Lia’s name and face can be quite well-known for many of us. Despite having joined AEGEE just a couple of years ago, she has been motivated from the start to be very active both on local and European level. Especially after being Arsenis Tselengidis’ subcommissioner, she feels prepared now to run for Network Commissioner herself. She is a member of AEGEE-Kastoria, but she is running for NetCom as a member of AEGEE-Sofia. You might wonder why – and so, we invite you to take a look at her words.

The AEGEEan: First of all, Lia, introduce yourself. Who are you, and how did you join AEGEE?

Lia: I am Evangelia Touska (but everyone calls and knows me as Lia) and I study Computer Science at the Technological Institute of Western Macedonia, Kastoria campus. Currently, I live at Iraklia, a small city close to the Greek border with Bulgaria. I joined AEGEE on May 2012, when AEGEE-Kastoria was founded. I was IT Responsible and Secretary of AEGEE-Kastoria and I am Vice-Speaker of the Information Technology Committee, Secretary of the Human Rights Working Group, Arsenis Tselengidis’ Subcommissioner responsible for AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Nicosia, AEGEE-Patra and AEGEE-Peiraias, PR of The AEGEEan and Network Commission’s assistant .

The AEGEEan: You are very experienced in AEGEE – but which have your favorite experiences been so far?

Lia: On the local level, my favorite experiences have been working with the rest of the board of AEGEE-Kastoria for two years and surprising AEGEE-Sofia members on the local’s 22nd birthday by showing up at the party. On European Level, I really enjoyed the European Level meeting in Zaragoza and I love working with the HRWG board.

The AEGEEan: You are not only a member of AEGEE-Kastoria, but also AEGEE-Sofia. You helped last summer in their events and now you are running for the position of NetCom from this local. What connects you so strongly with Bulgaria?

Lia: Bulgaria is the first foreign country I’ve ever visited. As said above, I live really close to Bulgaria and my first visit to Sofia was when I was 9 or 10. At my first event (Agora Budapest 2012), I met some of AEGEE-Sofia’s members and AEGEE-Sofia became AEGEE-Kastoria’s mentor. They have visited us at Kastoria and so have we.

I am member of AEGEE-Kastoria since its birth, but unfortunately, I don’t live there anymore. Actually, couple of days after I moved back with my parents, I left to go to help AEGEE-Sofia with organizing the Leadership Summer School 2013 and then I was participant at their Summer University, so I stayed there for a whole month. I really liked their motivation and the fact that they organized two big events in one month. When you spend such a long time with people you connect with them. They had already considered me their member before I joined AEGEE-Sofia. So now that I might move to Sofia, I decided and officially became their member.

The AEGEEan: You have been Arsenis’ subcommissioner. If elected, would you keep working with him as subcommie?

Lia: If elected, there is going to be an Open Call for my position. During the one-month Knowledge Transfer period, I will prepare my successor and later in case they need any help, I will be there.

The AEGEEan: And what have you learnt from this time as his subcommissioner?

Lia: I was thinking of running for Network Commissioner before Arsenis asked me to become member of his NetCom Team. After five months of being his subcommissioner, I feel more prepared than ever to do it. I have partly learnt how Network Commission works.
I was always responsible, on-time for the deadlines and extremely patient. Sometimes, you don’t have to learn something new, still you need to practice the skills you already have.

I have helped all the locals that I am responsible for to register at Erasmus+ database and all of them made it. I’m proud of them And I I made two trips to meet with three of my locals (Athina, Peiraias and Patra). From those trips I understood that Skype meetings are the easy way, but the personal contact is more efficient.

The AEGEEan: I always hear from previous netcommies that their time at the NetCom is probably the most rewarding experience they have had in AEGEE. Why do you think so?

Lia: While being NetCommie you contact not only one group of people, but more at the same time. Most of the times, you contact people who are not speaking the same language as you and you travel to visit them. You are like a parent to them, they are happy that you are there for them when they need you. Doing all those things I referred, you develop yourself and this is the most rewarding experience.

The AEGEEan: You have a very ambitious programme that starts with having a team of experts and subcommissioners. How are you planning to select them?

Lia: For the team of experts, I will select them depending on their experience. Some of them will also be subcommissioners, but I want to have not that experienced members in my team, too. My goal is to motivate them to be more active. I will select them with the help of my already selected team and considering their opinions, I will choose the proper ones. I am also going to ask for feedback from the Focus Area (if they agree or not) about my decision, in order to make it more democratic.

The AEGEEan: Our readers would like to ask about the existing gap between the local and European level of AEGEE. Would you consider making some implementations to reduce it? In case you already thought about it, what are the ideas you would like to be put to work?

Lia: Being member of locals that are active in European Level, I didn’t feel that gap until I became Subcommissioner. There are many locals that don’t know enough about it or think that European Level is just the Comité Directeur. With Arsenis and the rest of our NetCom Team, we decided to have some Local Training Courses regarding the European Level. I am going to follow this example, too. Also my team and I are going to create a newsletter translated in the languages of our Focus Area. Members will be free to help at the translation.

The AEGEEan: Not many people have heard about the Grandparent system. What is it about?

Lia: I love Grandparents’ System. I first heard about it from AEGEE-Patra. It is a Human Resources system. An old member of a local is grandparent of one or more new members to initiate them to AEGEE. When the new member needs help or advice about something on AEGEE, the grandparent is responsible for them. It helps the local to keep the new members for longer and it lightens the workload of the HR Responsible. AEGEE-Thessaloniki arranged me as my sister’s grandma and currently she is their Secretary and PR Responsible for the Pre-Agora event The Lord of Wine: the Return of Dionysus.

The AEGEEan: And do you plan to establish new locals?

Lia: Of course. I have already helped with founding AEGEE-Kastoria and I know the whole process. Plus, there are people who asked for help and advices to establish two new locals. More info about them, after Agora Patra…

The AEGEEan: Which are the three words that describe you best?

Lia: Smiling: Most of the time, I am smiling. That’s because I believe in the power of positive energy. Quoting Fotis Pastrakis, “I can’t imagine Lia being angry, sad or crying”.
Multitasking: I can do many things at the same time. Sometimes doing only one thing makes me feel strange.
Energetic: There are times that we can feel disappointed. I don’t let this feeling get over me. My dreams motivate me to keep up and I just enjoy the route!

The AEGEEan: And which are your hobbies outside AEGEE?

Lia: My favorite hobbies are knitting and cooking for my friends and family. My secret ingredient is that I put love in both of them. I love walking on my own or with one of my three dogs. Sometimes I watch television series or movies. Last but not least, the thing I do every day and I personally don’t consider as hobby, I meditate for at least 10 minutes or more (depending on my free time).

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona/Leuven

John Eikosidekas is one of the Agora Patra organisers. He is originally from the big land of USA but resides in Greece while his dream is to reside in Denmark in the future. In this article you can get to know more about John’s history and his interest in the European Level of AEGEE.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a bit about your background? Studies, interests etc.

John: Well then, I was born close to Chicago, in Illinois of the USA. I moved to Greece in 1999 when I was 10 years old. I moved to Patra in March 2008 to study Accounting. Although accounting turns out to be something that I don’t like as much as I thought, I always found ways to keep myself entertained, and having a hobby is one of them. One of my biggest interests, which I guess doesn’t surprise many AEGEEans, is travelling! I took my shot and went on the Erasmus program, a program I had heard about in High School and I always dreamt of doing this at some point in my future when I would be studying!

For how long have you been in AEGEE?

John: Unofficially, I have been in AEGEE since April of 2011 as a helper for different things (meetings, SU etc). But officially I joined AEGEE that year in September to apply for the Autumn Agora Skopje that would be going on. Since then I have been quite active on the local level. But after giving my services to the board for one year, I needed more! So I spread my wings and took my chances on the European Level.

How did you join AEGEE?

Once my Erasmus was over in February ’11, I became as miserable and depressed as any average Erasmus student when he/she returns to his/her hometown, the so-called “Post-Erasmus Depression”. But then, while I was speaking to a polish friend of mine via Skype, she mentioned this thing called AEGEE, and travelling, and having fun… I didn’t understand much of it, but it sounded good enough for me! So I came in contact with AEGEE-Patra, and my adventurous AEGEE journey began!

You have done an exchange in Denmark, what is it that you like about the North of Europe?

Is there something NOT to like??? Seriously, while living in Herning for my Erasmus I had a great experience. Bikes everywhere! And during any season! Usually in the south of Europe, especially in my region, if there is no sun, it seems to them “ridiculous” to use your bike to go somewhere. Meanwhile in Herning, people biked to go to school, biked to go to work, biked in the rain, biked while it snowed, biked with a briefcase, biked for sport…  PS. Biking when drunk is awesome! The chilly wind in combination with a possible rain or snowfall can really help your senses kick back in again!

What have you done on the European Level of AEGEE?

Well, I was the HR for the Environnmental Working Group (EnWG) for the past term (Budapest-Zaragoza). I am also a member of the Sports WG (SWG) and the Human Rights WG (HRWG). I helped out with proofeading for the SU 25th Anniversary booklet, and am also a writer and proofreader for the new Key2Europe coming out. Finally, I lately joinedThe AEGEEan team of freelance proofreaders. I have much in mind about the future, but it seems that for this year those plans will be taking a ride in the back seat, since I’m trying to finish my courses and find an internship abroad starting in September.

What is the EnWG about?

The EnWG is all about spreading awareness on environmental subjects. This may be the sole aim, but there are many means used to reach this goal. Firstly, we like having social meetings with a specific subject every month. Social meetings are a place where all members meet (via Skype), and discuss environmental issues. Either they have questions, facts or would like to share something about the subject, our social meetings are the place to be.

Secondly we all help out with spreading awareness within and outside of AEGEE. This may be in many different forms, whether it’s an article for our online magazine, or putting up posters at the Agora, even supporting the booth at the AEGEE fair… There are so many things people can do as individuals, and ideas are always welcomed if something innovating hits you!

Finally, as a local there are quite a few things you can do! Organizing a Green SU with your local, or having an environmental Action Day, even creating an EnWG within your local would be great!

Why would you encourage others to join the EnWG?

NWM Thessaloniki

For “Seizing the Day” of course! You can learn so much by joining the EnWG, and everyone learns and adapts other things from it. But what I gained were three things:

a) learning how to work in a different format than what I was used to. My local has a totally different way of working in comparison to the European Level, and that way I managed to bring ideas back to adapt to my local.

b) Meeting new people. Yes, sounds a bit cheesy, but meeting new people can do no one any harm! Like with anything that is done on the European level, you meet people from around Europe, and it brings us all one step closer to unite the people of this continent we all live in.

c) and last but not least, the environment! Daily, you learn new facts and figures about the environment, learn how to keep everything sustainable, and help spread the awareness to other members as well!

Interested in joining the EnWG? Don’t hesitate to send an e-mail showing your interest, or even asking any possible questions that may come to your mind! Contact us at: enwg.aegee@gmail.com

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn.

Originally posted in the Nordic Stars blog

What happens if you are LGBT and you live or you decide to visit Russia? In both cases you may end up in jail! If you are a visitor you may be in jail for two weeks and then you will be deported!

Putin and Kremlin believe that the youngsters must be protected from “bad” homosexuality so they banned any “homosexual” behavior inside the country. Last year, Moscow’s Top Court banned Gay Pride for a hundred years. According to the Russian LGBT Network, homophobic violence increased after the Russian anti-gay law passed, because the attackers are not afraid of legal reprisals. These attacks are mostly motivated by right-wing activists. All of this is happening while Russia prepares the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi where many LGBT people are expected to arrive, among them are athletes, officials, volunteers and visitors.

The Winter Olympics have been called for boycott due to the ‘anti gay’ legislation. Picture: Raul Pacheco-Vega

With the adoption of the new laws, many people proposed to boycott Russian products, like vodka. In addition, there are pages on Facebook calling on people to boycot the Olympic Games. Among the voices against anti-gay legislation is also the singer Cher. As she revealed in her interview in the Canadian magazine Maclean’s, she turned down the proposal for being an ambassador for the Games and she said no to opening the show.

On the other hand Blake Skjellerup, ice-skater from New Zealand, said that he will wear a rainbow pin to show his support for LGBT people in Russia. Also Elton John stated in The Guardian that he feels like he needs to perform in Russia in order to help gay people.

A big share of the international media turned against the Russian authorities for these laws, paying special attention to the reaction of public figures as well as NGOs and citizens across the world.

Russia’s law depicts homosexuality as something bad and immoral that young people should be protected from. These laws violate the right to non-discrimination, and by silencing all LGBT issues it protects people who commit violence against homosexual people. Moreover, it creates a difficult situation for people who want to visit Russia. This affects AEGEE as well since we promote human rights and the mobility of young people.

There are governments that reacted to those laws. For example, when Putin visited the Netherlands, Amsterdam was decorated in rainbow flags. But it needs to be something more efficient from official organizations like International Olympics Committee, European Union and United Nations because after the passing of the laws, the crimes against homosexuals increased and they remained unpunished by the local courts.

The anti-LGBT laws also has the support of the more conservative sector of society. The Russian Orthodox Church and Christianity have a lot of influence in Russia and, as we could read in The Huffington Post, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill said the following about equal marriage: “This is a very dangerous apocalyptic symptom, and we must do everything in our power to ensure that sin is never sanctioned in Russia by state law, because that would mean that the nation has embarked on a path of self-destruction”. However, homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders in 1990 (according to the World Health Organization).

Those laws remind us of the communist era in Russia when homosexuals used to end up in Gulag labour camps. They remind us of the Second World War, when homosexuals were arrested and went to concentration camps where they had to wear pink triangles, and where many of them got raped and died. They remind us of the Middle East where many people keep on murdering or forcing sex reassignment surgery to homosexuals, using the Shari’a as an excuse.

Now a European country acts like these regimes that remind us of the darkest pages in history and official international organizations keep silent, not only for Russia, but for every homophobe law in every country of the world.

Written by Dimitra P. Amorgianou, AEGEE-Kastoria

Established 25 years ago and awarded each year by the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has finally announced the list of nominees for this year. The seven finalists were announced on September 16th in Brussels, including Malala Yousafzai and Edward Snowden.

Named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize was set up in 1988 aiming to honour individuals or organisations that have exceptionally fought to defend human rights and the freedom of thought. The nominations made by political groups (or Members of the European Parliament – MEPs) are followed by a selection process; Foreign Affairs and Development committees choose and shortlist the three finalists, and the final selection of the Laureate is made by the Conference of Presidents in Strasbourg, France.

The European Parliament organises an annual ceremony around December 10th (Human Rights Day) in Strasbourg, to award the human rights prize plus a monetary grant of €50,000.

Among the historical winners are Nelson Mandela and Anatoly Marchenko, the first awardees (1988), as well as Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi (1990). Some organisations, such as Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (1992), ¡Basta Ya! (2000), Ladies in White (2005) and Memorial (2009) have also seen their work recognized.

This year, the seven shortlisted finalists are:

• Pakistani Malala Yousoufzai, a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the neck by Taliban forces for advocating for girls’ education. You can read about her story in this article from The AEGEEan magazine.
• Former CIA and NSA contractor Edward Snowden, an American computer specialist who leaked details about mass surveillance programs held by the top-secret United States and British government.
• Ethiopian journalists Reeyot Alemu and Eskinder Nega, who are serving prison term on terrorism charges after writing critical articles about their government.
• Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Khodorkovsky was sentenced in 2005 for fraud after his company, Yukos, collapsed and had its shares frozen by Vladimir Putin’s government.
• Belorussian activist Ales Bialatski, head of Viasna Human Rights Centre and vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights.
• The “Standing Man” protesters from Turkey, a peaceful form of protest initiated by Erdem Gündüz during the Gezi demonstrations in Istanbul.
• The “CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery”, a 2011 report that exposed modern-day slavery and initiated a global campaign against human trafficking and child labour.

In October, the Conference of Presidents will decide the final Laureate for the Sakharov Prize in the European Parliament. The award ceremony may take place at the Plenary Session of the Parliament, in November.

Written by Human Rights Working Group

Featured picture from the European Parliament‘s Flickr

The election for Member of the Month for July is different than the others. Instead of choosing one member, the honor goes to nine AEGEE members that took part in the Identity meeting in the beginning of July.

Anja Köngeter joined AEGEE-Heidelberg in March 2011 because  she felt like giving something back to international students after her Erasmus and spreading the spirit of tolerance and solidarity among young people from all over the world. Another girl who joined AEGEE a little bit later is Ana Potočnik from AEGEE-Ljubljana, and she has a different story about joining AEGEE than the one you usually hear: “One of my friends decided it is time to find a boyfriend, so she asked me to join her on the meeting for the New Year’s event. I had no idea what AEGEE is, what kind of event they were organizing or for whom, but as a good friend I decided to support her “let’s find me a boyfriend” mission. One and a half year later she has a guy and I have AEGEE”. 

Another new Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) member and Subcommissioner of Network Commissioner Patricia Anthony, Ruta Jankauskaité (AEGEE-Kaunas) was convinced by the former Network Commissioner Karolina Mazetyte to join. “Hers was the most important role, as there was no antenna in my city and AEGEE was something I knew nothing about, but there was something I still do not understand that made me stay”. Another Subcommissioner in Patricia’s team is Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen) and she was also in Brussels for the Identity meeting. She joined AEGEE in 2011 because she liked travelling and she heard about AEGEE a couple of times before, but never took the step to actually become a member. Then she met some people, they told her about an exchange they wanted to do a month later with AEGEE-Budapest, and that convinced her!

Francesca Russo (AEGEE-Padova) has the typical AEGEE story of joining – she joined to take part in a Summer University and she is the one who has been in AEGEE the longest in this group, having joined back in 2006. Ivan Bielik (AEGEE-Brno), an active member who frequently publishes articles in The AEGEEan, has been in AEGEE since the beginning of 2011. He joined because he wanted to become active in some student associations during his university studies. Opportunities that AEGEE offers were, and still are of high interest for him.

Matthijs Overhaal joined AEGEE-Nijmegen in 2010 but is one of AEGEE members that have since changed antennae – he proudly become a part of AEGEE-Tartu. When asking how he joined AEGEE he says: “That is a funny story actually. I just came to live in Nijmegen and basically did not have much social contacts there yet. I would not say that joining AEGEE was a random lucky guess, but all I was looking for was social interaction. I certainly found that!” Mayri Tiido who is also from AEGEE-Tartu has been Member of the Month before as well, and her story can be read in the article that was already published.

Matthijs & Mayri

These members have done many different things in AEGEE, so The AEGEEan asked some of them about their experience in our organisation so far.

Ana: One month after I joined AEGEE I became a board member of AEGEE-Ljubljana. Since then I was the main organiser of Summer University, SUPS, NWM in Ljubljana and helped organise other events in our antenna. This summer I also became Antonija Parat’s Subcommie and now I am member of ACT.

Maria: First of all, I started to do some things on the local level, organise some activities, etc., and I joined the trips. Then I became involved in the establishment of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), of which I will be Speaker until next October. After a while, I also became a member of Health4Youth project. Next came Agorae, EBM Valletta, Planning Meeting in Poznan, an SU every summer, Network Meetings and some other events. At the moment I am Patricia’s Subcommie taking care of AEGEE-Durham, AEGEE-London, and AEGEE-Sheffield. Last but definitely not least, I am now in the Planning Team.

Maria Arends

Matthijs: For a year I was not present in the European level of AEGEE. I had no idea who/what was important whatsoever and was only (overly) active on the local level. However, things started changing, mainly thanks to Mayri Tiido. She showed me how cool and amazing it is to broaden your horizons, share opinions etc. In the end, it led to the foundation of Health4Youth project, which I and the others are very proud of. In between, I went to Training4Trainers in Warsaw, which turned around everything I believed in. I became a trainer in the Academy, was a trainer in local events, Agorae and European School Summer University (ESSU) Patra.

Francesca: Local level: board member, secretary and now president of my antenna (for the last two years). European level : statistics analysis assistant of Mickey Turati and now Secretary of Human Rights Working Group and Subcommie of Network Commissioner Claudio Armandi.

Ivan: I started on the local level and then after one year spent in the board of AEGEE-Brno, I moved to the European level and became a Speaker of International Politics Working Group, developed my own project – AEGEEDebate, and took part in other smaller activities as well.

What drives you to be active in AEGEE?

Maria: A gazillion things! First of all, the people. You work with so many other motivated members, and together you feel like you can do something, you can achieve something. That feels wonderful. Besides that, AEGEE is an addiction. Every time I do something with AEGEE, I want more. So in short, I do not know what drives me, but there is a powerful force that I cannot resist! 

Matthijs: Young people are the future and our generation faces so many challenges, not the least of which are health-related. Being an active young citizen makes me feel that I try to help this generation further and add something of myself to it. 

Ana: I love AEGEE because it is something completely different from my studies (biochemistry). Sometimes I need my brain to take a rest from all the molecules and working in AEGEE is always fun. You meet so many interesting people with different backgrounds. What is most important  is that you always learn something new. I was active since the very beginning, so it is the only way I know how to be a member.

Francesca: AEGEE spirit! It is about what AEGEE can give me – meeting really cool people, finding interesting opportunities, having amazing experiences and then inspiring people to show them how cool it is to be active European citizens. I love helping youngsters to feel Europe!

Ivan: Self-development of skills which I cannot develop through formal education and the motivation to change AEGEE for better.

Ruta: Without a doubt, people you meet in European events, because here you learn but not through studying.

What made you interested in taking part in the meeting?

Mayri: I must admit that after attending my first Agora (Alicante 2011) I understood that AEGEE means so many different things to everybody. This made me passionate about what AEGEE is and I have had endless discussions about that with my friends. After hearing at Agora Budapest that there will be an Identity meeting, I knew I had to be there!

Maria: Have you ever tried to explain someone what AEGEE is and what it does? In that case, I think you know! I mean, once I spent an incredible time to try to explain to a friend of mine and I thought, if I as an active member have problems with this, then how is it going for people that are not yet active? How do you even motivate people to join AEGEE?

Matthijs: I followed the process since (almost) the very beginning and have always had my troubles with AEGEE’s identity. Being culturally, socially, politically and geographically diverse is a part of a double-sided medal which can be/is very troublesome. Analysing the opinions of all AEGEEans and drafting conclusions from them only seemed a logical step after that.

Francesca: ‘I’m AEGEE’ – me and all the other 13000 members. I wanted to be one of the AEGEEans who helped develop our association, who took the challenge to do something that was needed: clarify the essence of AEGEE, the things we do not yet have stated in a few words – vision, mission and means. So that every AEGEEan will not have any doubt when asked who we are!

Anja: AEGEE’s need of a consistent and updated identity is obvious – it is difficult to have a “common identity” among all antennae AND to keep the special characteristics of each local at the same time. Since I am writing my Master’s thesis on European identity and I was working in an advertisement company (which also faces the challenge of clarification of identity) I thought that I could help out finding a good result!

Ana: It was the everyday struggle to explain to people what AEGEE is. I wanted to find a common idea about what AEGEE is and “update” our identity to make it clear and simple.

Ruta: The wish to make it clear for myself (as well as everyone else) what AEGEE is (not).

Ivan: Since I joined AEGEE I do not have a clear idea what AEGEE is and what it stands for. That was my initial problem which caused my interest in participating in Identity meeting. I wanted to change this problem and to come up with some ideas.

What was the best part of the event for you?

Mayri: I sort of guessed that it would be a lot of work and that we would most likely run out of time. Although all that was true, I really enjoyed working late with other participants. In between useful discussions we were laughing in tears. I guess that was the best part for me – working hard while having fun.

Maria: I think the group. The group was really motivated and driven and we worked hard together. As it was a serious event, people sometimes get bored, but that did not happen this time. Because we were all motivated to come up with a good result, we all kept each other motivated. 

Matthijs: Not so much a part, but rather the feeling that remains. The feeling of really wanting to finish this meeting successfully, no matter if that meant that we had to work very late. We just could not let go of the things that were unfinished for that day. I will not be the first one to say this, but the feeling of working hard with people just as inspired as you is incredible. Also, I totally rocked charades!

Francesca: It was amazing to be a part of the process and to feel the commitment and passion everyone was putting in it. The best moment was working, facilitated by Ivan, until midnight to start re-arranging the statement of principles because everyone was actively participating and no one was complaining about the duration of the work. I love even how we started the meeting, with an exercise: ‘explain AEGEE in one minute’. I found it surprising and interesting to see that everyone has their own and often very different way to do it.

Ivan: Best moment for me was the active participation of every member there during sessions. I did not expect such involvement. Apart from this, I also celebrated my birthday during the event, so that was pleasant for me too.

Anja: I learned so much about group dynamics, project management and really enjoyed visiting the CD house.

Ana: It was definitely working late in the office on the last day. We had a lot of fun working on statements of principles.

Ruta: Night in the CD house without any of CD members in the house!

Some of the members have followed up on the event after being in the Belgian capital:

Francesca: After the event I went to the Leadership Summer School (LSS) and then we had our Summer University. Every time I had the chance, I explained to all AEGEEans I met (mostly during LSS) what we did and why. Soon a paper will be sent to everyone to understand better everything we did and it will be easier to explain!

Maria: We have finished the draft documents, discussed a strategy on how to implement it, and now I am really looking forward to start with the preparations for the Agora. I hope you will all like it!

The topic of AEGEE identity continues not only for these nine people but for the whole organisation. It is certain that their participation in this weekend meeting in the CD house has contributed a lot to the topic and The AEGEEan congratulates them once more for being Members of the Month.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

N.B. Jorge Miguel, AEGEE-Valladolid as well as Antonio Sanna are also chosen as Member of the Month but chose not to take part in the interview.

My last article was about Turkey… now it’s about Greece.  It seems like an Eastern Europe human rights violations “journey” is happening often these days,  with agressive acts by the police in Turkey, LGBTQI rights violations in Russia and now Greece. A journey that’s not very happy indeed. So now in Greece there is a new Health Minister named Adonis Georgiadis.

Currently, a new Health Minister has been named in Greece: Adonis Georgiadis was a member of the previous nationalistic party that entered the Greek Parliament, LAOS. When they lost their position in the Parliament during the last elections he and another congressman, Makis Voridis, moved to New Democracy and with the last reformation, after some moves Adonis Georgiadis became Health Minister.

In May 2012, the previous Health Minister, Andreas Loverdos came up with a Ministerial Decision stating the police has the right to arrest people to force them in HIV/AIDS tests (if needed) and that police may also publish the personal data of arrested people with HIV.

That decision results in 17 women being arrested, in May of 2012 and found HIV positive. What followed was the police that made their personal data public through the media and the Greek Police website, because of “public health” protection. Those women were mostly prostitutes and drug addicts BUT their clients paid more for unprotected sex, which led them to be found HIV positive.  Although Greek court of law decided they were innocent regarding their connection with sex industry because there wasn’t any proof, the lives of those women and the ones of their families were already destroyed.

Although it was soon abolished by the former sub-minister, Fotini Skopouli, the current Health Minister, Adonis Georgiadis brought it back on the news with the same excuse: the protection of public health!

After that provision has been reintroduced, many local LGBTQI and HIV/AIDS NGOs raised their voices. On July 3rd there was a protest in Thessaloniki followed by a protest on Monday July 8th the following NGOs: Act Up, Athens Pride, Colour Youth, Positive Voice, Center of Life, Praksis, Homopgonia-Thessaloniki Pride, Synthesis, OLKE, Good As You(th), Proud Press, Lesbian Community of Athens, Lesbequal, Queertranss, World without wars and violence and the Green Party of Greece, protested outside the Ministry of Health, in Athens. From the beginning in May 2012 till now that Mr. Georgiadis reintroduced it, ACT UP Hellas began the reaction to the provision by impeaching the provision.

This measure didn’t leave the international community speechless. Among the several reactions, the French HIV expert and Medicine Nobelist  Françoise Barré – Sinoussi stated in her closing speech of IAS (International AIDS Society) at Kuala Lumpur: “As we keep repeating over the years, there will be no end to the HIV epidemic without advancing Human rights in parallel”, and asked Greek Government to withdraw the decision immediately.

On the opposite, Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, Charalampos Athanassiou, didn’t say a word about the reintroduction of the decision, nor the Secretary of Transparency and Human Rights Sourlas Georgios. Nevertheless we would like to remind them the International Declaration of Human Rights Greece as part of the EU, Greece as an UN Charter signatory, Greece as a democratic country has to follow its duties and serve human rights.

Article 5: No one is allowed to submit in torture, penalty or violent, inhuman and/or degrading treatment.

Mandatory HIV tests are a use of violence. Also when the personal data become public it is a pillory of those people which is an inhumane treatment.

Article 12: No one is allowed to suffer arbitrary interventions in their private life, family, home and mail, neither attack in their honor and reputation. Anyone has the right to be protected by the law from interpretations and that kind of insults.

When someone is sick it is their right to tell people or not. If the police does it, it’s a clearly violation of that right because the police intervenes in their private life. That right too is protected by the Greek Constitution.

Written by Amorgianou Dimitra, member of the Human Rights Working Group

Pictures are courtesy of Hiro Photography

Everything started when the Turkish government decided to destroy Gezi Park to build a mall. That made people come to Taksim Square, Istanbul, to protest for saving the park. Today, there are many people protesting in Turkey and the police is becoming more and more violent. There are many injured people and also some deaths.

Police forces have left Taksim Square but protesters are still there to protect it. However, police forces might have left the square, but things in Turkey haven’t calm down: as it seems, Gezi Park was the last drop for Turkish people and now we have protests in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and 48 other cities.

All of those protests started with a sit-in protest in the park, but now, people reacts against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and they ask him to resign. Gezi Park was just the start and the last drop for Turkish people and the issue is bigger. They demand the freedom of speech and real democracy in their country.

It is obvious that those days in Turkey we witnessed a clear violation of human rights.  Not only the police attacked peaceful protesters in Gezi Park, but also they used water cannons, tear gas, peper spray and armored personnel carriers against the protesters which led to over 1000 injured people and at least two deaths.

We are in the side of Turkish people. We demand the Turkish government to stop the violence against them and leave them because it is their right to protest. The Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) decided to take action against that violation of human rights in Turkey and show our solidarity to Turkish people.

To do that, we are calling everyone to light a candle and take a photo and write “your name + lights a candle for democracy in Turkey” and send it to hrwg@aegee.org for uploading it in our Facebook page. Also we are calling the locals that want to take action to send us photos of what you did to upload them in our Facebook page. Turkey needs us and we have to be there, by their side!

Written by Dimitra Amorgianou, AEGEE–Kastoria

Thank you Michal Szanjder for the main picture of the article!

Last time The AEGEEan introduced the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) to you it was in connection with the first planning meeting between the Sports Working Group (SWG) and Policy Officer E.G. The fourth planning meeting will take place in Agora Rhein-Neckar, however an extensive promotion campaign has already been started.

Besides the SWG and Eline, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) is involved in the project and speaker Maria Arends tells us how it came about: “When the SWG first contacted us about “IDAHO” we were immediately enthusiastic and motivated to work with them and Eline to create a great action for this. The idea totally matches our strategic plan, and as we have been thinking about having such an action day for a while, the possibility to collaborate made us extra motivated. Also we have been talking about a project against homophobia before, so we may say that also from this perspective we enjoy working on this, and we hope that you will all take part in the flash mob!”

The topic of participation in workshops at statutory events was raised recently in The AEGEEan, and we continue to focus on this interesting topic. Questions concerning the quality of workshops, the topics and the golden recipe of a workshop will be answered in this interview that The AEGEEan did with Gunnar Erth, who throughout his many years has participated and hosted a large number of workshops.

He has hosted very different workshops, from simple brainstorming sessions regarding a project to creative ones, where people display their ideas with performances or posters. He describes them as the ones that are the most fun.

In Agora Rhein-Neckar Gunnar will host a workshop but it is no classic workshop. It will be a mixture of a presentation and group discussions and the topic will be the history of the summer universities. Since the Summer University Coordination Team will be at the Agora, the hope is to have lively best-practice discussions with the participants regarding participants’ management and a SU programme design. Hopefully, ending up with the best formula for a SU.

Gunnar says that “a good workshop should not primarily transmit knowledge, but rather be about developing ideas together”, but what other golden rules are there to workshops? Let’s have a look.

The AEGEEan: How many times have you hosted a workshop?

Gunnar Erth: Oh, many times. I did the first one was when I was president of the Human Rights Working Group. We were discussing projects about former Yugoslavia. Most of my workshops were either related to PR matters, antenna management or project management.

And what is it that you like about organising workshops?

It’s the best way to directly involve and motivate people in AEGEE! People see each other eye to eye – and thanks to this aspect workshops add the human touch to discussions, which otherwise would happen online. The most fascinating thing about workshops is that they can get their own life and go to directions that you did not expect. When you organise a workshop then you usually have an idea and preferred outcome in mind. But as soon as the people discuss, they take over, they develop ideas and these can be totally different from yours. This can be great, but also frustrating.

Why is that the case?

Sometimes you have some high goals in mind, which require a lot of work and initiative. And then the participants don’t catch the hint and rather go for a simple solution with less impact. If it’s only a training workshop then it’s not a big deal – you can just tell them what else they could have opted for. However, if the purpose of the workshop was to develop a new project, then it’s a pity. But there is nothing you can do as a workshop leader, since the participants are the ones to carry the project out.

You have organised and been in many workshops. What is the golden recipe to make a workshop good?

First of all, you need a good topic. Without it, you don’t get participants. The potential participants must feel that they can either learn something for themselves or help shaping a great initiative. The second factor is making catchy PR before the workshop. The third thing is the way you structure and lead a workshop – currently Fabian Brüggemann is the best workshop leader in AEGEE. He is brilliant! You need to set out a clear goal of the workshop, keep in mind your own ideas and nudge the participants in a certain direction – but you have to let the people develop the idea. Because if it’s theirs then the chance is high that they catch on; if you present a ready-to-use idea, the chance is lower. You need to be able to adapt the workshop to the ideas of the participants, if things go in a different direction.

To give an example, I can tell you that in the Network Meeting in Mainz some years ago we discussed PR ideas in a workshop. Nearly all participants were from the Rhein-Neckar region. Some people suggested a printed AEGEE magazine for the region as a joint PR tool. That was in 2004, so before people made WordPress blogs. Since there was so much enthusiasm, I changed the workshop right in the middle and we discussed the form and content of this magazine. After the event we kept on discussing the idea online, but since no one wanted to coordinate it, the idea died.

That’s a pity.

Yes. And this leads us to the final ingredient of the recipe for a great workshop: a good follow-up. In every workshop you should discuss concrete steps how to follow-up, if you developed new ideas. But as you can see from the example, even then success is not guaranteed.

It is sometimes difficult for workshop organisers to get participants of the Agora to take part in their workshop, because it is not compulsory to go. How do you face this problem, and what is your advice to other workshop hosts?

Good PR, before the event. During the Agora it’s too late, because unfortunately there is only little time to present the content. There were so many Agorae where I didn’t really know what the next workshops were about so I just followed my friends – sometimes we went to just any random workshop or we had a coffee… So the participants must know about the workshop before the Agora. You must promote it like a big event. Social media help a lot. You can create a Facebook event and invite people, you can create a Facebook group, you can present the workshop in The AEGEEan or Golden Times, and you can even present it on AEGEE-L. If the topic is related for example to current issues, for example human rights, you can use existing discussions in AEGEE to make people aware of your workshop. There is no limit.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

A few weeks ago, the football team AEK Athens won against Veria, which made Giorgos Katidis want to celebrate. He did this, using the Nazi salute. Katidis (20) says he had no idea what the gesture stands for. His coach Ewald Lienen states that Katidis is young and does not have any political views, so he absolutely did not mean any harm by doing it (BBC News). Now we are wondering, just as the rest of Europe, is it really possible? Are there people in Europe who do not have a clue about this?

The Human Rights Working Group, the International Politics Working Group and the Sports Working Group join their forces to take a closer look at the case.

It does not matter if the player knew what it meant. He used the sign, and the punishment is clear: Katidis is now banned from playing for the Greek national team for the rest of his life. It is a bit more complicated than it may seem at first sight though. Was he discriminating? Was he making a political statement? Sport players are role models, so how does this happening influence other people?

Maria Arends – Speaker of the HRWG

In Germany, the Nazi salute is illegal, but in other parts of Europe it is not. I would like to focus on the way this offends human rights, and also I want to share some thoughts on the difficult question whether the punishment is too harsh or not.

Stretching your right arm is a violation against human rights

To understand well what the Nazi salute stands for, we need to go back to the year 1926. Europe was in crisis, crying for change, and the Nazi Party made the Heil Hitler salute compulsory, because it showed commitment to the party and it functioned as a declaration to the outside world. Although it was compulsory, from 1933 on it became prohibited for inmates to use the salute, followed by Jews, Roma, and other ethnic groups, until it was only found acceptable for the Aryan race.

Even though nowadays most people see it as a very bad symbol, back then it represented some sort of privilege. One that many people were excluded from, which went from bad to worse.

As I said, people were excluded, and they were not allowed to do something because of their ethnic or religious background, when people from other backgrounds were allowed to do it. And because of that, it went from bad to worse. It went from quite small things to a holocaust Europe will not – and may never forget. As you see, stretching of your right arm to eye level is still very much related to this happening.

Nowadays, the salute is still used by neo-Nazis, who represent some elements of the Nazi regime back in the day, such as nationalism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and anti-Semitism.

Katidis states that he did not know about all this. He did not know that the salute was used during WWII, nor that it is still associated with this and with the beliefs of neo-Nazis. But would he have used it anyway, if he had known? If it were illegal? Would he have done it if he had known the consequences?

The consequences for Katidis

Katidis can never play again for the national team. The punishment is loud and clear. Yet, it leaves us a lot to discuss. Do we agree with this decision?

He violated human rights, which, especially as a role model, is unforgivable. But what if he really did not know what he was doing? What if he realises how wrong this was? Wouldn’t it be enough then to suspend him from the team for a limited time?

The Italian player Paolo di Canio also used the salute as well in 2005, and he was banned for only one match. According to the article in The Guardian, he did this solely to greet his comrades, as the Roman salute (on which the Nazi salute is based) was used to serve for in the ancient Roman empire.

Personally I cannot give an honest answer to this question. My gut feeling tells me that it was totally wrong, a bad violation of human rights, and the punishment seems very valid seeing it from this point of view. Also, because it explains to young people who do not know a lot about the WWII how seriously we still take this. On the other hand, if he really did not know, then who are we to judge? If he really, really had no clue, did not have proper education, then shouldn’t we blame the institutions that were supposed to teach him?

Can it be possible?

Ivan Bielik, Speaker of the IPWG

In my post I will examine the two claims of the footballer which he uses to advocate his innocence in the case. First, he claimed he was not a fascist. Second, he told he did not know what that salutation means. After a step-by-step rebuttal, I will conclude the strength of these claims.

In the first claim, Katidis proclaimed that he was not a fascist. This excuse is quite common when your behavior becomes an object of media coverage. Appealing to the non-political nature of the Greek footballer is however weak. Even if he is into any other kind of political affiliation (Christian, Social democrat or whatever) this fact does not mitigate his real actions. Why? The problem of Katidis is that he did that salutation in a public space under media coverage and fans’ presence. That means his action (salutation) has a direct impact on others who could see it. In this case, your action becomes public, which means you have the moral duty to observe some rules which govern the society you live in. A fascist salutation is linked throughout the European continent with the ideology of race hatred and mass extermination. It definitely has a bad connotation in people’s minds. It ought not to be shown in the public space. Thus, such salutation is not appropriate in a public space such as football stadiums, even if you are not a supporter of the fascist movement. The first claim by Katidis is therefore weak.

The second statement is more interesting. Claiming that you do not know what such salutation means shows two fundamental flaws. Firstly, your level of education is very poor. Probably you felt behind in school or you are very reluctant to learn new things. Secondly, the level of social learning is even poorer in this case. Many actions we do publicly are learnt from our social context. For example, if you show your middle finger to someone, that person will not respond in a very friendly manner. He/she will insult you or fight you. Afterwards, you have learnt that showing your middle finger is inappropriate, because of others’ reaction (in other words, the social context). The same applies to the Nazi salutation. You could see such actions only in the atmosphere of hatred and violence when supporters of such movement gather together. They often insult ethnic minorities and offer solutions that are too simple for complex problems of society. People respond very strangely to such actions. Thus, this salutation occurs in very specific circumstances which any ordinary human is capable to comprehend (it is bad sign). Therefore, the value of this action is predestined by social context where it occurs. If the footballer claims that he does not know what it means, he is showing a lack of knowledge and intelligence. Moreover, such claim is not very strong, because it transcends your responsibility to other institutions (in this case education or family upbringing). Therefore, the punishment for Katidis is justified, because it emphasizes the personal responsibility of a person who is showing inappropriate signs in public. Without personal responsibility such problem will occur again and again.

Patricia Anthony, Secretary and founder of the SWG

Katidis’ case might be rare but cases of nationalism, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia are unfortunately too common in the world in and outside of sports. A case like Katidis’ raises the question of how to deal with such cases in sports. How is it avoided? How tough of a punishment is needed? What does it take to combat nationalism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia?

The answer is not black or white, and a large number of solutions are needed. On top of the list the SWG finds it important to take a stand and raise your voice in the fight against different causes. The SWG especially focuses on the fight against racism, xenophobia and homophobia in the world of sports, hoping that the actions will extend beyond the world of sports and especially the world of AEGEE.

Katidis’ case shows not only the importance and potential of AEGEE’s Working Groups and Project Teams to create different projects that can have high relevance of what happens around Europe on a daily basis. The European-level bodies are collaborating more and more, and all ideas are always welcome. What does Katidis’ case mean for you? What does it mean for AEGEE? What does it mean for Europe? Is it really possible to salute in such a harsh way without knowing the meaning of stretching your arm like that?

Written by  Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen), Patricia Anthony (AEGEE-København), & Ivan Bielik

Sources

1. BBC News. Who, what, why: Can you accidentally do a Nazi salute? Requested at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21829682 on 19-03-2013.

2. United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Requested at http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml on 20-03-2013.