heartbeat issue four

Fourth Issue of Heartbeat. - European Forum Budweis 2012

THE EDITORS

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Fourth IssueBudweis

CONTENT

Behind curtains

16

What do weknow?

8

Better than the EP

12

Spot the difference

EYPaddiction

9

The poodle theory

11

Who’s who?

6

EYPForever

10

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Editorial. It is time to say goodbye. Those bittersweet words feel unreal after nine days spent together here in Budweis in this session bubble. This moment of ending of an era, something being wrapped up and finalised is familiar for each and every one of us- from school graduations, moving towns or previous sessions. However, the trick here is: no matter what you are feeling right now, those feelings reflect on the session. If it is a gratitude for finally getting some more sleep, sadness to leave the wonderful people you just got to know or simply confusion over the fact that now the session truly starts to be over. It makes you look back on what happened, reflect on your feelings and events that took place throughout the week. Whatever you feel right now, is directly proportional to the success of past week- in other words, the worse you are feeling at the very moment about leaving Budweis, the better these nine days have been. A word of advice: do not dwell on it, let it feel and then take with you what you can- let it be the feelings of longing, having learned something or simply having had fun. Thank you all for this session- hope you will be feeling the Budweis heartbeat long after it.

Yours,Oona and Timm

Oona Kiiskinen - Editress (FI)Timm Brünjes - Editor (DE)Sebastian Gerbeth - Video Editor (DE)Theodor Hall - Video Editor (CH)Berkok Yüksel - Journalist (TR)Ognjen Mirkovic - Journalist (RS)Katerina Zejdlova - Journalist (CZ)Gonzalo Rodriguez - Journalist (ES)Tua Malmberg - Journalist (SE)Dmitry Vyskrebentsev - Journalist (RU)Lāra Reinfelds - Journalist (CH)Kensa Traore - Journalist (FR)Jan Janouch - Journalist (CZ)

By Tua MalMBerg

WHO’S WHO?

Chairs TeaM: Press TeaM:

Press TeaM: Chairs TeaM:

Press TeaM: Press TeaM:

By Tua MalMBerg

WHO’S WHO?

DelegaTe: DelegaTe:

DelegaTe: DelegaTe:

DelegaTe: Chairs TeaM:

What do we actually know?What is there left to explore in the time when the world’s highest peak has become just a sight for wealthy tourists and the deepest rainforest are “ex-plored” rather by lumbermen than biologists?

hroughout many centuries the explorers themselves changed quite a lot. They have exchanged sailor

hats for white coats and ships for particle accelerators. However there is still something that remained: they are still looking up to the stars. The time to “boldly go where no one has gone before“ has not quite come. Yet the journey through the knowledge we have gathered so far is definitely as adventurous as all the Star Trek spin-offs combined. Gone are the times when the Milky Way represented the whole universe for us. Now we know that we are inhabiting just an ordinary galaxy resting on one of the many “cushions” of invisible matter. The theory predicting that there is something like dark matter was published in 1933. The astrono-mers were observing a group of distant galaxies moving extremely fast and there was no way how they could have stayed together, without something holding them tied. Many more proofs of existence of this mysterious substance kept

appearing in the following years. The space is not empty. In fact the matter with which we all are famil-iar with forms only five percent of the known universe. One quarter is the aforementioned dark matter. And the remaining seventy percent is dark energy. In this case “dark” does not mean “bad”: do not take a lesson from Star Wars here. Vaguely speaking it is the opposite form of energy with which we again are fa-miliar from the physics classes. On a side note: imagine a device with an infinite possibility of zooming in and out. Point it at something and keep zooming in. You will see tiny details at first, then strings of mol-ecules: even “deeper” you will see their respective atoms and in those you will be able to observe elec-trons, protons and all tinier particles of matter. Beyond of all that there is the energy that keeps everything going. Looking up, towards the sky, you will witness stars, planets, gas giants, galaxies, systems of galaxies, dark matter and energy. That closes the imaginary circle: energy can be something so unimaginably small

and on the other hand something so enormously big that our brain is not able to grasp the concept of it. However, all of that is a pure guess: the only thing we know for sure is that we cannot create it nor destroy it. Energy simply is, it exists. The same applies to the dark matter, but in this case the scientists were able to uncover at least some parts of the mystery. They claim that this invis-ible substance consists of particles which they nicknamed cold or “lazy” for the reason that they do not interact with “common” matter. They just carry mass and therefore gravity. Once again these are just theories and many devices on the ground, in the space and between the two are racing to find these particles and prove those theories right. Let's wish the brave explorers in lab coats best of luck in this most exciting ‘hide and seek’- game ever seen. As the Red Hot Chili Peppers sing in their famous Californica-tion: “The space may not be the final frontier.”

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By Jan JanouCh


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What do we actually know? EYP addictionWhy do we love it so much, and just what makes us apply for sessions over and over again?

hether you are a first time EYPer or you have more than 30 sessions under your belt, there

is something in it: a special feeling that makes you write a complicated application in the middle of your exams or spend a lot of money and time planning you trip to a coun-try far away. This drive varies from person to person but as practice has shown, it is equally strong.

The way you look at EYP definitely depends a lot on how long you have been taking part in it and which position you prefer to hold on a

session. The delegates usually see it as a great opportunity to discuss important topics with people from different European countries, a chance to make new friends and improve their English if necessary. This is the very core on which the whole idea of the EYP experience is based on and is something you always go back to in the end. But as you spend more time in EYP your motives can become a little bit dif-ferent. For some it is about travel-ling around Europe from a session to a session with old EYP friends while others are looking for self im-provement and going up the ranks.

Some are still trying to reach the level of their role models from their first sessions or just feel the magic they felt in their favourite session so far. And maybe the most amazing thing is that there is no such thing as a bad or an unproductive EYP session, not so far.

Whatever your motives may be, one thing is for sure- the experience called European Youth Parliament is a never ending story with many twists and turns which we would not trade for any kind of vacation.

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By Jan JanouCh ognJen Mirković

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our first EYP session changes your life forever. It is a once in a lifetime, completely overwhelming experience.

For some once is enough. For others, it is not. This article is for those of you who want to involve yourselves even further in EYP. The first thing you do is create an ac-count for the EYP alumni portal (alumni.eypej.org). There, all calls for officials and delegates from sessions all over EYP are published. There are calls for everything from jury members to journalists and sessions taking place in every country with a national EYP

committee.When you have found a call for a ses-sion you would like to attend you ap-ply. You usually apply by filling out an application form in which you have to answer some session specific questions and attach a list of your previous EYP experiences.To have previous EYP experience is not a demand as the quality of your ap-plication is more important: however, having previous experience gives you an advantage and increases the chances of your application being successful.I encourage you all to put yourselves out there and collect as much EYP ex-

perience as possible. Be a delegate as many times as you possibly can. Ap-ply to sessions arranged by the national committee of your country as well as to sessions arranged in other countries. And later, when you feel the time is right, apply to sessions as an official.EYP is always in need of new bright minds. You can help make the organi-sation even stronger. EYP is a wonder-ful way to broaden your mind, some-thing unique and fascinating we all are lucky to be a part of. I now wish you all the best of luck and I hope that I will see you soon, at another session some-where in Europe.

EYP Forever By Tua MalMBerg

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The poodle theory By kensa Traoré

Poodle : masculine noun, employed to describe a breed of dog with va-rieties of different sizes and having curly hair, which is generally clipped from ribs to tail. Originally trained to hunt waterfowl. Most common breed of dog in Czech Republic.

f there was one thing to be re-membered about the town of Budweis, it would definitely be its impressive amount of poo-

dles. These animals are to be seen eve-rywhere indeed. If you look around carefully, you can even find dozens of them together several times a day. For instance, in the park of the Uni-versity of Southern Bohemia, everyday between six and eight in the evening, you can see three of them. Given the fact that they look exactly the same, they are absolutely recognisable. They are black haired, and their fur is cut in a very particular style conveying the impression that they are wearing trou-

sers from the seventies. As you can see, poodles do have a hippy period as well, except that theirs is taking place forty years later than ours.

However, the only reason for this happening is the conditioning of animals by men. As you may have no-ticed, poodles are delicate creatures. They need attention and constant care. However when they do not get what they deserve, it is hard to comprehend the situation they are in and to act upon it. Therefore men have many dif-ficulties taking care of these precious animals.

On the other hand, to be a good poo-dle owner, one must treat the poodle as an animal companion, and not as a decorative possession. There are many cases seen currently which show us the cruelty exercised by dogs owners: We witness this animal decoration through dog competitions and alike.To be a good poodle owner, one must first realise that poodles are living ani-mals as well, and that they are as pre-cious as their owner. Since you are not a decorative piece of furniture, your poodle is not one either.

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Better than the actual ParliamentBudweis2012 Press team had a word with the President of EYP Czech Republic. Talking about his goals, the true nature of the European Parliament assemblies and the impact of EYP on the Euro-pean society.

o start off. What is happening in your EYP life just now?

I was lucky to be selected as the President of EYP Czech Repub-lic in April. Together with the board we invented a new strategy for get-ting more people into EYP and we also plan to involve the current alumni members even more.

And how about the “normal” life?

I got my bachelors degree last year, but eventually decided not to continue to the master degree.I am now working in the European Parliament as an assistant for the Czech representative. It is great, you get to meet a lot of people and there are a lot of interesting topics discussed in the European Parliament- I am

happy that I can attend them. And yes, I can attend the General Assembly at the Parliament.

Any interesting insights into the Euro-pean procedures?

We often tend to criticize the resolu-tions for being unclear and that we just keep proposing media and educational campaigns. However when you take

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By Jan JanouCh

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a look at the actual EU resolutions, I personally find them far worse than the ones that the delegates produce. So we all as EYPers can be proud of how well we work during committee work and of how good our resolutions are. Can you please compare our GA proce-dure and the actual EP procedure?

They are quite different. Because we have proper debate during the GA and delegates can react to each other. In the European Parliament the debate stays really static. The debaters have allocat-ed time and they know precisely when they are going to speak. So in that way the debate is very formal and not inter-esting to follow since the speeches do not respond to each other. They have just a couple of statements going on.

Coming back to the new features for the EYP Czech Republic, that you hinted. Can you elaborate on that?

We have the next Czech forum com-ing up in autumn and it is going to be really great. Next year, beside our tra-ditional NSC, we are planning on se-ries of shorter events called EYP Days. And with those, for the first time ever, we are planning to reach out to every single region of Czech Republic, espe-cially the eastern one.

What is the meaning of all this? Includ-ing running around, deliberately giving up sleep, surviving only on coffee?

I think that one of the biggest strengths of EYP and at the same time the biggest weakness is that we are an organization with such a broad focus. In the way that we do not have a spe-cific focus like for example the debat-ing league. The focus there is really clear; it is just debating as such. For example in the UN model, the focus is only on the procedure. Our events are much broader and I think they of-fer the possibility for much broader

spectre of people. The thing that we are really good at is not the parliamentary simulation itself, but the soft skills: the work with the people. And that was not really easy to “sell” to the people dur-ing past years, yet I personally feel that it is changing. The society gives more value to the soft skills and the personal development. That is something from which all the youth organizations all over Europe will benefit from.

You were saying that EYP has the pos-sibility to reach a broad amount of people, yet some people might view our organi-sation as an elitist one.

In my opinion this is just some kind of a label, saying that we are some kind of elitist or exclusive organisation. It is only palatially true: some national EYP committees, like Sweden for ex-ample, get more funding from the gov-ernment and are able to allow almost everybody to enjoy EYP. It is true that running a session in some central or eastern European countries, since the governments are not that generous or simply prefer to invest in other things than in youth education.

The exclusivity can also be viewed posi-tively. It ensures the high academic level of the debates.

Yes and no. I like the exclusivity, how-ever it should not be based on the con-tents of your pocket. It should rather be based on your skills.

How did EYP as a thought, that we have just described, contributed to you person-ally?

I think that I learned a lot from EYP. I gained lots of confidence. I got to know a lot about dealing with people also in terms of training, passing the knowl-edge to other people. Because if you do not share with the others in EYP, eve-rything you have been building with them so far can easily fall apart when

you leave.

How about EYP in the bigger picture? Can it affect the European society?

Well, we make people “better” by edu-cating them in politics and making them understand democracy. So that is maybe a way we affect the European society. Yet I do not think we should aspire for some political goals.

So EYP should not influence the decision making process of the EU?

Definitely not. See, I have a problem with the concept of civil society in a way since society does not reflect any democratic legitimacy. Power based structure has to be based on elected representatives. And I do not care what kind of democracy that would turn up as: representative or direct, I am com-pletely fine with both. The civil society as such, including EYP, is not a repre-sentative. We will never represent the whole society, we represent just a frag-ment of it. Therefore we may propose and promote our ideas, but not seek for active participation.

Some final words about the session?

The great thing is that we made this session to happen, because the last year it did not work out. I am glad that we were able to attract such a high-pro-file international officials team. That so many great, capable people from all over Europe found their way here. We have never organised such a long session and it shows that even a rather small organisation like EYP Czech Republic is capable of something this big. And the delegates will be the ones who will profit the most. Is that not the point?

Thank you very much for your time Anar.

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Can you spot the difference?By Jan JanouCh


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Marinaleda: another perspective on the world.Bye bye Capitalism…

t is called Marinaleda. It is not a Russian or Cuban city. In fact, it is a southern Spanish town located in Andalusia. This place

is well known among southern Span-ish citizens since it has been one of the references in probably the longest conflict in that region: the struggle be-tween land owners and land workers. Property has been an enormous prob-lem in this zone for centuries ago. None of the last governments during the past centuries have been able to solve this fight which has caused a lot of disparities and it also was one of the mainly reasons behind the beginning of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).However, since democracy started in Spain in 1979, the government of Marinaleda has belonged to a political party called Colectivo de Unidad de los Trabajadores. The name and mean-ing of this party could be translated as The Collective for Workers Unity. The central idea of this party is to con-struct a working alternative to Capital-ism. For this reason the government of Marinaleda embraces some of the

most fundamental and essential points of communist theories.In order to fight capitalism and to cre-ate a system based on the communist principles, the major of Marinaleda, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, focus-es the policies on aspects that you will never see in the regular way of policy implementation. For instance, Marina-leda’s economy is based on agriculture which is organised in a cooperative system that all the land workers of the village belong to. Furthermore the political guidelines in Marinaleda are also based on some so-cial facets. To illustrate this point there is a rule implemented by the City Hall in this village which makes every single salary equal. It does not matter which job position someone holds, everybody gets the same wages. Besides, you can rent a house in Marinaleda for only 15 euros per month. There is just one con-dition on this, which is to help build the house. This way of action is usually called Self-Building. Apparently this method is successful because it is the core reason of Marinaleda’s demogra-

phy growth.In terms of democratic procedures, this town is special as well. With the purpose of encouraging the citizens to take an active role in politics, the gov-ernment of Marinaleda focuses on di-rect democracy as the way to decide on each single decision. To vote in popu-lar assemblies, where every citizen can participate, is the normal way of mak-ing political decisions in this town.On the other hand, there are many people who dislike this model and the way it works in Marinaleda. The main argument to criticize the politi-cal mechanisms in Marinaleda is the fact that its government has been the same for the last 33 years, which is not healthy at all for any kind of democ-racy.However, for those who still believe in socialist ideology, Marinaleda could be a good place to live in. On the other hand, for those who really think that there is no option for the communist utopia in our current world, to intro-duce Capitalism in Marinaleda could be an interesting challenge.

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By gonzalo sola roDríguez



Behind the curtains of Europe

he EU, the place where dreams come true. But what does really happen to all those dreams and to the dream

holders who leave their home and set-tle in Europe?Jaw dropping, fascinating, enchanting, miraculous; these are all words that do not describe the life of an immi-grant. In contrary, these are words that are promised to an immigrant, words that describe a new life of opportuni-ties and dreams coming true. However, keeping in mind the current immigra-tion policies enforced by the national governments in Europe and the state the immigrants are in, dreams do not actually come true. A young man who lives in Germany at the ripe age of 16 may have the wish

to become a dancer one day, but does he have the chances to accomplish that dream? ‘No’ is the answer for a crucial percentage of %98 if he is a foreign settler in an EU country. Do the EU countries have no mercy for immi-grants? Of course they do.It is an apparent fact that immigration is caused by the differences in living standards. The Turkish government supports education until the gradua-tion from high school, whereas many EU countries fund students until their graduation from university. In many parts of Africa health issues are crucial, but if we take a look at the EU coun-tries, healthcare is free for many minor operations. Therefore, recognising the need for immigration is understand-able.

On the other hand, to accept the issue as ordinary ones is to abandon com-mon sense, because the problem at hand has two sides. A Muslim inhabit-ant may have a higher living standard and more fulfilling opportunities, nev-ertheless his surroundings may prevent him from living as a free individual. Ahmed, 17, Berlin, does not wish to be a kebap- shop worker and to repeat his line “welcome to my shop” over and over again for the rest of his life. But his family will not support his dream to be a dancer. For that reason, as in the example, it is vital for the government to consider to the maximum the culture of its im-migrants and to cooperate with them.

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By Berkok yüksel


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Delegates – angels or little devils?Being a chair is not always an easy task. What are the delegates they can only dream of like and what are the worst night-mares haunting their dreams?

The absolutely perfect delegate

Chairing him could be compared to an EYP session in heaven. Being always on time, he is properly dressed and phrases such as “I forgot something in my room! Let me get it, it will be just a minute, I promise!” are not in his vocabulary. He never complains about anything – eats any type of food, drinks any type of coffee. Always up for all kind of games during teambuilding, whether it involves making a complete idiot out of himself or deciding the fate of Abigale – he is cooperative and absolutely willing to make compromises yet has opinions and uses meaningful arguments to defend them, enchanting all other delegates at GA with his fabulous speech. He leaves parties early in order to get some sleep and prepare for the next day of committee work. All the chairs are striving to have this delegate in their committee while he chooses the chair that is, in his opinion, the most academically experienced.

The absolutely terrible delegate

Rather be chairing a committee in hell than have this delegate! He ignores wake up calls and there-fore he is always the one all the others are waiting for. He does not give a damn about the committee or the chair. Always making up excuses to leave committee work and when he is actually present there his facial expression speaks pretty much for everything. No teambuilding game is good enough for him therefore the chair is having some quite hard time. If he even bothers saying anything at all in the com-mittee work it is always something that kills the point the whole committee has agreed on. He shows up at GA dressed in jeans and a loose shirt. He gets so bored during the debates that he tries to entertain himself in various ways that are not always quite appropriate. Getting lost and being searched for by the organisers is a thing on a daily basis. While the chair is getting slightly insane this delegate seems to be quite enjoying himself.

Delegates are simply different and unique and no one will probably ever meet a delegate like the ones described above. Yet they simply create amazing teams of unforgettable people, because no one is perfect and that imperfection of each individual is what makes EYP the way it is.

By kaTe ŽeJDlová



The outside world NEWSTaking part in an EYP session is like entering a whole new world in which we wish we could stay forever. However staying in touch with reality is also impor-tan, so here is an overview of what’s going on around the globe.

By lāra niaMh eCkerT reinfelDs

The Spanish police have arrested activists who sacked supermarkets in southern Spain in order to hand out the stolen goods to people in need. Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, the mayor of a small town in Andalusia, was one of the main participants and leaders of this action, a protest against the current situation in Spain.

Currently more than 1 million Greeks are unemployed, with unemployment reach-ing a new high of 23.1%. Greece is facing more austerity and especially the younger generations are affected.

The French police have forced hundreds out of their homes after raids in Roma camps in Lyon and Paris. On the same day around 240 Roma were flown from France to Romania, the biggest action of its kind since Francois Hollande’s socialist government came to power.

Three members of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot are under trial for in-sulting President Vladimir Putin and the prosecution is calling for three years of jail time. Many international artists, including singer Madonna have voiced their concern over this.

26-year old Katie Taylor, a born again Christian and competitor for Ireland at the Olympic games in London this year, has won the gold medal for her country in women’s boxing. She beat Sofya Ochigava from Russia 10-8.

Mitt Romney, conservative candidate for the US presidential elections, has named his running mate. He has chosen Paul Ryan, a 42-year-old conservative from Wis-consin. Ryan is known as being strongly opposed to gay marriages and voted against the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and for a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. Mr Ryan also supports banning same-sex adoption in D.C.


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Pussy Riot - fighting Putin with music

ussy Riot, a feminist punk-rock band from Moscow in Russia consists of more than 10 women who anonymously

perform society and government criti-cal songs in public, always wearing masks to protect themselves from the wrath of the rich and powerful they are offending. During one such action at a church in Moscow in February, which lead to the arrest of three mem-bers of the group, they were criticiz-ing the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and performed a song called “Virgin Mary kick out Putin ”. Patriarch Kirill, a known supporter of Putin, claimed the act had been blasphemous and an

insult to church and god. The women wear masks when they perform, and colourful clothes and tights. They also have nicknames, they do this to protect themselves and with most of them not even their closest friends and relatives know about their involvement. The women from Pussy Riot have a political message, they want to be heard and they want to fight for their rights. And their methods are effective. No other activist, politician or journal-ist has raised as much awareness on the issue as them. They love their country and they love Moscow. But they are feminists in a country that has forgot-ten what the word means. They live in

a country where they cannot openly voice their opinion but rather have to hide behind balaclavas and fake names such as Sparrow and Squirrel. They are different, they are young, many have children, because they wear colourful masks and clothes, because their pro-test is music, because people support them. Not only in their own country but also abroad. Their cause touches people because it combines so much: church and state, religion, law. They themselves can still hardly grasp how much of an impact they have made. Only time will tell how this situation will develop.

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Three members of the Russian punk-rock band Pussy Riot have recently been brought to trial, igniting anew the age-old discussion about free-dom of speech in Russia.

By lāra niaMh eCkerT reinfelDs



heartbeat issue four

Documents

press team

chairs team

budweis heartbeat

session bubble

european forum budweis

dark matter

feelings of longing

cushions of invisible