The Angle The Wide Wide Angle
CONTENT
Angles, Angles, Angles..................................1 The Presidential Words of Advice..............2-3 The Phylosophy of Teambuilding...................4 Never Have I Ever..........................................5 obSESSION...................................................6 The Facebook Riot..........................................7 The Foundation...............................................8
The Issue is brought to you by: Alex Guzenko (Editor UA) Peter Vladimirov ( Journalist UA) Alexey Varavin ( Journalist BY) Alex Tychina ( Journalist UA) Yigit Akdemir ( Journalist TR) Okechukwu Egbete ( Journalist UA) Ekaterina Yegorova ( Journalist UA) Lina Tarashevska (Video Editor UA)
Angles, Angles, Angles
Look above, notice the two angles staring at you. Do not ever think of them as just angles, and never say that they look alike. They are divergent, they are individuals with strongly developed personalities. One is acute, he is smart, elegant and cunning; however bias, as the spectrum of his visibility does not allow him to observe the general picture. The other one is abtuse: a bit retarded, inclined to making mistakes and corpulent; however, he is able to observe the general range. People tend to make fun of the obtuse angle, calling him stupid, and never notice that he is able to see the objective global picture of the world: he sees poverty, racism and sexism, while the acute one is biasly focused on his own issues. The angles are just like humans; only a few see and are tolerant towards the piquant global issues, like human rights. Never be afraid to be called abtuse, just because of the pluralism and liberality of your views. In the «Wide Angle» we will expose the most piquant and liberal views, focusing on human rights, which are being so criticised by the «acute» society. Be abtuse, see the broader picture, support human rights! by Alex Guzenko(UA)
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Since her first EYP participation in 2006, Mila Pestun has become a very dedicated EYPer, attending 30 EYP sessions and presiding 2 of them as well as working in the National Committee of EYP Belarus and chairing at the NC afterwards. As a quite inspiring character, we would like to share her words of welcome and some words of wisdom with the public.
Some welcoming words for the delegates… First of all, I am really glad to preside the 6th Regional Session of EYP Ukraine since I have always had a strong feeling of affection to EYP Ukraine and enjoyed working with their activists. Moreover, I am very happy to see you here at the session and thankful for your enthusiasm and dedication. The session’s chairs team consists of very skilled as well as affable people and therefore I hope you will highly benefit from this option while meeting other wonderful peer representatives of the European Youth Parliament. Moreover, I encourage you to read the articles of the newspaper in order to be informed about all aspects of the session and to make use of them during the Committee Work routines.
Europe Fights for Human Rights. Why particularly this theme? Why is it so important? One of the biggest problems of today is that people underestimate human rights and freedoms. Many think that these are already universally granted or people just cannot realize the abrupt change in their life if the basic rights would be absent for them. Besides this fact, the numerous violations of these rights and freedoms in many regions of the world are not showed in news, or people do not take them seriously. In some other regions, human rights are granted but not fully followed for various reasons. We need to understand the grave importance of a man’s basic rights and the consequences of their absence; we need to discuss and tackle the related problems; we need to learn how to take an action.
Feelings at the first EYP session… Actually, I do not remember. But it should be extremely good enough to keep me for almost 7 years in EYP.
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The Presidential Words of Advice
And now some practical advice..
As delegates, you should not only review the research data once more before the CW, but also get acquainted with the topics of other committees, which is very helpful for the General Assembly. You should consider the Teambuilding activities to be crucially important, as they create and shape the foundations of further cooperations and negotiations inside the committees. Also, you should listen to the discussions very carefully to benefit from the session as much as possible. Your experienced chairpersons will contribute all their efforts and aptitudes to make the session unforgettable for every participant. Ask questions, be curious, strive for more! Be sociable, open and friendly to your committee members; remember you have to write a resolution together. Lastly, prioritize; forget about proper sleep and use your secret energy reservoirs to perform your best at the session. You can sleep after the session as long as you wish.
One sentence describing and concluding EYP lifetime journey EYP is a unique opportunity for personal growth in an academic and social way.
Last words of wisdom‌
Stay within the EYP, be active, take as much as you can, and some day you will become a president!
by Yigit Akdemir (TR)
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The Philosophy of Teambuilding
Some delegates arrived alone or with some friends they came along with… waiting in curiosity to know what EYP is all about. Then the very first event you go through is playing some “silly games”. This time a delegate was bold courageous to ask me “why are we playing these childish games? I’m shy”. I wasn’t surprised at this statement because every first timer in EYP definitely has such thoughts but might not be brave enough to ask for an explanation. In EYP it is all about creating bonds in groups, amongst the delegates you have committees, for the chairs there is a chairs’ team and for the Journo there exists a Media team. Now the question is “How can we all form close bonds within these teams of strangers?” In EYP the solution to that is TEAM BUILDING; it is our culture, a
philosophy designed to make the participants of a session to work together as a team rather than as individuals. Some of you might have wondered why we had to play big fat pony, Zulu dance or some random games during the team building, well just know that there’s definitely something behind it. Team building is not just playing random games there’s a structure for it, if presentation/introduction is the initial stage then icebreaking is the second stage usually accomplished through games where you are forced to step out of your comfort zone: physical contact, humiliation, and giving away personal information in a very short period of time. These are routes you drive through to accomplish the aforementioned aim, which is to make a committee to work as a
team. After a relaxed atmosphere has been generated, it is the right time to develop trust within the committee with games like blind folds, at this juncture you let go of your concerns for your safety you realize that you begin to think about the whole team rather than just yourself. The consequences of establishing trust are to facilitate communication. At the end of the teambuilding you realize that trust has been built, cooperation is immense, conflicts arose and were solved immediately, common grounds are found and the bond got stronger among the participants. Then you come to terms to the reason why some “silly games” are played during the team building. Overall, Next time you find yourself playing a weird game, recall that there’s a reason behind it!!
by Okechukwu Egbete (UA) 4
“The Pervert and the Virgin” game, which we were ready to play for hours. Thanks to our skilled Ms. President and Mr. Editor few hours of Chair’ & Media’ trainings went very easily and fruitfully. The organising team exceeded all the expectations with an utmost hospitality. The last unforgettable act of the evening or rather the morning surprise was an interesting Turkish Journalist Yigit teaching Ms. President the salsa dance, which she tried to perform so passionately and desperately and ended up being an act of comedy for other viewers. Waking up in the morning, brushing teeth, hastily picking up all the stuff, trying not to forget things and preparing to leave the apartment, only strengthened our EYP ties. As Beyonce once sang, “I was here”. In the future we’ll look back at the session and say the same thing with a slight smile on our faces. Now we are acquainted, we know the flairs and the flows of one another, we are aware of our goals and dreams, and are completely ready to rock the session!
by Alex Tychina (UA)
“Never have I ever” been a chair. “Never have I ever” been a journalist. “Never have I ever” been an organiser. Well, it is the right time to overcome the fears and face the challenge of novelties, noted the CJO team, nervously fidgeting their hairs and reading over the session’s guidelines. “Never have I ever” is a unique game where you say something (sometimes embarrassing) which you did or not, and this was obviously the game of the night for the session’s officials. The phrase “Never have I” literally became the Slogan of the night. The suspicious phrases and comments packed the CJO’s minds, creating even more stories and houghts. From the very first moment we all met on Khreschatik Street the ocean of special, extraordinary and welcoming 6th Kyiv RS’s fervor permeated and settled in our longing minds. Warm greetings from old friends; pleasures, excitement of meeting new people were magical and definitely made us feel like a big family from onset. Playing some conventional teambuilding activities we experienced Anton’s and Bruno’s magnificent acts in
Never Have I Ever...
“Trying to show all the joy we received from the CJO teambuilding Alex Tychina did her best to describe the fervor, which makes 6th Kyiv Regional Session a very special event”.
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by Peter Vladimirov (UA) Feel uncertainty? Feel nervous? Don’t know how to teambuild? Don’t know what to wait for? First comer, you are welcome! First comers shared their impressions of the first session moments: “I was scared a bit, trembled and even couldn’t find the suitable words to pronounce”; “I was pretty shocked. I didn’t expect that all the day we devoted to playing different silly looking games”; “I was scared playing drunken bottle game, scared of fall, but nevertheless this game I like the most”; “I was worried about how to get along with people from my committee. I always asked myself if we will become friends eventually.” From now you do not have to be nervous. Because EYP is not about fear, it is about fun!
Ob SESSION Answering the question “Have your expectations been met?” A newcomer said: “Even better! The first day of session was better than I expected it to be. Now I cannot find out the reason of such feeling… Chairpersons? Surely, without them I could not feel like at home here. My committee? As for now I think that they are the most outstanding, creative and exceptional group of people I have ever met. And of course this friendly spirit that inspires me for further work”. Not only newcomers take part in the Regional session, there are many people for whom EYP session is not something novel; however exiting and – what is the most important! – expected event. They also shared their opinions about the first accomplishments: “I was impatiently waiting for
this session since the last one I participated in as I really miss the EYP spirit”; “It is always pleasant to make friends with new people, and of course see the familiar countenances”; “I was so longing for teambuilding games. But my passion is committee work: discussing, arguing, agreeing and disagreeing – that is what I love!”; “Here I come again. A little bit more experienced I will help beginners to feel deeply what EYP session is all about”. There is no need to express your anxiety or nervousness, simply because you are a newcomer. It is a verified fact that EYP is full of joy, so do not be afraid and dig deeper into the core of the session!
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The Facebook Riot The U.S. Supreme Court met to begin debating on the future of same-sex marriage in the United States. To accompany this historic event, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) started urging people on March 25 to change their Facebook profile pictures to a pink-on-red equal sign to show support for marriage equality. If you use Facebook, and I’m sure you do, you have probably noticed that red squares. “Red is a symbol for love, and that’s what marriage is all about,” – Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Charlie Joughin told. “We wanted to give people an opportunity to show their support for marriage equality in a public and visible way.” People actively supported the campaign throughout the world. “It’s an equal rights issue, like allowing women to vote, abolishing slavery & allowing different races to marry. States shouldn’t be allowed to deny it.” – one of the users posted on his page. The campaign was extremely popular within the EYP community as well. “Gay people are no different than we are, we are all human beings. We have a right to marry, why can’t they? Everybody should be equal before the law, that is why I strongly support the legalization of same-sex marriage.” – said the session President Mila Pestun. “This is a great to way to raise people awareness of the problem all over the world, to draw their attention to the situation”
Olena Yermakova, the Head Organizer, also supported the campaign: “I changed the profile picture to the red equality sign, at least because equality is exactly what every EYPer should fight for”. But some of you may ask: how can the red equal sign picture change the situation? Will it have real impact on marriage rights? But I may not agree and I have a proof. A lot of people say that they changed their attitude towards homosexuals after communicating with them. Recently many politicians have stated that their views on LGBT rights have come from knowing LGBT people and having conversations with them, which were initiated due to the profile picture shift. Changing your icon brings up conversations that might not have otherwise happened. Just because of this we can’t say that this campaign was useless. Discrimination of any kind is a vestige of the past. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to be stuck in the past or live in the future.
by Aleksey Varavin (BY)
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The Foundation by Yekaterina Yegorova (UA) WHO are they?
Mike Rozhkov, handsome brunette. Attended a few EYP sessions and is experienced in different CJO roles. He likes to wittily harass the members of EYP – UA after the last InterRail tour together with Yermakova. Olena Yermakova, breath-taking gorgeous blonde. An EYP addict, spends all the precious sleeping time doing EYP activities since 2011.
WHAT surprises have you prepared for our participants?
Mike: Astonishing “movie heroes’ party”, fancy Euroconcert, loads of chocolate, unlimited happiness and bright EYP memories. Olena: You’ll never forget the organiser’s performance at the upcoming Euroconcert! So keep calm and wait for just one day!
HOW did you come up with an idea of a “black & white” session?
Mike: During the follow-up meeting with Lena we recalled some memories from the bar. The night was murky and the tender odors and tastes of bar specialties contributed to our colour blindness on the following morning (if you know what I mean). Since that moment, our lives are black and white only. Olena: Rozhkov and I… We are like black hot chocolate and white cold ice-cream. So different and so perfect when combined.
WHY did you decide to become a Head – Organiser of the session?
Mike: Once me and Lena were having a beer at a random bar and suddenly the great idea came up to my mind – the lofty idea of organising a session in Ukraine. Olena: Great organising experience at my first trial inspired me to make another session in Ukraine. I wanted to gather interesting people in Kyiv and bring new emotions to their lives by the means of the session.
Attention! Secrets revealed!
Mike: “Lena is always late. Always! And she speaks her own language – a mixture of Ukrainian, Russian and English. Nevertheless, once I fell in love with her and cannot quit.” Olena: “Hmmm, what can I say about Mike…He has 7 siblings. Oh, and he is LGBT rights activist.”
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