the DIE ERSTE Österreichische Spar - Casse Privatstiftung
» read
Of passionate collectors in modern Russia and the former USSR. An associative collage of observations by the Lithuanian composer, psychotherapist and collector Richardas Norvila.
» read
Boris Buden, the author of the book "Der Schacht von Babel – Ist Kultur übersetzbar" (The Pit of Babel – is Culture Translatable?) , which appeared in autumn 2004, explains why he finds the belief in a new cultural identity naive and why society should not confuse politics with culture. Buden speaks of Europe as a translation community. An interview with Manuela Hötzl.
» read
The Swiss approach to financing culture in the European context, or: what kind of impact, if any, does the Swiss method of culture financing have on the cultural life of Central and Southeast Europe?
A commentary by Sibylle Birrer
» read
A statement by Andreas Treichl, Chairman of the Managing Board of Erste Bank, on public usefulness, values and chances for the future.
» read
Classic texts of post-modernism in Czech, lectures and workshops in Slovakia, discussions about nowadays in Vienna next year.
» read
Boris Marte has been head of Corporate Sponsoring in the Erste Bank Group for two years. With him this company has embarked upon an ambitious path towards private culture financing that Marte likes to describe in terms of "cooperation and learning communities". The team behind Kontakt was rounded off at the beginning of the present year by the addition of Christine Böhler. Patricia Grzonka spoke to both of them about their activities, relationships of trust, networks and mutual learning processes.
» read
Florian Klenk in conversation with Christoph Badelt, Rector of the WU Wien on the perils of the EU expansion.
» read
Does anyone in this room still believe in solidarity between the “two Europes”? Rival interpretations of solidarity in "East" and "West".
An Essay by János Mátyás Kovács.
» read
Commentary by Franz Küberl, President of Caritas Österreich about the social and economic development of Central Europe in the years to come.
» read
Statements:
social issues & initiatives | Sabine Breitwieser, Austria | Christian Domany, Austria | Eva Glawischnig, Austria | Helena Koenigsmarková, Czech Republic | Konrad Paul Liessmann, Austria | Ivan Mečl, Crossborder | Alexander Nikolic, Crossborder
» read
Following the Roma revolts in eastern Slovakia earlier this year, the media scrambled to out do each other with sensational reports on their catastrophic living conditions. Most Roma have long been integrated in the larger community. Nonetheless, they are still subjected to daily racism. A younger generation is now rising to their feet, in their own way.
» read
|
|
|
