Balkan Beats 32 - Self Expression

Balkan Beats

f S lxpression

#32

FREE PRESS

A BIMONTHLY MAGAZINE BY THE VOLUNTEERS OF THE UNITED SOCIETIES OF BALKANS

Editorial

The 32nd Edition

by Luís Lowden da Silva and Amanda Miteniece

The act of writing is, perhaps, the most fundamental form of self-expression. The verbal form closely follows our natural stream of consciousness and, with some curating, editing, and accompanying imagery, we can share our ideas with others and help ourselves crystallize them into more concrete form. Thus it seemed to us notably appropriate to write about self-expression itself.

will be able to follow a journey as the written content may take you to places you would least expect. We all have a voice that deserves to be heard, even if it is to deliver a message that you have already heard, in order to emphasize the importance of the specific issue. It may also include giving your voice to people who are marginalised and have fewer opportunities for their voices to be heard. There is no one side for each story. It is Our writers approached this topic from a person- a collection of perspectives. It is this we want to al as well as a more comprehensive point of view, broadcast with this edition. as the “self” in self-expression can be applied on more than one person. In this edition, you

Balkan Beats, a part of Balkan Hotspot

Balkan Hotspot is the EVS (European Voluntary

changes in the Balkan and Eastern European Service) project of “United Societies of Balkans”, region and under the need for the creation of a a NGO founded in Thessaloniki in 2008 by a team better social environment. of active young people.

Key areas of the organization’s activities concern The Balkans and Eastern Europe are geograph- the defense of human rights, the organization of ical regions with many cultural features which youth exchanges and training courses, which will offer a broad spectrum of actions and youth in- bring young people from Balkans and Europe tovolvement initiatives. The organization was cre- gether, the organization of local educational semated as a response to the pressure of constant inars and multimedia production.

United Societies of Balkans is a Non Governmental Organization, founded in Thessaloniki in 2008, by a team of active young people. The organization was created as a response to the pressure of constant changes in the Balkan and Eastern European region and under the need for the creation of a better social environment. Key areas of the organization’s activities concern the defense of human rights, the organization of youth exchanges and training courses, which will bring young people from Balkans and Europe together, the organization of local educational seminars and multimedia pro- duction(webradio, videos, documentaries).

Main goals of the organization • To promote the values of non formal le- aring,volunteering, active citizenship and democracy for the creation of a better future for European youth.

• To promote human rights, solidarity and respect for diversity.

• To build healthy cooperation bridges between countries of the Balkan area and that of Eastern Europe with the rest of Europe.

• To locate and multiply the special cultural attributes of our societies.

• The break down of prejudices and stereo- types between Balkan countries.

UNITED SOCIETIES OF BALKANS, NGO

9, Alamanas str., Agios Pavlos, Thessaloniki

Property of Balkan Beats The United Societies of Balkans, NGO, does not necessarily share the opinions expressed in Balkan Beats. It is illegal to reproduce any part of this publication without referring to the source.

www.balkanhotspot.org

This magazine is distributed free of charge.

Tel./Fax: +30 2310 215 629 | www.usbngo.gr

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Contents

Contents Balkan Beats

04

Writing Therapy

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32

14

Living the history

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29

Napoleon’s Impotence

32

The DIY

Let’s talk about travel

Fado Bicha

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35

Sexuality and consent through the gaze of the artists

I have a voice

26

How much online are you?

Cosplay, from fiction to reality

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A warm April nap

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Second-hand fashion

f S lxpression Cover © Amanda Miteniece

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Writing Therapy How writing can help the treatment of mental health issues

by Valerio Vagnoni

“Writing the right thing will not mean that there will never be painful or even intensely dis-

tressing parts of your writing. There will be. There should be. Unfortunately, these will be the right things at that time. All of us have memories, fears and horrors buried inside which cause problems either some of or much of the time. We can choose to live with these issues, and the problems they create, for the rest of our lives and not face the pain of examining them. Or we an choose to undertake an exercise like therapeutic writing.� (The Therapeutic Potential of Creative Writing: Writing Myself - Dr. Gillie Bolton, Therapeutic Writing specialist)

The use of artistic activities for therapeutic pur-

poses is nothing new: painting, drawing or dancing are only a few examples. The reason behind the success of these practices lies in the catharsis that can be achieved through the expression of our artistic soul. Our minds are focused on something different than our problems, helping us to reach a better mental balance.

A probably less known kind of therapy which

does not require any special skills is the so-called Writing Therapy. This is, in other words, the use of writing to overcome traumas and other psychological issues. The therapy can be administered by a therapist during an either collective or individual session, and, in that case, the patient

A writing session

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Š writingatqueens.qc.cuny.edu

will be instructed regarding the themes and topics he could write about. Alternatively, we can do it by ourselves in complete anonymity. It is not necessary to be a good writer or to worry too much about the style or even the correct grammar: what is most important is simply to put your feelings and emotions on paper, especially when they relate to a specific traumatic event.

When performed individually there are no specific rules to follow. You can just grab a pen and a notebook and start writing about anything that pops up on your mind, releasing a free stream of consciousness. Nevertheless, there are some important things that should be kept in mind.

First of all, it is essential to be completely sin-

cere in the writing process: it is indeed a unique opportunity to express feelings and emotions in a way that we might have never felt comfortable to do before, and it cannot be wasted lying to ourselves. We should not put any limitation or boundary to our narration, leaving it free of judgment or prejudices.

Furthermore, we should be consistent and try to write at least for 10-15 minutes every day. It may be hard to be able to keep such a pace, but

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place that inspires us, that makes us feel creative and at ease.

It must be said that the therapy is about writing,

Writing to sooth your soul

and writing only: it is not necessary for anybody to read the content of it, not even ourselves. The aim of the process is to write about our traumas and what causes us pain in order to overcome it and move on, so to read it again in a later moment may not be useful for us. We can choose to do so only after the end of the process if we feel like we are truly able to face our past feelings with a clear mind and a more mature approach. Š danielleraine.com

it can be useful to train our willpower and commitment.

It is needless to say that to give shape on paper to what it is inside of us can only bring us great benefits. It can help us to better understand ourselves and the situations we happened to live, coping with the pain of the past and finally finding some closure. Writing therapy can indeed be effective for many conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.

It is also very important to have a positive attitude in the exposition: we will naturally be tempted to write about our worst experiences in a negative way, but we should always try to find the silver lining and approach our feelings optimistically, in order to find solutions and acceptance After all, countless writers and poets have instead of just complaining about our bad luck. poured their souls into their work since ancient times. All that we need is a piece of paper and Lastly, we should carefully choose the right a pen: open up your mind, relax, and let your environment in which to write. It has to be a words flow.

A call to write

Š teacherspitstop.com

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The DIY

by Alessandro Pantorno

A short story of the birth of the DIY and five useful tips.

1. Customise or create your clothes:

The DIY stands for “do it yourself’; it was born within the punk culture in the late 70s, promoting a particular form of protest able to create a sub-alternative way of communication, production, and independence from a capitalistic system.

Instead of buying new clothes, you can recycle your own old/ugly/broken ones, to create new ones. You can also create some useful objects like a bag or a blanket. The only thing you need to know is how to use a sewing machine, that is pretty easy! I advise you to follow DEPOP, a website where you might find inspiration.

This method of auto production was first used

2. Create a “fanzine”:

by punk-bands like Buzzcocks who created their label to be independent of industrial marketing.

If you’re an artist, a photographer, or a content creator looking for visibility, you can create your Another essential tool in that period was the own fanzine that can be both digital and printed birth of the fanzine, a magazine created by peo- to distribute everywhere! ple with no budget. The magazine was in an A-4 To create it: format, mostly written by hand, largely talking about music scenes, as it was written by punk -In photoshop open a new layer and be sure it is fans (hence the term fan-zine), that allowed horizontally. bands from different countries to get to know each other.

-Divide the layer in two with a ruler so as to have the first page on the left and the last page on the The fanzine evolved very quickly since it’s incep- right. tion in the ’70s and took many forms of expression by including topics like art and politics.

Nowadays the spirit of DIY evolved in diverse

ways. By browsing on youtube you can find a lot of tutorials on how to create basically any object.

In essence, the idea of the DIY encourages the discovery of personal creative spaces, independence, and trust in inventive and handcraft.

For this reason, I give you 5 tips to start some

DIY projects:

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© mon magan

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-Now put the pictures side by side and create as

many layers as you want.

Balkan Beats

- Scrap Wood City: this channel is the perfect combination of DIY and wood; you can find many tutorials on how to create useful objects for your home.

-Then print it and assemble them like a book.

- HomeMadeModern: an online design source -To bind it you can use a stapler. that shares design ideas with hopes of inspiring -If you would like to have a cover too just take people to make more of the things they own.

the picture you need and print it on the backside 4. Create costume jewelry: of the first layer (in this case the left becomes right and the right becomes left).

By recycling plastic, iron, stones you can make bracelets, necklaces, earrings and rings.

3. Learn how to create/fix things at home:

Improve your technical skills by trying to work

You could probably find inspiration by the thou-

sands of people that are selling it on the streets.

with the wood, you can create a lot of things, 5. Vessels for flowers: from a table to a guitar.

Instead of buying new vessels, create new ones Here I attached you some youtube channel you by reusing tin cans or glass jars, and decorate it or paint it as you want. may follow:

Š Alessandro Pantorno

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Sexuality and consent through the gaze of the artists a blurry notion crushed by a patriarchal society

by Juliette Gadenne

How the artists perform or stand up about the notion of consent In this article, I would like to present some artists who found their way to express and highlight the issue of women’s sexuality and consent in our societies. Some of them were already aware of the situation in the 60’s and were trying to experiment with their body.

It is today an issue that is still very present, for

of the huge amount of women experiencing sexual harassment. Indeed, more than 6 millions of women expressed on social media the situations they had been to.

In France, for example, a man tries or achieve to rape a woman every 9 minutes. (Source: France Culture Radio)

example with the case of the American producer Harvey Weinstein, accused of sexual ha- All kind of sexual activities without consent is rassment by dozens of women, the movement supposed to be considered as a rape or sexual #MeToo in 2017 appeared and gave a platform assault.

© guerrillagirls.com

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Definitions surrounding consent and how it should be communicated have been contradic- liams invited them to his exhibition « G I R L » in tory, limited or without consensus.

Perrotin Gallery in Paris The New York Times reports that men typically Traditions can be against women as well, and

use nonverbal indicators to determine consent (61 per cent say they perceive consent through a partner’s body language), but women typically wait till a partner verbally asks them before they indicate consent (only 10 per cent say they indicate consent through body language), a differing approach that may lead to confusion in heterosexual couples’ encounters.

especially the genitalia which is a source of sexual pleasure of course! Is it consent to give in to the pressure coming from the family’s culture?

Aide Silvestri worked in the United Kingdom on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which is still considered to be a taboo topic as women refuse to talk about it openly.

Feminist artists participated in raising aware- The project is called Unsterile Clinic. ness about women’s conditions. From humour to difficult performances reflecting on society, « Inspired by personal experience, I started an

I invite you to discover some examples which in-depth investigation into Female Genital Mutilation by interviewing East African women in should inspire us all.

London affected by this cruel procedure.

Let’s begin softly, with the common culture of The aim of this project is to raise awareness of sexualizing the woman’s body in the video clips. this procedure in the hope that women, young Since 1985, the Guerrilla Girls have spoken out girls and children who may not realize the severagainst gender inequality through interventions ity or what type of FGM they are encouraged to and schematic posters with provocative content go through an early screening process before it becomes an emergency. I also hope that this often tinged with humour. project encourages medical staff, when examin« Do women have to be naked to get into music ing women affected by FGM, have the courage to videos » was created in 2014, when Pharrell Wil- speak openly with them about this issue.

© aidasilvestri.com

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© art-sheep.com

The leather pieces show the various stages of

tissue removal where cutting took place; the portraits are accompanied by short poems from This immobility is a symbol of a woman’s passivinterviews highlighting their FGM experiences. ity and vulnerability to gender-based and racist violence. In Cut Piece, Yoko Ono does not speak (Source : Aida Silvestri 2015) and does not move much. It becomes a sexual Then, some artists experienced directly social object rather than a subject. By allowing others domination with their own bodies as a tool to act on it as if it were an object, it represents and object. the idea of man’s social domination over woman.

This idea is amplified by the fact that it was a In Cut Piece, in 1964, Yoko Ono made the first man who cut the strap of her bra. Helena Reckitt performance in Japan. believes that Yoko Ono has created a situation which the viewer is involved in the potentially Yoko Ono is immobile in front of the public and inaggressive act of exposing the female body asks people to come one by one to cut a piece of her clothes. She doesn’t move and let the people In 1974 with Rhythm 0, Marina Abramovic did do what they want, and at the end, a masculine a similar performance in the Neapolitan studio participant cut the straps of her bra. She doesn’t called « Morra » where people can choose to use say anything but begins to move more and more one of the 72 objects she had placed on a table. and she ends up to hold back her bra so as not to drop it.

The list of props in the work is as follows:

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There are 72 objects on the table that one can gun, bullet, blue paint, comb, belt, whip, lipstick, use on me as desired.

pocket knife, fork, perfume, spoon, cotton, flowers, matches, rose, candle, mirror, drinking glass, polaroid camera, feather, chains, nails, needle, safety pin, hairpin, brush, bandage, red paint, white paint, scissors, pen, book, a sheet of white paper, kitchen knife, hammer, saw, piece of wood, axe, stick, bone of a lamb, newspaper, bread, wine, honey, salt, sugar, soap, cake, metal, spear, a box of razor blades, dish, flute, Band-Aid, alcohol, a medal, coat, shoes, chair, leather strings, yarn, wire, sulphur, grapes, olive oil, water, a hat, metal pipe, rosemary, branch, scarf, handkerchief, scalpel, apple

Performance: I am the object.

During this period I take full responsibility.

‘Thus, for a period of six hours, visitors were in-

vited to use any of the objects on the table on the artist, who subjected herself to their treatment.

The artist has stated, ‘the experience I drew from this work was that in your own performances you can go very far, but if you leave decisions to the public, you can be killed’ (quoted in Ward Abramovic’s original intention for the piece is 2009, p.132) explained by her written instructions, which acAs with many of Abramovic’s artworks, themes companied the work: surrounding the physicality of the body, endurance, pain and the staging of authentic live acInstructions. tions are dealt with in an experimental way, incurring a degree of personal risk and suffering.

The objects that could be ‘used on her’ were chosen to represent both pain and pleasure.

Through the personal risk in this work, and her acceptance of that risk, Abramovic also explored collective action and responsibility.

Rhythm 0 is one of Abramovic’s most important works. It was the last artwork in a series of individual body art performance pieces, and

© inuth.com, Pinterest

© inuth.com, Pinterest

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The artist wanted to talk about humans and

according to the artist, it presents ‘the conclu- their behaviour; it is similar to a social experisions of my research on the body, when con- ment. She opens our eyes showing us how much scious and unconscious’ (Abramovic in Biesen- we can be bad or good, no matter who we are. bach 2009, p.74).

Marina Abramovic wanted to know how far the They cut her clothes, they hurt her with roses public can go when they are completely free to spines, one person put the gun on her head, and do anything during the performance, as she says another one took it off… in the video “MAI”.

After 6 hours as planned, she stood up and ev- Milo Moiré, a Swedish painter and a psycholoeryone ran away, unable to face her as a person. gist asked people during a performance “Mirror box” to touch her intimates parts (breasts and The artist wanted to push the body limit to de- vagina) to denounce sexual harassment. nounce. It reveals something terrible about humans, it is so easy to dehumanize someone, who Milo Moiré’s performance is a societal reflecdoesn’t react or doesn’t want to fight. We are tion of human sexuality. What happens when a ready to act violently to people during unusual woman puts her sexuality on a public display, circumstances. assertively takes the initiative and lays out clear

© thedailybeast.com

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rules for the intimate interaction? Performance artist Milo Moiré wears a trapezoidal skirt made up of mirrored surfaces; a rectangular opening at the front is closed off by a red curtain. With a megaphone, she invites by-passers to reach into the opening for 30 seconds, in order to touch her vagina.

“I am standing here today for women’s rights

and sexual self-determination. Women have a sexuality, just like men have one. However, women decide for themselves when and how they want to be touched and when they don’t”, declared the artist.

Milo Moiré has carried out the “Mirror Box Per-

formance” in Düsseldorf, with the Bosom-Box, as well as in London and Amsterdam, with the Vagina-Box. She was arrested for “outraging public decency” during her art action on London’s Trafalgar Square. After spending 24 hours in jail, a judge sentenced her to pay a fine of €1300 and ordered her release.

“After the sexual assault on hundreds of women

on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, it is important to internalize images that show women as equal sexual partners and not as victims,” stated the artist. Moiré has additionally taken the liberty of showing female desire, thus giving women a sexual voice. The artist supplements the dominant image of the female body as a mirror of male desire through the illumination of the libidinous black box of woman.

Balkan Beats

these fairytales of prince charming as within literature and cinema we can see that the erotism is existing mostly through the same kind of scenarios. The girl is waiting, she is asleep, she needs to be saved or she is pushing away the advances which make her “less accessible so more attractive”. This is most of the time presented sex appeal, however, it is a part of our rape culture. All these scenarios are not romantic, they are focused on the man’s desire and they silence and ignore the desire of the woman. By the way, which gender is dominant in literature and cinema?

Other artists: Rebecca Horn Barbara Kruger Kiki Smith Cindy Shermann Katrien de Blauwer Valie Export

The audience’s reflection on the mirrored box simultaneously becomes a visual metaphor for the role reversal from voyeur to the object of view: a constant play of inversions analogous to our roles in the digital world.

The sexual assault often tries to justify “she didn’t say NO”. The issue is more about saying YES. Since a young age we are taught about

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Living the history

Historical sword fighting

by Mario Urminsky

Raise a tent, dress up as a knight or a servant, why not? There are still people that can travel

back to medieval times and enjoy their atmosphere. The main mission of the medieval group is to promote the knowledge of history and to introduce its members and the general public to the medieval way of life, with its struggles, crafts, dance, and culture in both theoretical and practical form. of those who get into historical fencing used to practice fencing sports. The weapons are made as close as possible to the authentic ones. In sports fencing the blades have wires attached to automate hit detection. There isn’t as wide a range of techniques as historical fencing does, which is intended to perform for an audience.

They try to show a much more varied range of weapons, as well as techniques, to have a better picture of what the fight might have looked like in its original setting.

Passion, not bussiness

The historical sword fighting community is unit-

ed by an interest in history and a desire to have fun, to get together sharing hobbies, rather than looking for monetary gain. Of course, they also perform martial arts in public, at castles and chateaux during various festivals and other events.

They don’t take the money that they earn to make

Sport or Theater?

Historical sword fighting

is closer to theatrical fencing than to sports. Like stage fencing, it is not a real competition, and fencers perform a pre-rehearsed choreography. However, injuries can occur, in any sport. If someone is hit, they will pretend to be injured or to have died. Many

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weighs up to two kilos. Swords designed for theatrical stage fencing are a bit heavier than the original ones because they are blunt; sharpening a blade into a thinner edge will make it lighter.

The heavier the sword, the slower I am with it. I may hit my opponent with more force, but if he has a light sword, he can hit me three times for each of my strikes.

Reviving history a living; usually its for covering food, drink, trav- It is popular among swordsmen today to devote el expenses. It’s nice to meet friends, it’s nice to themselves to living history, that is, to recreate a put on a historical costume and imagine you’re a historical life. During weekends dedicated to living history, you can stay in historically accurate farmer or a knight. No business involved. tent camps and play for a while with the hierarchy that ruled at the time. There are various open-air Costume creation museums with houses built of clay which are visEven an ordinary weapon, such as rapier or the ited by these historical revivers, even if there is cheapest saber, will cost you about 100 euros. no audience. They just go there to play and live When recreating a fully authentic medieval cos- for a weekend, for example, as Moravians of the tume, we must take into account shoes, socks, Great Moravian Empire, where they rink from cepants, shirts, vests, coats, hats and other ac- ramics cups and eat from wooden plates. cessories: belts, bandoliers, pockets, additional weapons, or shields. The prices quickly rack Taking on a sporting level up. We usually sew the costumes ourselves and have the weapons made so that they resemble Fencing is a dynamic sport for those with a the real ones. A one-handed Viking sword weighs brave character. It is a sport with which young about one kilogram, a one-and-a-half sword people do not normally come into contact often.

New fencers must start from scratch. Everyone must first be able to move their legs properly, which takes about half a year. Then the arm work can start. Motor coordination and periph-

2 of the author’s cοstumes, still being worked on

The author (in the middle) on his first revive history event

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If you want to be part of historical group, you can start up on facebook looking for some group near your location or start with fencing as a sport eral vision are very important. It’s a fast-paced and contacts will come very easily. sport and the swordsman has to make split-second decisions on what to do. Fencing helps its Link to my group that I was writing about : Vír practitioners develop their coordination, their Fortis acting, as well as their fighting spirit, all while teaching them about history.

The author during an event, entertaining and teaching kids the basics with a plastic sword

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Let’s talk about travel From north to south hitchhiking and getting to know the most incredible places in the mexican country.

by Helena Vanesa Moreno Solano

Anything can happen when you are traveling so I decided contacted him by Facebook and we

met at the central bus terminal in Mexico City. With my last funds, I bought a bus ticket to Colima. I spent the whole night travelling, and something told me that everything would be fine.

Part I. Let´s go!

It all started when a friend from Spain was en-

joying an Erasmus scholarship in the Mexican city of Colima. I saved what I could and bought a round trip ticket to spend the two summer months travelling around the country with her.

ribbean, carrying our tent and sleeping bags with us so we could sleep wherever we wanted. We toured the beaches of Puerto del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum, Bacalar, visiting wonderful places and meeting charming people along the way. Some of them gave us a lift to Cenotes and other places to which they were heading.

I took off from Madrid on July the 9th, 2012, and In the nights we spent in big cities, it was more landed in Cancun, Mexico, where my friend was difficult to sleep outdoors. We used the Couchwaiting for me. We began to travel with our back- surfing platform, in which people offer their acpacks, hitch-hiking, throughout the Mexican Ca- commodation for free, with care and common

Tulum beach ruins

https://d500.epimg.net/cincodias/imagenes/2017/06/01/fortunas/1496313290_570324 _1496313478_noticia_normal.jpg

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Houses in Guanajuato, MĂŠxico.

https://hellodf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/guanajuato-colores.jpg

When I got there I realized that while, yes, it

sense. It works quite well, you get to meet very was a cheap place, it wasn’t quite as much as I interesting local people, which is good to discov- had accounted for. The two hundred euros were spent very quickly between transportation and er the essence of each place that you visit. food, so shortly after landing in the country and After a few days of travelling through the Mex- I had hardly any pesos left in my pockets. This ican Caribbean, we decided to go to the city of is when my friend taught me how to make some Colima so that I would know the culture and the craft knots that she had learned during her trip, place where my friend had been living for seven so we could sell some bracelets and get some months. Mexico a country large enough for each money. state to have its own climate and culture.

Once in Colima, my friend was leaving her things From the Mexican Caribbean we took a bus, at the house of a Mexican friend who lodged us in which we stayed twenty-five hours, until we for a few days. There, she received a call, during reached Colima. Ten days had passed since my which she decided that she could not waste the arrival and I was already running out of money. plane ticket that she had bought months ago, After buying the plane tickets and other provi- which meant that in a week she would return to sions for the trip I had two hundred euros left, Spain. I was exhausted, I was 22 years old and which I thought were enough for a place where I had never been so far from my country and my friend told me you could eat for one euro and my family, alone and with little money. I spent a sleep for two. while trying to convince her that we would get

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the money to buy another plane ticket closer to City. With my last funds, I had bought a bus tickmine, but she disagreed and, finally, took that et from Colima to Mexico City. I spent the whole plane. night travelling, and something told me that everything would be fine.

Part II. Why not?

Hours later, I arrived in Mexico Federal District I found myself alone in a country that I knew and I was waiting where Jorge had told me to.

nothing about, other than the paradisiacal I recognized him immediately, despite never beaches and drug trafficking that took place. having seen him in my life. He stood out from A friend told me about Jorge, a young Spanish the hustle and the bustle of people; tall, thin and artisan who had been living in Mexico for a long with a big smile. The conversation easily flowed between us and we were both happy to meet so time, so I decided to contact him. many kilometres away from our country. He took With no cellphone or anything of the sort, in a me to his girlfriend Kim’s house, on the outskirts phone shop, via Facebook, I contacted him and of the great monster that is Mexico City, in the we met at the central bus terminal in Mexico Nezahualcóyotl district, there we stayed for a

Wirikuta in the desert of Mexico.

https://patrimoniobiocultural.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/wirikuta.jpg

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Helena and her craft suitcase.

© Helena V. Moreno

few days and they taught me how to weave more craft knots and sell my bracelets to get food and created cheap and easy to sell bracelets, so we some money. could get some quick money to eat and sleep.

Before we left, we were joined by a friend of When we were tired of being in the city and we Jorge named Hernán, who was also a craftsman had bought the materials, we started moving and juggler. We decided it was time to go from around hitch-hiking. We crossed the state of there, so we took our backpacks and set off, Querétaro and arrived in San Luis Potosí, enter- hitchhiking from the city exits and gas stations. ing the desert where we were camped with our tents for a few days, cooking, on the fire, the food On many occasions, the goal of our itinerary that we had and some more that we found there. was to go to cities where the raw material was locally sourced and cheaper to buy, make our We were lost for days in the desert when we de- crafts, sell them and continue travelling. cided to head to León Guanajuato, where Jorge had lived months before, there we stayed in a As the days went by, we continued to the south cheap hostel for 20 pesos, equivalent to 0.74 eu- of Mexico, to the state of Chiapas, on the border ros a day, which, as expected, provided no great with Guatemala. When we arrived at San Crisluxuries. But we could sleep, shower, and drop tóbal de las Casas, where we could get amber our backpacks. for our crafts. Here was the place of origin of this ancient resin, therefore, we got it for very cheap.

In the León square in Guanajuato, we used to We had to walk and hitchhike to get to the inhang our fabrics with handicrafts and start sell- digenous villages where this mineral or resin is ing. We went to the shoe factories, a big industry worked. in the region, where we could recycle the skins of boots that weren’t of use to them. From snake- The month of September was approaching and skin, crocodile and other exotic animals, we so was my plane back to Spain. I decided not to

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take it and to go instead to Guatemala to renew After traveling through Guatemala for a couple of months, they told us about the Mexican celemy visa with Jorge and continue my journey. bration “El Día De Los Muertos”, in the state of In Guatemala, we were selling incenses and jug- Michoacán, on November 1st, and we wanted to gling at traffic lights to get money to eat. When head there. This state is in the middle of Mexico, we arrived at Lake Atitlán we found a small hos- which meant we had a long way to go. We hitchtel to sleep in. It was a wonderful place in the hiked on a trailer with a driver named Jimmy, middle of Guatemalan nature, its streets full of who was very nice. We spent three days travelmarkets with exotic fruits and traditional crafts ing with him, he behaved very well with us and with cheerful colors. We spent a few weeks get- was delighted to have found people who would ting to know that magical place, impressed by make his journey more enjoyable. After three its culture, its food and its people. It was an even days living with Jimmy, in his truck, he left us a cheaper country than Mexico, so we could sleep few kilometers from our destination, so we hitchand eat with the little crafts that we sold. Those hiked a few more times, took a boat, and finally days, I started to lose the concept of money and reached the Island of Pátzcuaro. The celebration time. I was in a dream, everything was flowing was incredible, like being in a movie. People took nicely and going well. I was very happy. offerings to their dead and prayed and sang all night; it was magical and surreal.

When we were selling our handicrafts in the town centre where we met some boys who were At the celebration, we were able to sell our crafts circus artists. They told us that we could sleep in and do henna tattoos, getting us enough money their circus, in exchange for helping them with a to spend a few days relaxing and enjoying the juggling show. place.

Day of the dead Patzcuaro Island, México.

https://libreenelsur.mx/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ DIA-MUERTOS-JANITZIO-CUARTOSCURO.jpg

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There we bought materials from an old crafts-

man who worked with clay, making unique pieces, such as smoking pipe pendants, dreadlocks decorations and key chains that we bought in After days of fun, on December 12, 2012, a flood began, as the Mayan prophecy foretold. It rained bulk in order to make more crafts. so much in a matter of hours that the river separated the camp into two parts, inaccessible Part III. Flowing from each other. You could see objects floating Christmas was approaching and they had downstream, and I lost my travel friends. I spent told us about a trance festival where we could hours looking for them in the jungle when, by spend our Christmas days, in southern Mexico, pure chance, in the middle of that Mayan apocin the Lacandon jungle. We wanted to get to the alypse, I found a Spanish friend that I had met place in advance, to try to work at the festival months ago on the beaches of Almería, in Spain. and get free entry. Hitchhiking we arrived, again, I couldn’t believe it, we spent hours talking and to the state of Chiapas, this time to the city of we wanted to meet many new places. There my Palenque, where we met by chance with a multi- journey began with Anita, a craftswoman and tude of hippies who came to a Rainbow meeting artist; we continued hitchhiking and painting in the middle of the jungle, next to the Maya pyr- hostels in exchange for accommodation and amids. We were camped for days in the jungle, food. We also sold our crafts, everything was gotogether with about four thousand people from ing well in my beautiful and beloved Mexico. The all over the world, who were waiting for the end journey continued for another eight months, and incredible things happened to me. of the world according to the Mayan calendar.

Mayan pyramids in Palenque, México.

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https://www.intermundial.es/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/10-dudas-que-resolver-antes-de-viajar-a-M%C3%A9xico.jpg

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I have a voice

Can we still fight for our rights?

by Felicia Vigliotti

“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opin-

ions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.� Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The health crisis that is gripping Europe has managed to show all its weaknesses. At the heart of the European Union, where the democratic deficit is increasingly evident, a tragedy of values is developing. How much freedom of speech are governments willing to sacrifice to impose their will?

took a back seat when in March the Prime Minister Viktor Orban obtained the green light from Parliament for unlimited powers, the rule of law sounds a long way off.

The pandemic has brought with it questions that

must be answered soon. Problems that deal with the resilience of European democracies struggling and depriving their citizens of their most fundamental right: to express their opinions.

Nevertheless, the rebellions against the sick system come first and foremost from those who suffer the consequences of the system. Those who, with an ongoing pandemic, do not give up showing their dissent. Ordinary people.

In this epochal time, the priorities are quite different. That is why some governments have arrogated to themselves the right to act unconditionally at the expense of human rights and personal freedom. When people are unable to leave their homes to protest, the right to be able to express themselves and to express their dissent becomes more than mitigated. Masking subversive and undemocratic measures with the urgency of “The government is calculating that in the midaction against the pandemic puts citizens in an dle of a pandemic they can start discussing the uncomfortable and unchangeable position. draft bill for tightening the anti-abortion law. We When citizens are no longer able to exercise

their fundamental rights, it is legitimate to expect them to react, whatever the external conditions. In Poland, where the government has decided in the last few weeks to amend an already strict abortion law, people are coping with something even worse than a pandemic. The violation of their fundamental rights and freedom of objection. In Hungary, where the Coronavirus

Polish people protesting during the quarantine

Source: Getty

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cannot gather, but we can still protest and say a firm no.� Zaneta Gotowalska, polish journalist.

Politics had no choice. The Warsaw Parliament

rejected the proposal of the Nationalist Conservatives of Law and Justice (PiS) - with 365 votes people cannot be deprived of the opportunity against and 65 in favour - eliminating the possito express themselves and assert their opinion. bility of tightening the law further.

Poland is one of the countries with the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe and trying to What does this experience teach us? Never astighten it during a health crisis has brought more sume our rights for granted and always express people to the streets than we could have imag- our disagreement. Change always comes from ined. The abortion, allowed only in cases of rape, society and cannot be stopped. When someone incest and risk regarding the health of the fetus is willing to put his life at risk in supporting what or mother, remains a hot topic in this ultra-catho- he believes in, it shows that even if the holders of our rights exercise their powers unlimitedly, lic country with elections coming up. there is still a chance to change or to act, in the Everyone has acted. When thousands of Polish street or at home. men and women saw their freedom narrowed most bizarrely ever, they wanted to do some- After Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asthing. Some of them went out into the streets sumed most of the powers usually held by Parand, with due care, made their voices heard. A liament, many Hungarian citizens had no choice voice that resonated powerfully online where, but to react. The Hungarian one-man show rethanks to several hashtags, the news went minds us how much progress has been accomaround the world. Many people protested near plished over the last hundred years in terms the Parliament, driving their cars or bicycles with of human rights and the rule of law and, at the posters and banners, blocking the centre of War- same time, how an undemocratic political class can easily undermine all these efforts. saw.

What happened in Poland is an example of how

Protests in Poland

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Source: Euractive

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Source: Voanews

People manifesting in Hungary

A group of organizations, members of the Euro-

pean Parliament and journalists took the initiative and decided to express their dissent through one of the possible forms of expression: writing.

A letter addressed to the heart of the European Union, to the institutions created to safeguard the rights of European citizens and to protect those rights from raging vandalism.

Indeed, Orban has the power to exercise uncon-

trolled authority. From the planning and cancellation of elections to total control of the media.

Therefore, at a historical moment like this, the only viable solution seemed to be a letter with extreme content.

“Exceptional times, of course, demand excep-

tional measures and it may be legitimate for governments to temporarily use extraordinary powers to manage the situation. Nevertheless, even

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in a crisis, these measures must be time-limited and proportionate. We cannot allow unscrupulous political actors to use the current climate as a pretext for dismantling democracy and undermining the rule of law.� A letter signed by over 80 MEPs and civil society groups

Representing

citizens, governments and the European institutions, we must side with the people who see their rights abused in the name of an overwhelming thirst for power. Having a voice of opinion and dissent is the natural expression of a democratic regime which, despite the attempted attacks, must be protected at all costs. Democratic values cannot and must not be questioned. The Polish and Hungarian people have made this clear to us.

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How much online are you?

Have you ever felt alienated? Are you spending too much time on social media? How does it impact on your time, emotions and a

by Renata Diurczak view of reality?

Spending many hours watching Netflix, streaming videos, listening to music, FaceTime calls, texting, scrolling through social media platforms were enjoyable at the beginning of the quarantine. Then, suddenly it became a daily routine. Eventually, one day it hit me how tired I was of being online all day long. Adjusting to a new reality as Coronavirus has changed our lifestyles, limiting our freedom, making it impossible to go out to coffee with a friend and having any human connection as much anymore.

Video calls should make it up, allowing us to see

another person on screen in real-time. On the one hand, it is efficient, feeling to be around people, getting positive vibes from seeing our friends faces and reactions. On the other hand, FaceTime calls are not enough. Being stuck in the house, limited outdoor activities, zombie style relationships with others – changed our daily routine. Unfortunately, instead of productively enjoying our time at home, many of us chose to enjoy social media. Scrolling through social media draws us to not live in the moment. Social media is an essential part of our lives today, we may consider it as a useful tool. There is also the other side of the coin: we waste a lot of time on it, completely consumed in it. Have you ever experienced watching your favourite TV show and checking Instagram stories? Did you feel anxiety when your Internet connection does not work properly? Are you checking your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter constantly? Are you taking a

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photo to share it on social media every day? Do you count how many likes you have got? Do you feel envious of friends lives on Instagram? There are just examples of some quality online time in quarantine. If you feel like saying yes to the above questions, let’s face it: you are in danger by spending far too much time online.

Happiness is not just a click. Life should be lived in the real world and not the virtual one.

On average, according to a study by Global Web

Index, people spend around five hours a day on their phone, which includes at least 2 hours and 22 minutes only on social media. Per week, being online for 16,5 hours already seems like a lot.

Does it mean that many of us could describe ourselves as social media addicts? It is only an average estimate of the research, if you are using your phone and computer more than that, may

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The social media trap

happen that you experience the fear of missing out, called FOMO. It describes the feeling of anxiety that people experience when they discover that others have been successful in doing something or have had fun together. Additionally, comparing yourself to other people may lead to mental health issues such as lower levels of wellbeing, isolation, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and food disorders. Online life may be harmful if it replaces activities that would improve our wellbeings such as self-development, sleep, outdoor activities and human contact. At

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Š Renata Diurczak

some point, social media decreases our concentration, becoming a drug, which changes our personality. Have you noticed that you type more than talk to your friends? It is really easy to get distracted and lose productivity. Suddenly, our behaviours and emotions are changing, pretending to be someone else and starting to show off which many times are far from reality. In the end, many of us follow two lives, a happy online life which is fake and a real one, which is unhappy and full of drama.

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Social media can be useful. Although, our time spent online shouldn’t consume our daily life, work, hobby and relationships.

If you find yourself being overwhelmed by being

online, try to take control of your life. It is crucial to realize that it is not worth to rely on social media, to be aware of your happiness and your time. Challenge yourself and turn off your phone, tablet, TV and computer at least for one day and spend quality time with yourself. Don’t get any distractions of a new follower or a notification.

Face the experience, be honest with yourself and observe your feelings that are emerging.

Are you getting angry, annoyed or frustrated?

Are you searching for your phone constantly?

If yes, take some steps and limit your time to

Don’t waste your time

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No WIFI talk to each other

© https://pl.pinterest.com/ pin/365143482268749082/RO.jpg

spend online. Remember, your daily choices are essential. If social media took over you, now it is an important moment to make a shift in your life and choose wisely. As time is your investment to create value for your future, become a productive person with high self-esteem and just being happy offline.

© google

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Napoleon’s Impotence

Remembering History and learning Democracy.

by Luís Lowden da Silva

“And it was not Napoleon who directed the course of the battle, for none of his orders were executed and during the battle, he did not know what was going on before him. So the way in which these people killed one another was not decided by Napoleon’s will but occurred independently of him, in accord with the will of hundreds of thousands of people who took part in the common action.”

Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, Book X: Chapter XXVIII Popular historic memory tends to be a parade

of kings, emperors, politicians. Geniuses of science, strategy or leadership. As we follow along with each instance of the abstract concept that is a nation, our anchor to the material reality is the lives of significant individuals.

This certainly makes some sense. The process of history is to build a narrative from a collection of facts, and the narrative we are familiar with the most is each of our lives, which naturally we observe in a biographical style. Our tendency for this type of description is, as the lives of extraordinary people, the consequence of the conditions in which we exist.

Even when great strides are taken by a single

individual, we cannot assume that his existence was necessary for it. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz independently developed Calculus at around the same time; so did Charles Darwin

and Alfred Wallace with the theory of evolution.

A society with a sufficiently well-trained pool of talent will, sooner or later, progress in a certain field given that it possesses the requisite conditions and background knowledge.

It can be argued that, rather than “Great Individ-

uals” carving a hole with their shape into history, we have history creating itself a hole of a certain shape, through the innumerable wills of the masses and the material conditions they inhabit, and allowing whichever figure fits best (or first) to fill it.

However,

when it comes to ecological consequences, we rarely point the blame at the leaders of nations or gigantic companies, who perhaps would have the power to drastically influence how much we abuse our planet. It is questionable how much doing so would really influence changes in policy, given how often

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our (democratic) states make decisions that go against the will and interest of their population. We point our fingers at the human mass; frequently accusing overpopulation in the third world and ignoring overconsumption in the first. However, Ecofascism is a can of worms I will not be opening here today.

I am here to look at the curious dissonance of

having a worldview oriented around the choices of individuals and simultaneously trying to solve a problem caused by the cumulative effects of the lifestyles of billions of people. Those feeling guilty from the consequences and overwhelmed by the dimension of these problems will often find solace in washing their hands of the destruction of their planet by adjusting their individual lifestyles: biking to work, going vegan, etc.

To be clear, it is wonderful for someone to make

ourselves that we already minimized our contribution to the problem. Our inability to deal with collective responsibility leaves us powerless to solve problems that require collective organization. Unless we have already an institution

“Democracy is something more than a set of political procedures. To be worthy of its name, democracy should produce outcomes that advance the wellbeing of the people. The struggle for political democracy—the right to vote, assemble, petition, and dissent—has been largely propelled by a desire to be in a better position to fight for one’s socioeconomic interests. In a word, the struggle for political democracy has been an inherent part of the struggle against plutocracy, a struggle for social and economic democracy.”

changes in their life with sustainability in mind.

If everyone were to do that, we would see a significant impact on our environmental footprint.

It is unrealistic, however, to expect that these individual changes can be sufficient without deep — Michael Parenti, Contrary Notions, Chap. 23. systemic reconstructions that give everyone the possibility to make them and the mindset to designed to address an issue, most of us have choose it. no idea how to approach this problem. While we The danger of this mindset is in the satisfac- may be educated about our structures of governtion that comes from moral absolution. We are ment, we receive no education in how to enact no longer concerned with being incapable of our political will beyond the very limited tool that manifesting popular will because we convince is electoralism; we manifest our political agency

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Battle of Borodino, by Peter von Hess.

ence which ones we wish we were offered, as the mainstream discourse is beyond our reach.

only when we’re prompted to fill a ballot every few years. By having only a hammer we have no If we want to orient society around the needs of choice in what to build, only to either strike or not everyone, it is fundamental to educate the population in effective democracy, beyond just the the presented nails. principle of voting. We must build fonts of inforIn addition, our Media is either centrally planned, mation that benefit the people and expand dembeing directly controlled by large state/ private- ocratic principles to all spheres of human activly owned entities (television, radio, print), or cu- ity. Without knowing how to go beyond what we rated by algorithms to maximize profits for the are allowed to demand, real social progress can hosting platform (social media). Consequently, never be achieved. in addition to having little control over what options we can choose from we also barely influ-

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Fado Bicha The reinvention of Fado, a tool for social and political intervention

by InĂŞs Ribeiro

Fado is originally associated with social contexts marked by marginality and transgres-

sion. It only makes sense that a project like Fado Bicha exists. Considering that the LGBTQI+ community still embodies a social context marked by marginalization in our current time, the project creates a space for this community in the artistic field, revising simultaneously a very traditional and conservative music style.

Born in a popular setting in Lisbon, in the eigh-

social status, delinquent, with a rough voice, who often cussed and used slang. Due to this association of Fado with the most marginal spheres of society, a marked rejection by the Portuguese intellectuals was outstanding.

teenth century, Fado was present in moments of leisure and social gatherings. Manifesting itself spontaneously, its execution took place in or outdoors, in the gardens, on the streets and alleys, and in taverns. Often, the singers were associat- With the military coup on the 28th of May, 1926, ed with the figure of faia, someone from a lower and the subsequent authoritarian regime, several measures were implemented to censor public performances, press and other publications, causing Fado to undergo profound changes. The performers were stripped of any improvisational character and the process of specialization was consolidated, imposing strict interpretative models to be followed, which moved Fado further away from its original essence and the diversity of its original performative contexts.

Later, with the Carnation Revolution, on the 25th

Š JosÊ Malhoa

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of April of 1974, the artistic field was freed from the oppression and censorship of the dictatorship. Nonetheless, the tightness and strictness

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On the left, João Caçador, instrumentation, and on the right Lila Fadista (artistic name) the singer.

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©Rita Carmo/Blitz

of the ways to create Fado were kept. Due to this ated a space on the artistic field, especially on lack of openness and representation of minority Fado, for the LGBTQI+ community, raising imgroups, Fado Bicha took form, in 2017, and cre- portant questions on the political sphere as well.

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© Francisca Veiga/Publico

This is an activist and political project that uses

music to create debate and awareness around of the LGBTQI+ community in Portugal, which is institutional racism and the importance of rep- still so invisible and marginalized. resentation, while giving voice to the narratives It was envisioned mainly to deconstruct social and artistic barriers, targeting the persistent heteronormativity in the tradition of Fado by chang«The approach to fado is very rigid, ing the lyrics of classic songs, presenting alternathere are very well-established tive narratives to traditional sexuality as well as rules and there is a great conflict a non-conforming gender identity. The name of in subverting them [but] fado talks the project wasn’t a fluke. The word ‘Bicha’ has a about life and has this marginal very negative connotation in the Portuguese laninitial genesis of exorcization and guage and a rather pejorative charge among the healing of everyday evil. It’s that gay community, as it serves to specifically define feeling of abandonment, of rejection, ‘a feminine homosexual man’.

of shame that is almost glued to our skin since we realized our nonregulatory identity. Creating this space of non-normative experiences is very liberating» — João Caçador, member of Fado Bicha.

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The ultimate goal of the project is also to honor

the artists, fado singers and poets, who could never write explicitly and freely about their experiences as part of the LGBTQI+ community.

Oftentimes, the lyrics and melody were used as a means to hide the true intention of the poem and song.

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Cosplay, from fiction to reality The art of becoming someone or something else

by Elena Mullor

How many times have you thought you would like to be the character in a movie, game,

comic or series? For sure, since you were a child, this thought has come to your mind more than once. Sometimes, when we watch movies or tv shows or we play games, we want to become (for a while) the character that we like the most. We would like to think, to talk and to act like them.

That’s why cosplaying has become so famous during the last years. Cosplay is a really cool form of self-expression and it’s practised all over the world.

The word comes from the contraction of ‘cos-

recreate a subculture, focusing on role-playing. tume play’. It is a ‘different fashion’ in which par- It has a specific cultural focus dedicated to the ticipants, also called cosplayers, wear costumes, accurate representation of characters or ideas accessories and outfits that represent a specific from fiction worlds. character or idea. Cosplayers often interact to The first cosplay appeared in 1970, at the Comic Market in Japan. Groups of people went to the event dressed up as their favourite manga, anime, comic and game characters. That’s why this practice has always been related to this kind of content, but, over the years, it has spread around the world, crossing borders and genres.

Over the years, a lot of different events of this

Zoro Roronoa’s Cosplay from One Piece

Source: Gaudencio Garcinuño

kind have been appearing, and the number of people interested in them was increasing.

Comic-Con, Expocomic, Japan Weekend, FreakCon are some of these events, which welcome thousands of people and prepare everything to give them a good time. The Comic-Con in San Diego is the most famous, and the first one to appear, in the 1970s. This event has presented thousands of special guests at its conventions over the years, like comic creators, fantasy authors, film and series directors, producers and writers. The number of cosplay fans has always been increasing as well, and every year it is more common to see cosplayers in any celebration, or even in cinema premieres.

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Spiderman Cosplay

Creativity

Source: Creative Common

many times they attempt to use the character to earn money in conventions without paying rights Cosplay contests are very common in anime for the use of the image or brand to the creator. conventions, and it’s here that creativity thrives.

The sky is the limit when it comes to cosplay. To Self-expression make the costumes, you can use foaming paper and thermoplastics to create armor, props and Cosplay is an art open to everyone, as it should other accessories. Sewing is also a very useful be. No one is too big or too small to express skill for cosplaying, but your closet is also a good themselves. Cosplay is a big community, a brothplace to take a look and find something to wear. erhood. You can find a lot of videos about it on YouTube, but also you can check different webYou can never find two cosplays that perfect- sites like Cosplay.com and CosplayForum. This ly similar even when they represent the same way of self-expression unites fans and creates character. Every person has their own inter- friends for life. If you are undecided about cospretation which is reflected in the materials or play, try it at least once. There’s nothing better stitches of the suit, so the result will be differ- than hear that someone is calling you by the ent depending on the author and how they feel name of the character you are cosplaying. about the character.

You can meet new people, discover a lot of The most attractive cosplayers are the most new things. And that’s one of the most beautiphotographed ones and are usually surrounded ful things about cosplay; that with it, you can be by people who follow them. Some cosplays are whoever you want. You can feel free. made in a very professional way and the people who create them are becoming famous. But,

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A warm April nap Walking quietly from Lisbon to Istanbul

by Pablo Rubio observing streets and faces

Istanbul. 2004. Suleymaniye cafe. Alex Webb

A bright sun, a breeze from the sea. A sea I

could feel, but not see. Lying on the floor, my mind wanders into a tender nap. The dreams are being confused with the memories “floating like a sailboat”. I no longer find myself on a terrace in Thessaloniki in times of quarantine.

© Magnum photos

Now there is the carnival in Lisbon; the rhythm of the river Tagus accompanies the rhythm of my steps. I calmly observe a frenetic city: Fifty provincial people take out ridiculous selfies filling the screens with their dewlaps, hiding the majestic red bridge that covers the background; marriages with more age than the aforementioned bridge, leaving a hole in the back of their

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BMWs driven by a chauffeur, with faces of stupor and death. Couples dressed as Batman villains and yellow children’s characters groping for the most hidden parts of their bodies, a few meters away from vagabonds, lying on cardboard singing happy songs with a sad voice; Erasmus fighting at the doors of a nightclub for the price of 10 euros for a drink, fighting and then loving each other again; Bread and sausage sellers; Youth dropping balls of tears into the river after break-ups with not very creative attractive Eastern boys in bed; Late night Fado singers; Streets of kings, restless poets, military men with carnations; prostitutes and sailors.

The

memories, again, are confused with the monochord photos and the plaques that recite

Spain. Seville. 1992. Alex Webb

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verses from past times. To walk without a destination, to observe, to reflect, is something more than an exercise. It is to unmask your defects and clarify your ideas through the faces that move here and there. It is to be the conductor that no one will ever hear putting instruments in order within a chaotic symphony, at moments improvised and never perfect. Music, sometimes, is a good company. At times it is a silent friend, at others as the perfect tune of the murmur of the city. I stop my steps before a lugubrious church, nailed in golden letters, the word Madredeus. A bucolic voice, from another world, from another time, slips through the large doors.

“Ando...

Š Magnum photos

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Numa viagem perdida, O navio anda à deriva, Sózinho.”

Portuguese guitars, accordion and bagpipes are

transformed into heavy drums. A solemn march that transports me to the cobbled streets of Seville. There is little time left for the Holy Week and the bands rehearse, praising among cornets the centenary Christs carved with pain and blood. Here the music is the basis, a little space for silence. “Jolgorio”, printed costumes, children playing with orange as a ball in porticoed courtyards, Romanis perfumed with lavender and rosemary. It also smells of vice, cannabis, a colony of bourgeois, who break their necks to look at towers higher than their own morals.

By the Guadalquivir’s river, I stop, eat sardines and quench my thirst with a tasteless beer. An old toothless man, with skin the colour of wine, stops and sings; he sings as if the words came from his entrails.

“El aire huele a pan Nuevo El pueblo se despereza” The murky waters of the Guadalquivir, channel

into the foggy Thames. There you can see the grey stone, so perfect that it is repulsive. London is a fair of colours and therefore of thoughts.

Tower of Babel. Hordes of well-to-do cannibals roam this great market of the world, in search of those “romantic” and pilgrim images that the

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films have shown them. I try to escape, but the urge to experiment makes me one of them. The essence has already been lost for a long time.

Everything has been swept away, there’s nothing true left. Automatons that escape their cotideanity are more than melted into this web of alienated avenues. Cultural fetishes reflected in faces of gloom and black umbrellas, that neither the brightly coloured glass in large basilicas, nor the neighbourhoods of pupils from far away, calm my uneasiness. Suddenly, amidst the shadows, an imposing figure with a hat and cigar rises up. From its mouth, like the Golem of the Jews, comes a trembling voice.

“Winston Boy Oh! There he is Wasting no time, packing Alone” Another metropolis, in which, however, my body

flows, divided by a word that sounds like desire and war, the smell of shishas and pistachio Baklava. I walk and hum along a narrow stone street that evaporates the sweat of Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and Europeans. A child appears and whispers to me “there’s no time”.

He runs as the end of the street leads to a small square. Bathed by the January sun, beautiful and exotic birds escape from an orange tree. I hear drowned out murmurs coming from a mosque.

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Turkey. Istanbul. 2001. View from a barbershop near Taksim Square. Alex Webb

© Magnum photos

A spontaneous freshness rises, making the hair I wake up, dazed, from this sleep. I stand up and on my skin bristle. A tender calm, a serene palpi- an old Italian song comes to me from afar, as if tation, the prelude to a disconcerting year. The from the sea. year of plague and fear, but also of hope and dreams within dreams. I drag my small body “Cosa vuol dire to the shores of the Bosphorus, surrounded by Un anno d’amore” faithless fishermen. In front of me, in the distance, that known as the eastern part seems I say to myself “sometimes, better than walking a bad impressionistic picture. The song of the alone, is to dance accompanied”. imams, the seagulls and the fishing boats, close my eyes leaving my body hanging.

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Second-hand fashion Fashion statement and an act of rebellion

by Amanda Miteniece

Within the current global context, it is hard to ignore the horrific evidence of global warming.

I was born into the height of consumer culture and, thus, am fully aware of the consequences created by the hype of mass production of material goods. Mass consumption habits are at the basis of contemporary western society and changing the whole baseline of the system seems to be almost impossible.

Š https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/09/rise-second-hand-retail/

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second second hand hand

After all, shopping has become a leisure activity. However, the choice to become sustainable has gradually entered the mainstream culture.

Even more so, it is one of the new fashion trends. Being conscious of what you buy is dictating the current fashion world and at the top of the game is second-hand fashion. Reselling has gained popularity over retail for the first time since the inception of affordable fashion.

This is an important step towards reducing the carbon footprint.

However, fast fashion is not only an issue within third world countries. Because factories produce clothes fast and cheap, it means that the same effect applies to the generated waste. The largest fast-fashion company in the world “Zara� started a trend of producing new clothes within the season. Previously there were four fashion collections within the year, one for each season.

Fast-fashion brands introduce new collection at least twice each month, thus promoting the idea that you need to keep up with the trends consistently. What was in fashion last month is no We have all probably seen documentaries and longer in style today, therefore not serving a purvideos about fast fashion, where the clothes pro- pose and ending up in landfills. duced at record speed. It is a multi-layered issue.

First, fashion brands use cheap labour in third The price of fast fashion may seem cheap on the world countries and exploiting employees by tag to an individual; however, on a large scale, paying way under minimum wage and providing the cost of it results in permanent damage to the horrendous work conditions. These factories are planet. However, we know that consumers do not known as sweatshops as the employees work in- need to shop for clothes every month. Statisticalcredibly long shifts while earning less than half ly, only 20% of the clothes that are in your closet of a living wage amount. There have been numer- will be worn before donating or throwing away. ous accidents due to the bad conditions at facto- Even if you decide to donate the clothes you no ries, and employees have no way how to protect longer want, in reality, almost half of it will end themselves or even speak out about the issues up in landfills anyway. However, there are ways they are facing daily. For example, in 2013, a gar- to avoid this wasteful throwaway culture. There ment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, and as a are two directions the average consumer can result, 1134 workers died, and around 2500 were choose to take. A more costly option is eco-fashinjured. The building collapsed due to structural ion. Within the last few years, high-end fashion failure because the owner of the building did not designers have listened to the demands of activwant to repair the damages. The consequences ists and concerned consumers and adapted the were fatal. Thus, the price of fast fashion is mea- production process to minimise the carbon footsured in human life, which is not visible on the print. However, I want to focus on second-hand price tags. fashion as it is an affordable choice.

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thrift

Balkan Beats

stores t h r i f t

I still remember the days when thrift stores were

a place where you would not want to be seen.

However, somewhere along the way, the attitude changed. With the help of social media, thrifting became a fashionable choice. We no longer take our fashion tips from magazines. There is a big community of second-hand fashion influencers that provide styling and shopping tips. Either you call it vintage or reused, it still serves the purpose of recycling materials that would pollute the earth. Giving a second life to a garment item challenges fast fashion brands. It is a slow process, however, a necessary one. Because if no consumers were buying the product, fast

stores

fashion brands would stop producing. The individual choice of recycling clothes can bring immense development in order to reverse the damage that is created by fast fashion. The change of perception is the key component, as human beings look towards societal norms. Thus, conscious decisions should become more important than mindless consumption. Because it is not yet fully accepted in society, it is necessary to rebel against fast fashion in order to glorify second-hand clothing as a fashionable and as well as an informed choice.

Š https://bust.com/images/articles/33833/10930190_815022475239839_378678267783155562_n.jpg

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Elena Mullor | 23 years old

Renata Diurczak | 29 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Favourite topics are culture, travel, cinema

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Felicia Vigliotti | 25 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Favourite topics are international politics, culture and human rights

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Amanda Miteniece | 23 years old

Mario Urminsky | 22 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Favourite topics are arts, culture, travel, nature

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Pablo Rubio | 24 years old

Valerio Vagnoni | 29 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

Staying in Greece for 10 months until September 2020

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Juliette Gadenne | 22 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until August 2020

Staying in Greece for 6 months until July 2020

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Helena Moreno | 30 years old Staying in Greece for 7 months until August 2020

Favourite topics are feminism, culture, arts and travel

General Directors: Editors: Aristodimos Paraschou Amanda Miteniece Christian Cibba Luís Lowden da Silva Graphic Designer: Alexandros Tagaridis Find us: www.balkanhotspot.org Usb_ngo.gr

Alessandro Pantorno | 21 years old Staying in Greece for 7 months until May 2020

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The volunteers responsible for this publication are hosted in Greece in the framework of the European ERASMUS+ Programme, European Voluntary Service. This project has been funded with support from the European Commision. This publication [communication] reflects the views of only of the author, and the Commision can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.