Spectrum 05 Farewell issue by Luca

spectrum

MAGAZINE OF THE 73RD INTERNATIONAL SESSION OF EYP IN ZURICH, switzerland

Farewell issue

Interview Kerstin Mathias

Memories

ped, photos. journalism

Comics

special edition

EDITORIAL W

ith the farewell issue, you hold in your hands the final publication of Spectrum. For quite some years, a controversial debate within the EYP community has contemplated the role and place of Journalism in the EYP. The Spectrum Media Team has contributes to this debate by choosing to take up an approach which enables the Media Team to enrich the 73rd International Session in Zurich through various dimensions. This newspaper lies at the heart of this aim and has served as a source for committee work and General Assembly, something to bring along for cosy reading in coffee breaks, and a memory to take home and cherish. In addition, the Media Team has been working in smaller project groups focused on videos, our social media presence, and additional projects such as the activity night and the Yearbook. This in combination with the journalists’ close involvement in committees, which enabled them to get to know their audience, completed our concept. This left journalists with a great range of possibilities for becoming active, room for creativity and the high expectation of combining academic with social contributions. Aida, Berkok, Conall, Dirk, Hugo, Jonathan, Juan, Kaarle, Karim, Lia, Manfredi, Rebecca, Theodor, Waltter, and Zuzana have taken up this concept and made it their own. In the run of the session, they have come up with creative ideas tailored to the session and delegate’s preferences, filled issues and videos with life, and were never tired to adopt yet another idea they found valuable to the session. Their hard work, dedication to excellence, and the ease they have applied when rising to these challenges have ensured that Spectrum could have a tangible contribution to Zurich 2013. We hope that you, too, have appreciated our work. Continue to submit reader’s letters on those articles you read on your journey back home, and do not stop where Zurich ends. The learning experiences you have gathered here, the contacts you have collected, and the ideas from Zurich will stay with you beyond Closing Ceremony. A Summer International Session gives delegates the chance to participate in a second IS for a reason. We hope you have taken up the chance of reflecting upon your further involvement in EYP and society as a whole. Keep on keeping on!

LUCA OLUMETS FRANZISKA MAIER MARIE DROMEY MAIRI SÕELSEPP

farewell poem how to cure your ped

p. 17

eyp journalism

warning: may involve locked doors and scandalous gossip

p. 6

p. 4

interview eypeer p. 8 - 9

CONTENTS

p. 14 cartoon special p. 11, 20, 21 3

SPECTRUMped

As the end of the session draws near, Aida Grishaj and Dirk Hofland wonder what will happen to all those exciting relationships that you have built up during this session, in light of the well-known phenomenon of Post EYP Depression (PED).

ll participants of this session have attended farewell parties previously. Those parties; where everyone loves everyone, where everyone will miss everyone “so so so so much”, where everyone is amazing and where we are all best friends. And then you go back to the ‘countries where you come from’ and add everyone on Facebook. Even if you did not exchange more than a smile, a look or an attack speech at the session, it is still important to “befriend” EVERYONE on Facebook, and as an accidental side-effect you also manage to increase the internationality of your profile. You write on each-others walls (there is no such thing as private messages nowadays) by using as many exclamation marks and ‘<3’s as you can. The first thing you do once you wake up the following morning is writing a long and touchingly nostalgic status update thanking everyone who made the session as special as it was. A note of advice: if the status update itself does not allow you to tag everyone you want to, the comments also suffice! When asking alumni of EYP about what they like the most about our organisation, the most common answer is ‘making friends from all over Europe’. However, we must question what do we mean by “friends’ here? Allow us to break the news, we are not the best of friends! When coming to an EYP session we generally leave our personal problems at home. We 4

are excited, energetic and in some cases more loaded with make-up than usual. We think of each other and ourselves as smart, handsome and sociable. But the session only lasts ten days. Socializing in an environment that is oriented towards providing favorable social conditions to make befriending new people easier is of course going to produce friendships faster than the “real world”. However, we are skeptical; we don’t believe true friendship can blossom in a mere ten days. We do not claim that friendships originating from EYP will never turn into a solid relationship; you can meet up in another session and maybe meet outside of EYP and some friendships and love stories do evolve into intense long-term relationships. But at best, this is only minority. With this in mind, we look at a phenomenon that has been haunting EYP for years. The term ‘Post EYP Depression (PED)’ will be the Facebook-hype of August. The purpose of this article, however, is to prevent this from happening. Let us first have a look at the definition of the word depression: ‘a mental disorder characterized by episodes of all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities’. Assuming that people particularly enjoy revealing uninteresting facts about their life, mood and breakfast on Facebook, we can’t help but infer that those posting about PED on Facebook are not

in a depression at all, but are rather desperately seeking the attention that was so normal just days before. To us, it seems that those suffering from “PED” are not just missing the best friends they just made, but actually reminiscing on the blur of the session in general. However much it pains us to burst the bubble, we have unfortunately been forced to come to the conclusion that one’s character on Facebook is in no way representative of one’s actual persona. Furthermore, we believe that our argument is perfectly illustrated by the events that occurred at the very beginning of Zurich 2013. Remember when you got a five-minute hug from that annoying delegate from the committee of your previous IS? Remember the fake laughs and shouts of excitement when you saw that guy who stole your defense speech? Remember the feeling you get when you saw your crush that blatantly turned you down mere months ago? Our point exactly. EYP is not a family. It is merely a group of upper class one-percenters with a certain interest (not true for all) for politics. Although it can have a significant influence on your real life, we cannot help but wonder whether this actually is for the better.

Cure how to ped your

SPECTRUMped

SPECTRUMjournalism

Journalism for chairing’s sake

not read the papers make many of these comments. What has proven itself to be quite a challenge is changing the perception. A vast majority of the international alumni have at least one session in the session history as journalists and those aiming high “must” be editors. New visions of EYP Journalism are to be read in many visions presented by editors, but the bitter reality shows that little among the essentials has changed. Luckily though, articles describing amazing committees with exceptional chairs are not to be read anymore.

“

Let’s be journalists with ideas no more original than those read in The Daily Mail. Proud journalists Aida Grishaj and Rebecca Smith discuss notions and misconceptions about EYP journalism.

any of you have already started checking the autumn sessions and maybe even picked a few where you could apply and potentially get selected as journalists. Many might hate writing, thinking critically or being creative. Yet again, the lack of talent aside, is it possible to become a chair in EYP if one has never been a journalist before? This question has been a source of concern for many EYPers, feel very strongly about chairing, but on the other hand lack the experience to have that position. Unfortunately, a tradition has been created in EYP in answering this question: Let’s be journalists. Let’s be journalists without motivation. Let’s be journalists with ideas no more original than those read in The Daily Mail. Let’s pretend we enrich the Session with our energy, because that is all we can offer. It is not difficult to whine about EYP journalism. Many have expressed their own concerns on the matter, past delegates who are now officials and now you, who can be future officials. If a newspaper contains more academic content, it is too serious. If it is merely a summary of session gossip, it can then provoke deep concerns about the lack of academic quality at the session. Interestingly, those who actually do

”

Good EYP journalists are not extinct. But they are not those who see the role of a journalist as a tool to achieving their dream to chair one day. These are two different things. If you would like to practice chairing and gain some experience there are plenty of smaller regional events where you could achieve that. EYP journalism should remain an opportunity to those willing to develop their journalistic skills without previous professional experience. There might be many reasons why one would like to be a journalist. Only because you want to be a chair when you grow up is not one of them.

SPECTRUMinternational sessions

International Sessions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; bringing the best of us together for the best experience By now, all of you can declare yourself official International Session participants. Will it have an effect on your future EYP experience? Zuzana HolakovskĂĄ provides an analysis of the purpose of an IS based on personal experience of IS Zurich 2013 participants.

eet friends from previous sessions. Get the real journalistic experience. Chair an international committee. Those are only few reasons why participants decided to take time off from their holidays to visit Switzerland. But in the end, how much is such experience worth? While Krista (Executive Director of the European Youth Parliament) says that her EYP career was shaped more by her overall EYP experience than any single IS. Anar (Vice-President of the session) claims that there is nothing quite like the IS experience. Saki (Chair of the Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety II) valued her experience as an IS official. She views it as a great opportunity to meet people who are truly passionate about what they are doing and thus can learn from each other. That said, it was her experience

as a journalist at a smaller session that motivated her to apply as a journalist to an IS. Since being part of an IS is based on previous selection, it can be considered a prestigious event. Once a person attends an IS, they typically become active members of their national committees. However this is not always the case. While the Swiss or Dutch experience is one of IS participants having opportunities handed to them, most of the active alumni find their place regardless of the selection outcomes. Krista points out that delegates from summer ISs are more likely to become active alumni as they voluntarily sign up for the session. Nevertheless, there are many members of EYP who are only active on the national level, mainly organising sessions. It is interesting to note that many participants from the officialsÂ´ team received wild cards instead of being selected at their

National Selection Conference. This is mainly due to the selection of school delegations, meaning strong delegates are not offered the opportunity in the first place. So overall, what is the purpose of ISs? They can certainly be considered flagship events for our organisation. Although International fora now closely resemble ISs both in length and the number of participants, it is only an IS that provides a debating platform for youngesters from over 26 countries. The facilitation by the international office in Berlin also ensures a continuous high standard. As Philippe, the Head-Organiser of the session stated, it pushes the EYP experience to a completely new level. To sum it up, an IS is a completely unique experience that complements the mosaic of regional and national sessions, one could not be complete the same without the other.

FareWell Theodor Hall looks back on an inspirational figure in EYP: our President, Kerstin Mathias.

erstin Mathias is an EYP legend. A lady with an incredible reputation, a massive personal following and a notorious power of silencing someone with one single disapproving look. She has been in EYP for a long time and she has contributed in every possible role from presiding her national committee to head organising an international forum, every time with impeccable quality and wonderful manner, never disappointing. She always sets very high standards and leads by example. She has been called “the most intelligent person in EYP” by many, but you‘d never notice it from her utmost modesty. In short, Ker-

stin is an inspiration to us all. Having joined EYP upon the request of her favourite teacher, then already very interested in European politics she quickly proceeded to get involved with organising in EYP Germany. After having organised a forum in her hometown Dachau and finishing school she decided to spend a year abroad and didn‘t plan on returning to EYP. Thankfully for Zurich, she was coerced into returning by some alumni friends of hers at the time after being a journalist in Fribourg. She talks about EYP ‘back in the day’ with fondness but also with a certain look of disapproval as she remembers “There were no overviews or real academic

content, we just got a topic and had to prepare”- quite a difference to a 140 page preparation kit. The core of EYP has not changed she says. When asked about what she felt had developed the most in EYP in her years, she described how the academic standard had hugely improved in every side of EYP. It is legitimate to say that much of this can be attributed to our President‘s efforts to consistently improve the quality and standard of EYP. For example, when she edited in Amsterdam she revolutionised the perception of EYP journalism‘s potential contribution to a session in levels of academia. With a brand new concept of a higher level of qual-

ity real journalism she set a new standard that many have since attempted to reach. Jonathan Piepers, one of her journalists at the time, describes it: ‘She pushed us so hard before the session, but it was completely worth it since we delivered such an improved concept to the old format”. Having helped to improve the standard and reset the priorities of our organisation to its core- political debate and education- is something she is very proud of. Although she loves officiating, she still enjoyed being a delegate more than anything else. In her words, being the “centre of the session’ is the best experience one

can have in EYP. Her EYP career is sadly coming to an end with this session, but she feels she can handle that. Whilst EYP, and especially the people in it, is the part of her life that, besides her close friends and family, is the thing that has most influenced her life she feels the timing is right. Filling the void left in her post-EYP life is a very difficult thing to even think of, especially with her need to find a job to cover the rent, she is sure she will find something- perhaps something completely different. Whatever it is, it‘s safe to say that they will be lucky to have her. When asked whether there

was anyone specific she felt she wanted to thank, she responds in splendid diplomatic fashion that to single out one would be unfair for there have been far too many. EYP has most certainly learned a lot from Kerstin, but what has Kerstin learned from EYP? “I think the most important thing is that I don‘t pretend I have to be someone else”, a beautifully cliché, yet so true statement. On behalf of everyone that has ever worked with Kerstin I can only say - thank you.

SPECTRUM how to

Take at least an hour on deciding what to wear at the farewell party, leaving your room in a total mess (though it was a battlefield already). Enjoy the farewell party to the fullest – don’t say goodbye to all your new best friends as you will have enough time for that in the morning.

How To

Leave session the

Everything that has a beginning has an end. Seeing as you only Zurich once, you will have to leave eventually. As the end of the session can be quite emotional and stressful, Kaarle Olav Varkki goes through a few things that should be kept in mind for departure.

After the transfer back to the hostel, continue partying in room 215. Get acquainted to as many new people as possible, dance all night and do not go to sleep. Fall asleep anyway and wake up an hour and a half after your supposed departure in room 408. Find your way back to your room, only to discover that you have lost your key card – another 10 CHF wasted. There is no time to shower, so accidentally wash your face with toothpaste and brush your teeth with a lollipop. Throw all of your things in the suitcase; even take along some of your roommates’ clothes. Leave some of yours behind for them – preferably dirty underwear or your bathroom kit. Stop downstairs to quickly eat breakfast, realise it is way too late, and just leave your untouched tray on the table; run away. Don’t say goodbye to any of your friends, but hug the receptionist because sleep deprivation makes you think he’s actually one of the Head-Organisers. Realise you don’t have the second and fifth issues of Spectrum so run to the media room and start yelling nervously. Do this for a few seconds until you realise there is no one there because the responsible members of the media team went to sleep due time and easily made it to their transfers early in the morning. After having run back to the lobby, forget where you put your luggage. Go to the toilet to cry and discover your things from the second stall. Never take your bags to the toilet – it’s not a taxi. Get a cab and pay the driver 250 CHF to get to the airport. At the airport, wonder why the boarding is late. Find out that your clock has gone crazy from all the sun, and you’re actually two hours early. Fall asleep waiting for your departure.

SPECTRUMcartoon

SPECTRUMnumbers

Session 214 Delegates

300 SIGG Bottles 73 Officials

750 Buckets of Popcorn

51.398

amount of words in session newspapers

Amount of shirts too sweaty to wear ever again

2500

â&#x201A;Ź223,50

Amount of money saved because of lower beer prices at hostel

hours of sleep of Session leadership Official duration of the session

860400s Man-hours put into the session by the organisation

innumerable

SPECTRUMnumbers

numbers compiled by Dirk Hofland, Aida Grishaj, Manfredi Danielis and Lia Pachler

4h15min

longest meeting of the orga-team

Amount of a time an organiser was asked where the bathroom was while it was right around the corner

amount of spanish journalists at the session

JUAN Amount of daily room parties

Number of Chairs who went to the lake after resolution typing

what lake?

Number of people sent to the emergency room of the hospital for swollen feet 13

SPECTRUMeyp

EYPeers Having spent several years as alumni of the EYP, Dirk Hofland and Jonathan Piepers look into the impact that the competitive aspect of our organisation has on one’s EYP career.

The EYP is definitely a competitive environment, especially as a delegate. The fact that participation in our organisation very much depends on being selected for future sessions implies that one’s peers can be considered competitors. Although the inclination to further this aspect when progressing in the organisation is very understandable, it is not always as desirable and can even have a negative impact on the way one enjoys a session. The first EYP session one encounters is usually a competitive experience. Whether it was at a regional or national session, almost every single one of you was evaluated and compared to his or her peers. Regardless of the format of selection, as a school or individually, almost every participant of this session has had to prove his worth in order to attend. It is definitely possible that a substantial part of you even submerged himself in this competitive aspect of the EYP, thus prohibiting himself from grasping the full extent of an EYP experience. Even for officials, the selection process is a major part of any session. Given that the EYP is a rather hierarchical organisation, the competition for almost every session is incredibly strong. As many of you have most likely experienced, the wait for a response

from an EYP selection panel can be both exhilarating and frightening. This only serves to illustrate how for all of us, the selection process will not stop, but merely continue in a different form. As many of us have often experienced, the subconscious competition amongst peers in the EYP is often fierce. Constantly comparing one’s progress in our organisation with those who can be counted to your own generation can be both beneficial as well as incredibly frustrating. The natural tendency to continue comparing one’s own achievement with those of your peers can even devolve into an unhealthy tendency to attend more and better-respected sessions than one should. Ultimately, it should be noted that although a competitive element amongst peers can be stimulating, the risk of reverting into a singleminded focus on increasing one’s reputability must by all means be mitigated. In the end, it all boils down to common sense. We must acknowledge that competition is an inherent aspect of the EYP. At the same time, one must not let themselves be solely steered by this, but rather try and make the best out of the EYP instead of searching for gratification by surpassing one’s peers.

SPECTRUMwildlife

Are we humans or are we animals? Manfredi Danielis and Juan Amaya analyse the Eyperus Europeus from a zoological perspective.

volution has tricked us into believing that there is no trace left in us of the animals that we once were. The committee room could be a clear example that we can still be great material for psychological and physical analysis in the field of zoological nature. The expensive suits that skin us and our multiple languages only partially mask our jungle-like habitat. The Eyperus Europeus is a unique animal in nature. Quick and cunning, it can travel over great distances just to encounter other members of the same species. Once it has found a potential mating group, it engages in a process of social initiation to better familiarise with its surroundings. Taking into account the extensive

An insight into

Eyperus Europeus

the

geographical and social origins of the Eyperus, we find varied behaviours in its individuals, therefore leading to the identification of different subspecies. Highly competitive and controlling, the Eyperus-Dominantis is one of the most challenging personalities of the species. It characterises itself with an intense loud roars aimed at attracting the attention of the pack. Sometimes contributing to the herdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main intentions on a normal basis, studies reveal a lower development of their rationality levels compared to those of other sub-species. Even though it may adopt the self-conferred role of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Alphaâ&#x20AC;?, it eventually sees itself overthrown by the Eyperus-Intelligentus or the Eyperus-Charismatis. The Eyperus-Shyus needs

more time to get out of its shell and develop a connection to the herd. This involves a complex phase of physical and mental interaction whereby the Shyus is pushed out of its nest and slowly learns to survive in the wilderness. The scientific community has yet to reach a conclusion regarding when this phase actually starts and ends, as it very often overlaps with the summer mating season. Anyway, may it be Dominantus or Shyius, the Eyperus Europeus leads a pleasant existence. Together with his companions he always manages to survive the unforgiving jungle and find his role in the herd. We may live in a Savanna of unspoken emotion but the Eyperus Europeus always manages to get the sufficient skills to face the world.

SPECTRUMkiki

Warning: May involve locked doors and scandalous gossip Karim Ben Hamda and Waltter Suominen dive into the twist, turns and work of what a Kiki is.

Kiki is a party, for calming all your nerves” (1) such definition of Kiki was brought forward by an American pop-rock group called the Scissor Sisters. The word originates from the poor minority gay subculture of New York City, which meant a loosely defined gathering of friends to chitchat and gossip. Often described with terms such as marvellous and relaxing, it is seen as the perfect way to escape from every day life through hanging out with ones’ closest friends. As Kiki is undefined to some extent as there are not that many requirements that need to be fulfilled. However, the most crucial requirement is a closed surrounding in which gossip can circulate. Also dancing, fabulous music and looking your very best are fundamental prerequisites to having a

successful Kiki. The reasoning behind this is that Kiki’s strive to provide an environment where one feels at his very best and the former stated criteria try to ensure this goal. One might never have heard of a Kiki and the whole mythology behind this phenomenon, but almost everyone will be able to identify with the formerly stated. This may definitely be the case with the participants of EYP as after a heavily packed and intense program nothing soothes the mind more than an extensive evaluation of the days work in which both hopes, joys and also the woes and worries can be freely expressed and shared. It does not matter whether it is in a club, the hostel or a tram, one can have a Kiki anywhere. The fact that makes Kiki’s vital for EYP is its miraculous re-

vitalising effect. No matter how long the day has been a Kiki can be whatever you make of it. Be it either a confession or an amazing dance off or conversing over tasty colourful cocktails. Kiki’s are therefore very essential in having a successful EYP event. They function as a social exhaust pipe to participants so that they can revitalise, evaluate and set targets for the rest of the event. In conclusion a Kiki is truly a party to calm all of your nerves. It helps one to deal with the challenges of everyday life and is more than relevant during EYP sessions. A Kiki will make help you deal with the trials and tribulations to ensure that everyone will bid adieu to ones ennui. (1) http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=eGCD4xb-Tr8

SPECTRUMgoverning body

THE

GOVERNING BODY

With six elected members, a representative of the Schwarzkopf Stiftung and the Executive Director of EYP, the Governing Body works to develop EYP further. Retiring GB Member Robert Torvelainen explains the basics of our international board.

YP resembles the European Union in many ways. This is especially true when one looks at the organisational aspect of EYP. One could draw comparisons between the Board of National Committees (with representatives from each NC) and the European Council (representing national interests); similarly the Governing Body is parallel to the Commission. Different National Committees have different challenges and views, whereas the GB looks at EYP as a whole. Its main tasks include overall strategic steering and coordination of what we do and how we do it. The GB has been the one to propose, put to discussion and then decide on policies like how to behave at a session, the role and responsibilities of the chairs

and journos, and how many hours of committee work you have at international sessions. This is now changing, as the BNC will have co-decision rights as one result of the recent Governance Reform. The second task is naturally to make sure our policies are respected so we can guarantee a certain standard of quality of our sessions. One way how we can influence this in the GB is by deciding where the next international sessions will take place and by participating in the selection of Chairs, Journalists, Editors and the President of the three international sessions we have each year. Much of the work we do is naturally done together with the national committees or the alumni of the EYP. A concrete example of this cooperation is how Zurich has evidenced a number

of new innovations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; proposed by the session leadership and approved by the GB. Apart from policies related to the International Sessions, the GB works closely together with new countries aspiring to join the EYP family. The GB has set up EYP Academy, our working group fostering a culture of trainings. Recently, again as consequence of the Governance Reform, the alumni have had the possibility to join the work through Councils working on Academic Affairs and also on Human Resources and Social Inclusion. Considering the importance of the international governance of our organisation, one should not be so quick to dismiss it. After all, it is a question no smaller than what EYP is and how we do it.

SPECTRUMentertainment

Which delegate are you? George Orwellegate: A delegate that is camera-shy Alexander Graham Bellegate: A delegate that‘s constantly on his phone Forellegate: A delegate that enjoys Schubert Cromwellegate: A delegate hated by the Irish Melegate Gibson: An anti-semite delegate Elvis Preslegate: A delegate with wonderful shoes Adelegate: A delegate that could‘ve had it all Smellegate: A stinky delegate Cries at farewellegate: A bit of a wimpy delegate Monty Python and the Holy Grailegate: A delegate with an irrational fear of bunnies Cowbellegate: A Swiss delegate Nobelegate: A delegate that instantly gets a Vice-Presidential recommendation Madamoisellegate: A delegate that appreciates good cheeses and wines What-will-it-entailegate: A delegate that‘s skeptical when asked to do a favour Tortillegate: A round delegate with a flat personality Well well wellegate: A delegate that‘s been expecting you Cinderellegate: A delegate that leaves the farewell at midnight Egg shellegate: A cracking delegate Chanelegate: A very fashionable delegate

SESSION’S WORD CLOUD

SPECTRUMpoem

Farewell Zurich Lia Pachler & Hugo Dürr

Ten days in Zurich Better than Amsterdam and Munich After Eurovillage with cheese fondue This is our farewell to you. Committee work and teambuilding is done Spent under the blistering sun Cooled down by the bucket race Committees accepting the challenge with good grace. Some things are always a success with a chocolate fountain And so was the Swiss night with yodellers from the mountain A package of Swiss delights, Ricola and hats Everything we need to become informed diplomats. Endless supply of popcorn in buckets Felt like going to fat camp with one-way tickets Chocolate, white almond, caramel and Indian spice Enough popcorn for having lived twice. And we as the Spectrum Media Team have been up all night Getting lucky and chanting “write, write, write” Inherent competition with the battle of honour and wheelbarrow race Bringing great anticipation and joy to your face. We must pay tribute to our host city Zürich will be remembered by every committee For its culture, blistering sun and expensive beer Still, it was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of the year. And now you sit here with your last issue Crying into your tear-drenched tissue Cherishing your SIGG bottle full of memories That will last for the next few centuries.

SPECTRUMentertainment

Cartoon Special Berkok Y端ksel Embarks on a final visual journey through EYP

SPECTRUMentertainment