Batumi 4th Int Forum (2012) - Newspaper 2

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Batumi 4th International Forum of EYP Georgia

CONTENTS

issue 2

4_____Where Ecology and Technology meet

Governing Body________________________________5

6________________________Swing That Racket

Georgian National Folk Dances_________________7

8________________________4th Dimension

Live today, Plan tomorrow, Party tonight________10

11_______________________Georgia vs Europe

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Euro -too outstandidng to be a village- town____12

Editors speaking. After a long time of proofreading and editing articles to make sure that everything looks perfect, we are finally ready to provide you with the second newspaper. You will be eternally grateful for reading these super interesting articles, you will fall down on your knees and thank God for being able to watch such amazing photos and you will fall asleep crying, holding this paper close to you heart. By that time WE will hopefully be back from the hospital, having recovered from grave fatigueness and terrible computer-eye-sickness. There is nothing left in our brains but mashed bananas and InDesign shortcuts.

Due to the lack of a committee to have dinner with this evening, we will spend our time crying into our pillows like 14-year old girls who just heard that all Justin Bieber tickets have been sold out. As you might have noticed, this editorial is not very coherent. We have to admit that after so much effort we just totally ran out of inspiration, and that is why we will conclude by throwing some random words at you. We sincerely hope you will enjoy them. Giraffe - flipflops - hookah - sjoeki movida - pimple - inception - maple - orange shirt - square kilometer - kidney - triangle - Schoffa - toothpaste - potato.

Janne & Jussi

EDITORIAL 3

Where Ecology and Technology meet On the one hand, Europe is a leading competitor in the global industrial, research, and energy market. But on the other hand, the continent is home to more than 200,000 animal and plant species, and 42% of its mammals are threatened by extinction.

“climate change could wipe out one third of the Earth’s species by 2050. “

Today, technology is sometimes phrased as the application of scientific knowledge to the manipulation of the human environment. Current patterns of industrial development and the use and consumption of unsustainable resources are provoking environmental changes from the local to the global. As a matter of fact, they are responsible for major issues namely pollution, soil erosion and desertification, loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion and global warming. The latter in turn provokes climate change, reflected through sea-level rise,

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changing seasonal weather patterns, and increasing severity of extreme w e a t h e r events such as storms, floods, and droughts. In fact, climate change could wipe out one third of the Earth’s species by 2050. With the human population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, it is obvious that this trend will not stop in the near future.

To preserve the natural capital of the environment, the sectors of energy, agriculture, and transport need to be “decarbonized”. “decarbonized”.

Indeed, the stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations – responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming – requires that annual emissions of these heavily emitting sectors be brought down to more than 80% below current levels. So what are we waiting for?

The bone of contention is the economics of ecological action. Believing that the grim outlook associated to the global recession, national interests, and fear of profit loss outweigh the benefits of pursuing green investments, nations and corporations are unwilling to finance low-carbon

Oliver Slattery

By 2009, the EU reduced greenhouse gas emissions by around 16% compared to 1990 levels, whereas the economy grew by about 40% over the same period.

Furthermore climate action, which fights global warming, soil impoverishment, and loss of biodiversity, will create new markets in green technologies and related goods and services – markets that could grow to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars each year as employment in these sectors expands accordingly.

The engine of this predominant economic growth is fossil fuel-fired power stations, but they are also the biggest single contributor to global CO2 emissions, followed by motor vehicles and flatulent cows. Nuclear energy isn’t as cheap and efficient as other renewable energy sources.

The only obstacle to the widescale adoption of these is the large cost disparity between clean and fossil energies.

The green recipe that environmental

reviewers rehash is the combination of subsidising low-carbon technologies and putting a price on CO2 through capand-trade (such as the European Emission Trading System) and national CO2 taxes.

Is this the best way forward for Europe? One thing that is sure is that by allowing low-carbon technologies to compete with fossil technologies, Europe will be in the vanguard of creating green economic growth.

The wide-spread deployment of low-carbon technologies

may take many decades the proponents of fossil fuel technologies believe that the predicted upswing in energy demand will be too strong to rely on sustainable energy resources. But with oil reserves expected to run out by 2054, the argument is misleading.

Combine the previous formula with strong leadership, and Europe has its ticket for a lowemissions society.

The world doesn’t need to choose between averting environmental damage and

stimulating growth through technology. While technology seems to be the yin of ecology’s yang, the environment and innovation go hand in hand. By creating more sustainable forms of development, innovation magically preserves our planet and improves human welfare simultaneously. If only this solution could be enacted as easily as the dilemma was solved, the planet would be able to retain its resources and biodiversity.

Governing Body Erekle Antadze

Tatuli Chubabria

Five years of experience, 36 National Committees, more than 2,5 million euros fundraised, over 20 000 young people involved… These colossal numbers can be found in the 2011 annual report of the European Youth Parliament. But who in the world is in charge of all this? On national level there are the National Committees, but at international level the European Youth Parliament is governed by an international board, also known as the “Governing Body”.

The Governing Body consists of six people, of which three are elected annually by the members of the National Committees and by the participants of the International Sessions. The last elections took place from during our forum, from July 16th to July 20th. Votes were cast online and we are happy to announce that the three new of members of Governing Body are: Hilpi Luukkonen, Andris Suvajevs and Drazen Puklavec.The Governing Body members gather in the EYP headquarters in Berlin 4 times a year. The main aim of the GB is to oversee the process of establishing new National Committees, to conduct trainings for its volunteers and to carry out international sessions. Dr. Alan Flowers, one of the six volunteers in the Governing Body, is present at BIF’12.

In 2011 he successfully got three countries involved in EYP: Moldova, Kosova and Azerbaijan.

The importance of expanding the network and involving new countries in EYP is not equally emphasized and put forward by the current members of the GB, even though Dr. Flowers is amongst those in Berlin who put all their effort and enthusiasm in expanding the organisation.

The creation of a free and transparent NGO is a positive and democratic process which is especially necessary for countries with a short tradition of participatory democracy, civic activism and youth work.

We wish the three new members of the GB good luck, as their success will have a huge impact on the way EYP operates.

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Swing that racket!

Kakhi Sanikidze

I love many things: animals, music, travelling, my mom, my friends, my laptop. But when the editor asked me to write an article about my passion, the first thing that came to my mind was tennis.

This is something I have loved in a special way for many years and it is the answer to the banal question “what is it that you cannot live without?”

Tennis is one of the Olympic sports and it is quite popular all over the world. Historians claim that it was came to existence in France back in 8th century, but the first tournament was played only in the 19th century in Birmingham, England. I suppose that some of you have heard that tennis has often been called the “Royal Sport”, simply because it was played by kings.

The rules of the game have changed slightly, the outfits of tennis players have as well. The heavy wooden racquets from the past century got replaced by lighter equipment made of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer. Secondly, the game is now played on three different surfaces.

There are only the Britons who still organise tournaments on well-cared grass courts.

Every year, more and more people get interested in tennis. Among big tennis fans we can find celebrities like Shakira, Elton John, Naomi Campbell and The Obama family. Unfortunately, this expensive sport is not very popular in Georgia. If we take a look at the current ranking of tennis players, we can see that the situation is not ideal. The best Georgian female player entered the top 100 not long ago, on the men’s side we don’t have anyone in the top thousand. Belgium on the other hand, where our editor Janne comes from, has had huge stars such as Justin Henin and Kim Clijsters. Estonia, the country of the other editor Jussi, has the upcoming star Kaia Kanepi.

When I was little I saw a tennis match on TV, and something happened to me, it drove me crazy, it blew my mind. It was a love at first sight. I insisted I wanted to start playing as soon as possible. On that day, they told me to wait till

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September. I couldn’t clock-watch for a whole summer so I took out a racquet-like vegetable chopping boars from the kitchen, equipped my neighbours and started having my own tennis tournaments. When I had learned the rules I gave training to my friends. To encourage others and involve them in the game I created colourful certificates for the best players.

When I finally stepped on the real court, I felt that it was the place where I belonged to. I even fell in love with the smell of clay courts.

Because I was already 13 years old it was too late to be able to become a professional player.

However, I always tried my very best. Soon I became the best player in my team and the biggest victory was winning a match against a strong player who was always accompanied by his aggressive father.

I remember playing from 9am until 4pm under the burning sun. It was only when I left the court that I could feel how exhausted, hungry and sunburned I was.

Later I sacrificed my love of tennis to studies.

However, it will always be my lifetime companion. I try to watch some games on television or just to get some news updates on the internet.

In EYP I have met fellow friends who also love tennis. Mariam Tavdgiridze, one of the organisers of the forum, also loves tennis and we often discuss major events. Asmat Nakidashvili, the head organiser, is also an amateur player and sometimes we even play together!

Georgian National Folk Dances

Nini Danelia

Once Agnes de Mille said: “The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie.”

Any culture, as a historically formed phenomenon, is the result of a thorough selection of traditions and expressive means. This creates an accomplished artistic system. At the same time, all cultures have a national colouring, which is why the treasure of the world culture is so multifarious and multi-coloured. The Georgians belong to the race of those ancient peoples who, in spite of the hardest historical cataclysms, not only created original culture but carried it through the centuries and preserved its vitality and vigour. Georgia has a wide range of folk dances that were passed down through generations.

I would like to introduce the art of Georgian Folk dancing to you. The breath-taking and absolutely awesome dances represent a live history book expressing centuries of Georgian art, culture and tradition in general. Georgian Folk dances are not very famous around the world, but their magnificence and the beauty cannot be forgotten by anyone who sees it.

Rough and technical movements leave the audience in total astonishment! Each dance portrays the life of the region in which it originated, and is therefore diverse and unique. The mountain dances such as Khevsuruli, Kazbeguri, or Mtiuluri are very different from valley dances like Acharuli and Davluri. The costumes are different for every dance and resemble the clothing of the past in different regions of Georgia.

Due to Georgia’s location on the cross-roads of many cultures, Georgians have always been prepared to defend themselves. Until the turn of the 20th century it was common for men to carry daggers and swords. The lively Khanjluri dance is punctuated by dancers throwing their daggers on the floor, often several at the same time. “Competition” on the other hand is the dance that has movements and jumps on the knees and toes.

To conclude, it does not matter whether you like jazz or waltz, jive or salsa, Georgian national dances are the unique ones and you will immediately fall in love with them!

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The 4th Dimension Every day, babies are born all over the world.

Their names are written in their Birth Certificates, written with joy and affection, enriched with happiness and hope, the hope that someday they will name their own babies with just as much love. The years go by, children learn how to write and start putting their own emotions into words and someday, those words touch millions of other people, not simply the authors, and change the readers forever. Exactly this fact awards them with the precious name, granting name of a writer.

Some of the writers are considered weird, some irrational and the others simply idealistic dreamers. Exactly those people impact you in a way that you can never even imagine. Yes, writers might be romantics but they have become the dreamers because they were not afraid to face reality and look into the eyes of the horrifying. What I believe in is that every book, every novel and a poem has wisdom in it. I have al-

Ia Tserodze

ways thought that writers knew more about the world and that this was the reason for their passion. They tried to put clues into their stories so that we could understand more about reality.

For example, a person writing about the sun, might know how to fly. Someone writing about a snowman, might know the secret to endless summer and someone writing about himself might have discovered another dimension. In reality, every writer has invented another dimension, the one I would like to call the 4th dimension. Yes, this is so stunning that the scientists are not announcing it yet. But I decided to tell you, and share this secret with you, just be sure not to tell it to anyone. In fact, the place where you are being taken with your thoughts, the moment you imagine yourself instead of the main character and start living their life, the second you forget about your own surroundings, your name, age and identity – that very instant you are taken to the 4th dimension…

Children grow up and become adults, accomplished writers. They overlook their lives and see colourful fairytales with happy endings, heart-breaking dramas finishing with death, challenging adventures with courageous heroes. Is it theirs? Is this their life? Yes, yes it is… The book might not be autobiographical, but the hero of the book is always the author him/herself. Very different, but the same, since they feel and act the same way. They challenge the monsters and overcome the obstacles, free princesses from isolated castles, invent time travel and sail through the deepest seas. And when the time passes and the writers become old, they look back at their stories and think of them as distant memories. But when their memories fade away, they take a deep breath and feel the blood rushing through their veins once again when old sensations come back to life. Then they slowly close their eyes and let the fairies of their favourite stories take them to the wonderful world of dreams…

“Writers themselves are

“You have to be born a writer”, the heroes, who indeed my grandmother once told me, “you can’t become one, and it is not that easy. You need the necessary save the world” surroundings and suitable circumstances…”. I’m sorry granny, but I don’t agree with you on this one. William Shakespeare, the best playwright in history, was born in a family where every single member was illiterate. Oscar Wilde, with his only novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” considered a masterpiece, was imprisoned twice, suffered from illness and nearly died from hunger. Even J.K. Rowling, the legendary author of Harry Potter, lived in poverty

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and shared a tiny room on the roof of a building with her daughter. The creations of these people will last for centuries, some already have. They have shaped generations, their thoughts, ideas, views, beliefs. Their wisdom was passed on. I have more than once visited the 4th dimension thanks to them and maybe you have as well. The sensation while living the hero’s life is unforgettable. The unbelievable bliss when you are walking down the aisle and looking in the eyes of your loved one and the feeling of devastation and grief you get when that same person is killed right in front of your eyes. The adrenaline rush when you are about to jump into a waterfall and the sweetness of your very first baked cake.

The experiences vary but somehow I have never left the 4th dimension without a smile on my face. It might be the reader’s imagination, but it is the reality for the author. Even if it is a fictional story, the writer still takes every step together with their hero. In reality writers themselves are the heroes, who indeed save the world with the wisdom they are sharing. So the next time you start reading a book, a short story or a poem, try to look beyond the words, and to look deeper into the meaning of the storyline, go farther from the ink and the letters and find the key to the enigmatic facts of our yet undiscovered universe.

How do I know this? And why am I telling you all this? Hello, my name is Ia Tserodze and I‌ I live in the 4th dimension.

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The House of Justice

Alex Huzenko

On the 2nd day of the Batumi International Forum the foreign delegates had an amazing opportunity to visit the house of justice. Everyone noticed the building when arriving from Tbilisi, but no one knew what is it used for and why it is there. The building looks very up-to-date both from the outside and the inside. The first thing that comes to your mind when you look at the building is that it definitely looks like a huge cactus. What I first thought was that it might be a contemporary art museum, because you don’t get to see many institutions whose construction looks like a cactus. Excited about going inside, me and 30 other foreigners realised that it is totally different from what we expected.

The house of justice is the most official institution you can imagine: it has all public services provided in one building. They offer biometrical passports, ID cards, visas, legalisation of marriages and loans in a minimum period of time.

Anyway, if you have fallen in love with Georgia, just go to the house of justice and in about an hour you can become a citizen of this country.

The institution was established on the 20th of May (Georgian independence day) last year and by now it is serving up to 3,000 people per day.

The institution hides all the possible services in one building. There are analogies all over the world, but the one is Batumi is considered as the best one worldwide. Today, among 600 public halls in Georgia, this one is the biggest and newest, but the Georgian government plans to have another one in the capital Tbilisi, which will serve 20,000 people per day. The plan is to have a “drive through” technique: without getting out of the car, you can receive

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card or any other legal document and a cup of coffee at the same time. All customer support services are located on the first floor, while the other floors are used for printing and legalization of all the documents. The institution has the newest equipment and only professionally educated personnel. You have to do an internship at a similar institution and pass many psychological requirements before you can start working with customers. All the high tech inside is present due to the governmental support and some private investments. When you enter the building, there is no way you can miss the monitors right in front, where you can type any ID number and get all the information about the person, which includes: first and last name, address, position and place of work, medical insurance and marital status. Asking the question: “Do you control who uses the information data and how is it protected?”, the institution representative answered that all data is designed for public usage and anyone can use it for different purposes.

The international delegates and officials were lucky to see these future perspectives and were fascinated by the enormous plans the government has. Needing only one card, Georgian citizens will be able to pay loans, refill balance on their accounts, pay for tickets, food, parking, hotel accommodation and any kind of transportation.

Sounds impossible? Look at Georgia at the present time. They overcame the political and economical crisis, faced the Rose revolution in 2003 and keep constantly developing.

Hopefully in a couple years we will be able to experience the technological revolution in

Live today… Plan tomorrow…

Party tonight!

Nini Danelia Tatuli Chubabria

Georgia – this is the country where a little more than one 7th of the population would tell you they go to parties. According to the most trusted statistical data in Georgia only 14% of the population would answer positively on the question “have you been to the bar/club/disco during the last 6 months?”.

This is also a country of a very low civic activism: when a Georgian citizen is asked “have you gone to a meeting of a club/civic organization” as less as 4% would tell you YES. Then, BIF’12 appeared…

5 days, 120 hours, 7 committees, over 130 people from across Europe, yes! This is it! The big one! THE ONE we’ve all been waiting for so long – finally, Batumi 4th International Forum is happening! On Wednesday night, under the blue sky of the town of Batumi, the “Welcome Party” took place. This night was a prime example of how unique an international EYP forum is. A group of excited and eager youngsters gathered in the centre of our hotel. The atmosphere was fantastic and euphoria was the main guest. It looked like everyone was having a blast! There were no grumpy faces nor sadness present, only over-energized people having fun. Mr. President was dancing in a big circle of delegates, organisers were running errands (as always) and some delegates were even talking about the committee topics. Whilst the party went much too fast for the majority of people, the evening was suddenly over. Delegates continued to socialize and have fun in front of the hotel until after midnight.

So what is the anomaly we are seeing at BIF? EYPers are the party population of the country and we are the portion of the society “performing” social activism too! A 5 day full-time session won’t pass with any partyless evening and there won’t be a day without committeework in our agenda. “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing”, so keep it up EYP!

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Erekle Antadze

Georgia vs Europe

Alex Huzenko

The representatives of ITRE and IMCO of completely different nationalities, political and social views argue about comparison of Georgia and Europe.

Erekle: Hello Alex, despite the huge economical gap between Georgia and EU, I along with countless people would argue that Georgia is still experiencing better conditions than the EU in a considerable amount of aspects.

Alex: That is a very unique, though interesting point of view. I especially liked your opinion about the considerable amount of aspects, could you please provide me with an example?

Erekle: Arguably, that would be our cultural heritage, which includes not only European, but also Asian values and elements, which makes it a spectacular mix worth witnessing. To proceed, I would really like to talk about current economic crisis which EU is caught up in.

Alex: Well, the economic crisis spread all over the world, and Georgia is not an exception. Although the European Union too is struggling with enormous debt, we are still in a condition that far exceeds what you can allow yourself to dream about, and we are most likely to overcome this crisis first.

Erekle: Is that so? Because the last time I checked, the new wave of crisis was caused by the debt of some of the EU states and the unstable course of the euro which is not far from taking other members of the EU with them. Although creating a union with the same currency might have sounded like a really nice idea, we can now clearly see that you became too depended on the union and each other, which results in your current problems.

Alex: You might as well not be aware of it, but what you regard as the greatest weakness is also our greatest strength. You dramatically underestimate the potential we possess together as a union, and if we survive this crisis it will definitely be because we were ready to make sacrifices for each other. The economic system we have might be regarded as a “bubble”, but never in the history of mankind has there been a better one. Crisis occurs every once in a while, it is just how the system works. It is not our main aim to eradicate this occurrence completely, but rather to be prepared for it. Having so many trustworthy allies puts us in the useful state that can be referred to as “Prepared”.

Erekle: That is some subjective point of view, my friend... Although I cannot say that you do not possess what it takes to unite and fight together, you do not really look like you are ready to do all that at this point of time, considering the request of many members to get Greece kicked out.

Alex: Yes, there are different opinions, but the main the thing was the decision to let them stay and fight together, don’t you agree? Would you not fight with us?

Erekle: Of course I would, that is the reason why we are trying to join EU. You have some problems and so do we, but we can work on them... Together!

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Euro - too outstanding to be a village - Town

Oliver Slattery Ia Tserodze

Eurovillage is always a highlight on EYP sessions. Last night it took place on the balcony of the Marina Hotel, with the setting sun as a backgruond.

Kicked off by a traditional Georgian dance by spectacular youngsters and an ancestral Khanjluri demonstration, the feast gathered numerous countries throughout Europe, from Azerbaijan to Belgium.

So let the tour begin.

Georgia was one of the tables you simply could not miss. Its specialities included Khachapuri, a rather sweet Georgian bread with cheese, specific to the region near Batumi. Georgia being known for its vineyards, there was also the Saperavi red wine that left you with a strong aftertaste.

The table furthermore had a speciality called Churchxela, which is a stick of nuts in hardened wine juice, a sweet that non-Georgian EYPers have probably seen several times in the last few days!

Every country had absolutely astonishing cuisine and decorations. All delegates and officials were running in between the tables in search of their favourite country. Poland fascinated everybody

and decorations. All delegates and officials were running in between the tables in search of their favourite country. Poland fascinated everybody with its special alcoholic drink, which consisted of honey.

Secondly their dumplings, made of cheese and potatoes, were super tasty as well as the sausages. And that’s not all, Poland can definitely boast with pride about their sweets!

Everyone was attracted to the candy, chocolates and the very sweet jam. Yummy!

Simply by approaching the table of Azerbaijan you could learn a lot of new words.

Shekerbura turns out to be a special kind of sweet with sugar and crushed nuts inside.

Goghal is also a sweet, but even the Azerbaijani delegates could not describe it, after trying it out I figured it is a cake with plants inside of it.

The language classes

We carried out a survey to see which table was the most impressive, and here are the results!

continue when moving to Armenia. Who would have imagined that a simple seed, called Agandz, could be considered a snack and consumed with a cognac which has a history of over 400 years! We could also taste the wonderful thin bread called Lavash.

Next, we are moving to Belgium. There are just three words that come to my mind: Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate! Once you start eating it you just can’t stop. Four more words: the best chocolate ever!

Unfortunately, the language classes are over but the cooking class has just started.

Today we are going to learn how to make a traditional Estonian dish called: Kama. First you need to take some wheat powder, add sour cream, with sugar by taste. Mix all and that’s it. Enjoy!

Last but definitely not least is Ukraine! The splendid Vareniki or dumpling with cherry drew attention from every corner of the veranda. They also had sausage and a dish made of pig’s fat called Salo.

One great fact: everything was all home-made.

Best Eurovillage Food: 1. Poland 2. Armenia 3. Estonia

Best Decoration 1. Ukraine 2. Armenia 3. Georgia

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