Issue 1
Latgale Vidzeme
T BO What Does H EX
Say?
The Team. Tuusa Eriksson & Rebecca Kiiski - Editors Lewin Schmitt - Video-editor Nikolaos Avramidis Lauma Niedrite Anette Piirsalu Olga Sitinska Silja Tuovinen Gustaf Westin
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How Europe Became the Centre of the World By Gustaf Westin
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he impact Europe has had on the rest of the world throughout history is not very hard to notice if you go abroad. If you go to Africa for example, it is not unlikely that people around you will be talking French or English. We have cities all over the world that are named after European cities, such as New York named after York in England, and some of the world’s most influential countries like Australia and of course, the US were founded as European colonies. But why did the world end up being this way? Why was it Europe that colonised the rest of the world, and not the other way around? How come Native Americans didn’t cross the Atlantic, or Australian Aborigines the Pacific? Jared Diamond, professor of physiology, tries to answer that question in his book “Guns, Germs and Steel”.
“Europe didn’t become what it is today because Europeans are genetically superior, but rather because we were fortunate to live in a place with favourable conditions” According to Diamond, the taming and domestication of animals and plants, and the subsequent transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer life to permanent settlements was a vital step forward in the development of human society. This increased food production and productivity immensely, and made it possible for populations to grow. When everyone did not have to work towards collecting food, some people could become priests, warriors, smiths or toolmakers. Hierarchies started to take form, and as settlements grew bigger, a bureaucracy appeared that could help the ruling class to control the masses. This was soon followed by the appearance of the written language, and as time went on, the written language could be used for tax collection, registration of citizens, and later on, also for the preservation of traditions and culture. 4
Societies like these were established on separate occasions, the Middle East being the first around 10 000 years ago, followed by China around a 1000 years later, and then Europe soon after. Permanent settlements in North and South America are only about 5500 years old, while Australia’s native population never left the hunter-gatherer-lifestyle. This timeline is explained by Diamond as a result of the physical environment. The Middle East was abundant with plants suited for agricultural purposes, like wheat, while China had rice. Both had animals that were easy to tame and domesticate like pigs, horses, cows and sheep. In America there were potatoes and corn, but there was no equivalent of the cow or horse that could be used for ploughing a field. Australia had the same problem, on top of the fact that large parts of the continent were too dry to grow anything. Africa’s plant and wildlife may be rich, but few species are suited for taming. Not even modern science has been able to tame the antelope, the gazelle, the buffalo or the zebra. Europe and Asia was also favoured by their geography, since it is easier for plants to spread in the east-west direction than the north-south direction. The Chinese could easily acquire wheat from the Middle East, while the rice spread westward. Horses, cows and pigs that have been tamed in one place could easily
spread in any direction on this huge mass of land. In America and Africa, continents that extend north-south, spreading crops was harder. By taming animals, Europeans also developed an immune system that could withstand many diseases that originate from animals, like smallpox, better than their counterparts on other continents. When the Spanish conquered Mexico and Central America, their greatest weapon against the Indians weren’t their cavalry, their iron armour or even their cannons or guns – it was the diseases that they brought with them, diseases that almost resulted in the complete extinction of the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas. To summarize, let’s fast forward to this day. The elections for the European Parliament has just taken place, and the number of racist, fascist and xenophobic parties in Europe is steadily on the rise, parties that put a great deal of weight on the superiority of the European race, and often use our advanced civilisation as an argument as to why the western world is superior to, for instance, Africa. In times like these it is important to remember that Europe didn’t become what it is today because Europeans are genetically superior, but rather because we were fortunate to live in a place with favourable conditions for the development of a modern and successful society. We owe more to the cow and the wheat than we do to ourselves. 5
Globalisation Does it: Mass Depression by Olga Sitinska
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here are 7 billion people on Earth. 350 million of them are depressed and the general trend indicates that modern society is becoming immersed in depression and apathy. If you walk through a modern school, you will find that every 5th girl you come across is depressed. Where are the roots of this phenomenon? Basically, it all started with a process of globalisation and technological progress. Globalisation is taking over the world and is primarily connected with the internationalisation of all of the social activities on the Earth. This means that in this modern age, all of humanity enters a stage where social, cultural, economical and political systems are common for each and every nation. Nonetheless, despite all of the positive developments due to globalisation, it has caused several serious problems. Ecological, demographical and political problems are tiny compared to the mass depression that our society is already encountering and is about to fall into even more deeply. It has already shown itself in several different areas. For example, the planet has become a much smaller place, a sort of “global village” due to mass media. The effects of this are far reaching: millions of people become bystanders to events happening all over the world. Big cities are overpopulated while the countryside becomes empty. Unique cultural traditions are fading and being substituted by West-Eastern consumer culture. Yet all of these problems fade away when it comes to the most thrilling one: The Internet.
writings about sadness, or in extreme cases suicide. Tumblr is also alarmingly full of suicidal pictures and blogs. This can be seen by simply entering #suicide in the search. On the other hand, can this in some cases be only seeking attention? Sometimes it can seem that some people posting this content have nothing to be depressed about. Unfortunately, it often happens that teenagers, who run these blogs, are not always the ones with problems. They might come from a good background, have lots of friends or relationships, caring parents and be perfectly happy. However, based on the posts they share, these teenagers seem to be either mentally broken or unwanted, simply because they have some problems that, in many of these cases, can be solved by the end of the week. Here’s the explanation: being depressed is almost becoming trendy. And being trendy and having everyone’s attention is often the thing that everyone wants. This is why more and more of depression related content is being uploaded every day online, whether it is based on a real matter or not. The most alarming thing is that certain people, if faced with difficulty in life, make no effort to change it. These people seem to wallow in their sadness by continuing writing and posting, because being consoled is pleasant for them. For some, but not everyone, it is an effort to get attention, which often seems to be quite successful. So stop for a minute and think: are you doing the same?
The Internet is the most concerning manifestation of globalisation: look at all of the social networks. Twitter contains various teenagers’ profiles, filled with 7
European Federation – The Way to Go
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uring the previous elections of the European Parliament, it was frequently stressed that the main challenge of the new composition of the Parliament is to agree on a course for the future of Europe. The fundamental issue is whether to move in the direction of a more united Europe or alternatively to decide to strengthen the authority of Member States. With increasing globalisation, there are many in favour of a united Europe or even a European federation. Moreover, according to the Standard Eurobarometer survey, carried out in 2012, more than 40% of European citizens are in favour of developing the European Union into a federation of nation-states. However, in light of recent economic crises many citizens have lost faith in Europe and are therefore afraid of the European Union becoming more powerful and unified. Still the main question remains: what exactly are the benefits of a united Europe and why is it the ideal towards which we should move?
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What firstly needs to be cleared up is the concept of a federation. According to the dictionary, a federation is “1) The formation of a political unity, with a central government, by a number of separate states, each of which retains control of its own internal affairs. 2) A
federated body formed by a number of nations, states, societies, unions, etc., each retaining control of its own internal affairs.� Looking at these definitions you may ask yourself; is the EU not already a federation? It is true that the EU possesses many of the qualities of a federation and during the past decades it has consistently moved towards becoming more and more united. When the European Coal and Steel Community was first founded, it aimed to unify countries trading with one another to enable them to become more economically independent and therefore recover from the postwar crisis. What began purely as an economic union has now evolved into a mainly political organisation. Nowadays, the European Union consists of various institutions. The European Parliament is elected directly by the citizens and has legislative power together with the Council. The European Commission carries out the executive power in the Union and consists of 28 commissioners, one commissioner per Member State. All the work done by the EU is based on treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed upon by all Member States. The treaties are negotiated and agreed upon by all the EU Member States and then accepted by their parliaments or by a referendum.
by Anette Piirsalu
The idea of a United States of Europe is not just something that has recently been discussed. Already in 1946 Winston Churchill recognised the benefits of a united Europe as it would have helped Europe recover from the World War. In the age of globalization, being united is the only way Europe can make its voice heard. A European federation would give us a better chance to actually compete with other trading partners like the United States and China. Moreover, with current global problems it is almost impossible to challenge leading superpowers on a single Member State’s level. A united Europe has just so much more potential to effectively deal with immigration, climate change and economic crises. In addition, in light of the latest developments in Eastern Europe, the question of European security and the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy has definitely become very significant. One the other hand, every nation is individual and wants to retain its culture and independency concerning local issues. A possible United States of Europe does not mean, however, that the unique cultures of each European state have to disappear. Every citizen should have a national and European identi-
ty, which coexist. Moreover, Member States should still have the right to regulate their own local politics. A united Europe would mean a stronger, more unified Europe where internationally important issues would be challenged on a pan-European level, but the EU’s current local, regional, national and international levels of politics would still remain unchanged. All in all, a European federation is definitely not something to be afraid of. The general consensus is that further integration and more cooperation would strengthen Europe. Even more promising is the fact that European citizens are positive about further European integration. A federal Europe will be much more efficient as policies can be decided upon faster. Working together will benefit each Member State, because of the simple fact that by cooperation we will be able to achieve more. For example, it would help us compete with the current leading trading countries of the world as well as build up a sustainable common energy system. Although I recognize the obstacles we have to overcome in order to build up the European Federation, I still hope that in the future we will see a much more unified Europe in which all European citizens feel united and view themselves as Europeans. 9
#LVRS14
#LVRS14
by Nikolaos Avradimis
AFET IN THE STARS 8
2114. Smiltene. Space Marines Training Center. After a long selection procedure the recruits for the space-marines corps were selected. The ongoing crisis at the boarders of the Human Protectorate (H.P) makes the training of the Agents For Extremely Terrifying Encounters (AFETE) unit recruits vitally important. This year the group comprises six highly promising females, Marta, Elza, Anna, Sandra, Alise and Vineta, and the brave male Antons. For this reason, they were assigned two highly experienced and capable trainers, the Desert Corp veteran Levent, and the North Pole Corp veteran Sigita. Their training started the moment they pushed open the gates of the Training Center. They had to climb a huge hill and cross a wild river while carrying their personal belongings in order to get to the dorms. After two and a half tough hours of climbing and walking, they arrived at the registration area. During the registration, recruits not only had to report everything about their personal lives, from name to relationship status, but they also had a medical examination, as well as a psychological test in order to prove their mental wellbeing. After having proved their overall health, the real work started. Proper introductions had to be made. Firstly, the recruits revealed their names and took a vow to live and die with their companions’ names in their minds. The real training started after that. The recruits went through a psychic test, where they had to fire at their fellow comrades with some special bullets. If the bullets hit a person, in addition to the tremendous amount of pain they cause, they leave a permanent mark. Through this exercise, the recruits were able to send a message to each other, a message of what their first impression on each other was, an impression that might be cruel or even degrading, but an impression, which they should never forget. After the fighting was over, the recruits were released into the wild Latvian forest in couples, with no tools or food for ten days. Hopefully all of them survived and the experience succeeded in changing the recruits forever. What really happened to each of them during these ten days is something that we will never learn. Out of all the experiences they had had, each person revealed only three things: two truths and one lie. Each of the recruits was then interrogated and tortured in unimaginable ways by the rest of the team in order to reveal the lie, with the trainers watching and even getting satisfaction out of this cruel, yet educational task. As a reward for their good performance during the training, the recruits were given a break so that they could rest and continue their impressive, but difficult training. Only by managing to complete these tasks all together will the recruits have a chance to survive and be prepared for their first real mission: landing on a planet claimed by both the H.P and the alien Confederation.
#LIBE Inside Out by Olga Sitinska
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Meet the most attractive and genuine committee
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Gentle Il
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#LIBE_is_the_best
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by Gustaf Westin
ENVI
by Silja Tuovinen
We all have secrets. The committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety was brave enough to give you an insight into what goes around behind their curtains.
I was once advised to try and share one of my darkest, deepest secrets with a random human being. Someone, with whom the odds of meeting up again are tiny. The person advising me had some experience himself with trying this, and while he kept going on and on about the outstanding feeling it had given him, the story sunk deep into my mind. I wanted to create the same feeling of excitement and relief for my delegates in ENVI. Considering the fact that EYP definitely is not a platform where the odds of meeting up again are tiny, the persons behind the secrets will be kept anonymous. However, this article reveals some facts that are too big of a secret to be said out loud. The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety has some truly sensitive and beautiful personalities. It was revealed that sometimes when reading a book, watching a film or listening to music one of the committee members bursts into tears. Even though being of age, one member wishes to be able to dress up like a 4 year-old and is still keen on watching the Full House. One of the darkest secrets of ENVI is that one member of the committee drove into a random car and instead of backing up they just drove forward. Alongside this brave
revelation an embarrassing story has reached my ears. When in kindergarten, a boy sleeping above one of the committee members in a bunk bed peed on them during naptime. I bet quite many people are guilty of giving a teacher a form with a faked parent’s signature and this is also something that has been done in ENVI many times. Not only is faking signatures one of ENVI’s vices, but so is running away from home without their parents noticing. At this point an apology shall be passed to all the parents facing this issue. On the “brighter” side of the issue, some of us can relate to the pleasure of spending all your pocket money on just clothes. Some other truly astonishing secrets were revealed. I must say I am honored and greatly gladdened by the amount of bravery the committee members had when writing us their secrets. As we all know, some people struggle with bigger secrets than others. Some have issues with food, some struggle with coming out of the closet or have had symptoms of a mental disorder, some find it extremely difficult to trust other people. With this, I will come to the conclusion that saying out loud your secrets, your troubles and whatever else is on your mind is very valuable and appreciated. I wish you all bravery in your lives. 7
The Amazing CULT. by Lauma Niedrite For those of you who are first-timers in EYP, when entering the doors of the gymnasium of Smiltene, you had no idea what to expect. You have probably heard some stories, but as you can see, the real deal is even better. We do not expect you to go through this adventure alone and that is why we have our amazing chairs – Olha and Austris. They are the ones that will lead you through the session; they are your second mother and father for the upcoming days. I should mention that they are the perfect combination of tall and not so tall, of lifting heavy things and not lifting at all; they are the perfect blend of kindness, humour and helpfulness. As R. Dentinger once said: “Humour has a way of bringing people together, it unites people.” However, a committee would not be a committee without amazing delegates. CULT is like a picture perfect family. We have the perfect parents Olha and Austris. Then, as you can see, there are two rebellious teenagers – Elizabete and Karlīna. Elizabete tends to behave herself badly, but actually she is a hard worker and really loves children. When her twin sister Karlīna is not watching, she does yoga and speaks Italian. As for Karlīna, she loves to express herself, and her main occupation, besides being a teenager and a rebel, is travelling. The big brother of the family, Ričards, is very active. He is really interested in math and chemistry, but when he has a spare moment, he loves to teach his little sister Amanda how to swim. Amanda is a very talented young lady for her age. She plays the piano, accordion and she sings. The lovely family of CULT also includes the youngest child, Gatis. He is quite lovely, but a bit tall for his age. When Gatis grows up he wants to be successful, he doesn’t mind the competition, he himself sometimes tends to be quite competitive. And last but not least, there are Ilva and Ilze. Ilva is a great dancer and she loves to bake cakes, her specialty is sand cakes with flowers from Olha’s garden. She is also creative and very friendly. Ilze is the out-going child, she has a lot of friends and she loves warm hugs and her family with all of her heart. Ilze tends to be lazy sometimes, but otherwise she is quite funny. Laughter and positive emotions are some of the things that bring people closer together. During this session I hope that the picture perfect CULT family will become closer than ever before. 4
Wishing you the best of luck,
Lauma
AFCO
by Anette Piirsalu
aspars
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Paula
It is a well-known fact that AFCO is definitely one of the most awesome committees in the session. However, let’s take a moment to get to know all the wonderful personalities in this group. As AFCO is formed from so many interesting and colourful people, I asked them to describe themselves as the animal that they have the most in common with. In addition, I added a suitable photo of each of these lovely delegates so you could really see the similarity yourselves.
Matiss
Matīss has the most in common with a platypus as he finds the animal just as weird as himself. If Evita would be an animal, she would probably be a sloth just because they are incredibly lazy and go like: “whoa” all the time. Paula is most similar to a platypus because these animals are a little weird- but weird in a good way.
ns
Konstanti
Raitis Ruta
Rūta would be a kangaroo as they are relatively interesting and strong animals. She also has the ability to carry her baby in a pouch, which is very useful. Kaspars would probably be some kind of a freaky-looking fish because they live underwater and have weird body parts that any other animals do not have. As well as Evita, Mārcis would also identify himself as a sloth as these animals are so unbelievably lazy. In addition, climbing trees and eating leaves is apparently something that Mārcis himself does a lot during his free time as well. Konstantīns has the most in common with a koala as they are quite small and their lifestyle, just like his own, is very difficult to understand.
Marcis
Evita
If Raitis would be an animal, he would be a monkey. He finds them really funny especially because of the video on YouTube where a monkey puts his finger in its ass and afterwards smells it. 5
Supported by
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Editorial. Dear participants, Yet again, you are not looking at the most typical of EYP issues. The production of the Media Team of LVRS’14 that you’ve just picked up started from a whim one spring night that has now become reality. This production is a compound issue consisting of two separate parts. The side you are reading, called “What Does the Box Say” consists of six committee pages, each dedicated to one of the committees at the session and composed by the journalist of the respective committee. Flip the issue around, and you will find a second cover, and the second part of the issue: “Pandora’s Box”. This is the academic side of the issue, made up from articles on current topics written by the journalists on the team who are specializing in writing. We had our doubts about trying something that, at times, seemed to be a completely insane idea. However right now, with you reading these words, the time has finally come when numerous attempts to explain our idea over Skype and countless hours of editing have payed off. We also learned a valuable lesson in the process of completing this part of our project. Creativity takes courage.
Yours,
Tuusa and Rebecca
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ISSUE 1
PAND ORA’S
BO X Latgale Vidzeme