LINK
N°94
m aY 1 ST 2017
Editor : Laura Gimenez
Designer : Mariam Sassi
link
#LINKEXPLORE
Content Contact
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About us
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EVS, K.A.NE.
Youth Center - program 14 Yana Volkova 16
NGO Stella
Tea Križanec 18
Croatia. Hrvatska.
Joana Ganilho Marques 22 Rosa Vernooij 25
Monuments and Sites Orange Craze
Molly O’Doherty 27
UK News
Sofiene Lahdheri 30
Photo Report
Joana Ganilho Marques 32
We need poetry is in the streets
K.A.NE. Staff members of KANE: Filaretos Vourkos Fotini Arapi Jelena Scepanovic Nantiana Koutiva Vyron Giannakopoulos EVS: Anna Szlendak Aroa Liébana Rellán Arthur Gallagher Joana Ganilho Marques Laura Gimenez Mariam Sassi Martyna Czypicka Mehdi Jaffar Molly O’Doherty Óscar Villarraso López Renée Hoogenboom Rosa Vernooij Rüya Hazar Sara Amghar Sofiene Lahdheri Tea Križanec Yana Volkova
K.A.N.E Social Youth Development Youth Center of Kalamata Plateia Othonos 10 Kalamata, 24100, Greece info@ngokane.org +30 272 111 0740 kentroneon.wordpress.com ngokane.org/index.php
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@kentroneon
WHO ARE WE ?
ANNA
Kalimera! I am Ania and I come from Poland. I will be working for KANE and running Photography and Ukulele workshops. I studied photography in the Institute of Journalism of the University of Warsaw and worked for press photo agencies when I lived in my country. I enjoy every form of photography, I use both digital and
film camera, I also create my own pinhole cameras. Besides, I am totally addicted to travel.
AROA
ARTHUR
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Hi ! My name is Aroa, I’m from Madrid in Spain but I live in Màlaga, the south of Spain. In Spain I’m working in a secondary school for dance, I’m the teacher for hip-hop, funks, break dance and classic for teens. I have 18 years and I love dance, photography and watch movies with my friends.
Hello, my name is Arthur, I’m coming from France. I will stay in Kalamata for a 12 months EVS, working at K.A.N.E office. I will animate some workshops here and participate in media communication. I’m glad to be here and experiment the greek way of life.
MOLLY
Hello everyone! My name is Molly and I come from the UK. I’ve moved here from a city called Bristol in England. I am going to be working in K.A.N.E.’s office. I’ll be helping with the programming, development and evaluation of activities. I’ll also be helping out in the Youth Centre and running an English Conversation workshop. I love cooking, watching films and doing yoga. I also really enjoy helping people to connect with their local history. Before I came here I was working in
museums and archives for many years. I am really excited to be in Kalamata and I feel very lucky to be here working as an EVS volunteer.
LAURA
MARTYNA
Hi! My name is Laura and I’m 24 years old. I come from a small town in France called Le Thor (yeah like the north god), it’s around Marseille. I have a bachelor degree but I wanted to do something else this year, something that will give me life and work experiences: I wanted to be useful. I’ll work in KANE’s office as the webdesigner of the team and I’ll stay in Kalamata for 1 year; I’m really looking forward to it! I have quite a lot of hobbies; I love to draw, write, read, play videogames, watching movies and tv show and so on.
Hey guys! My name in Martyna and I’m new volunteer from Poland! I’ve grown up in Poznan (west side of the country). I’m 26 this year and I try to enjoy every minute of my life! I’m crazy about Greece, this is my favourite place in Europe – however I love to travel and I take every opportunity to see the world. In my free time I like to read and spend time outside of the house. I love to eat, this is my biggest passion! I’m totally a beauty freak.
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MARIAM
Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things is the best way to grow, and this is what EVS is all about. My name is Mariam, I am 24 and I come from Tunisia. Passionate by traveling, arts, adventures as well as meeting new people and discovering new traditions, places and cultures. I decided to leave all of my normal steady life in Tunisia to come seek inspiration and and explore a new way of living in Greece, in the beautiful city of Kalamàta. I would use all of my
knowledge and dig even deeper to give the best of me, but also try to learn everything I can from other volunteers, from locals and daily life experience, either languages, dancing, music instrument, sports etc.
JOANNA
OSCAR
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Hello ! My name is Joana, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Lisbon, Portugal. I studied fine arts, art education and museology and I just arrived Kalamata for a 12 months EVS project. I’ve worked for a lot of time in bookshops and I love to read. I like quiet places where I can be in touch with nature. I’m a curious person and I’m always
Hi ! I’m Oscar, I’m from Spain, I live in Màlaga, so close to Africa. I love the fashion world and I worked as organiser and teacher of modeling in lot of fashion shows. I’m an animal lover, I have a tiny dog called Fredy. Music is very important in my life, I’m listening music every time. I like traveling every time I can, I think exploring the world is the most interestng in your life.
ROSA
Hi everyone! My name is Rosa and I am 17 years old. I come from a small town called Woerden in the Netherlands. I just graduated from high school, so now I am taking a gap year before I will go to university. I like hanging out with friends, watching a movie, going for a hike and cooking. I will stay in Kalamata for 9 months to work in the Day care centre for autistic children. We visited Kalamata in the beginning of August for one weekend, so we got to see a little bit of Kalamata
already. The people here have been really nice, but it is so different from the Netherlands. I hope to become more independent here and meet new friends. I am also looking forward very much to learning about autistic children and how to approach them.
RUYA
RENEE
Hi, This is RĂźya from Istanbul,Turkey. I am 28 years old. I have studied Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering in Istanbul Technical University. Then, i started working on tanker ships as an officer. So, i was once an old mariner, than after leaving ships become a full time traveller and now i am a volunteer in Kalamata until next middle of May:). I am into sports, cultural activities and travel.
Hi there, my name is Renee, I am seventeen years old and I am from the Netherlands. I arrived last monday and I will stay here for ten months. My work will be therapeutic horseriding and in the keviab. I just finished highschool and I didn’t wanted to study immediately, then I came across EVS and it turned out to be the perfect thing to do this year. Because I am doing something good and I will learn a lot from it. I hope that when I come back I will have new friends and have a lot more life experience.
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SOFIENE
Taking a decision to leave everything what you have and take a deep plunge into something unknown is never an easy one. I took such a decision, left my job and decided to take one-in-a- lifetime opportunity to do my EVS in Greece. My name is Sofiene, I’ am 26 and I am from a tiny country in North Africa called Tunisia. I am a photographer, videographer, graphic designer and I am here to share my experience and knowledge as well as expand it and acquire new skills. I’m social, open minded and always curious about different cultures and meeting beautiful people.
TEA
Greece, the final frontier. This will be the voyage of a young volunteer. Her continuing mission - to explore strange new places, to seek out new skills and new forms of art, to boldly go where no volunteer has gone before... Greetings dear readers! Tea in my name and art is my game. I will be working for KANE and leading the Creative Arts workshop in the youth center as well as teaching croatian. Please don’t let my fragile looks trick you, as I am a level 6 elven ranger of the Vanyar
clan, my patronumes.s is an Eevee and I am aivailable for tea parties and board game.
MEHDI
There are at least as many things to know as there are humans and countries. EVS enables the possibility to know much more about our World. Καλημερα, Hello, my name is Mehdi, I am 24 and I come from France. Passionate about Life and Nature, my biggest motivation is to learn from other cultures, from people, from life. I decided to quit my job there too, so I could catch the opportunity to experience something unique in Greece, in Kalamata, and all the
Greek cities I will have the chance to see. I will bring you all I have, and I will learn from everyone all I can. 10
SARA
Kalimera to all of you, I am Sara, I am french and I am 21 years old. Since yesterday, I am a new volunteer in Kalamata and will stay here for a year (maybe more ...?) in order to give some help to the horse riding center of kalamata and the Kefiap as well. More over, I will give french lessons at the Youth Center of the city. I met people I will work with and I am really excited to start being part of the project. Horse riding center is a real peacefull place for anybody who needs to connect his
mind with his body. The couple of therapist working there are sensitive and receptive people, so if you have any physycal pain, just go to the horse riding center :)
YANA
I am Yana from Ukraine. For 5 years I was studying architecture in university and I fond of everything about it as well as about natural building. Before coming here I was working as a project coordinator of the workcamps and as freelance graphic designer for different social festivals and non-governmental organizations. The last 4 years I’ve been travelling to different places in Europe such as eco-villages and rural areas helping people and promoting volunteering for
peace. All kind of arts, nature, voluntarism, and travel -- my biggest passions in life.
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K.A.NE.
FILARETOS
jelena
NANTIANA
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Hello, I am Filaretos Vourkos. For the last 10 years I am working in the field of Non-formal education as avolunteer, youth worker and youth trainer. 6 years ago,I decided to create the Youth Centre of Kalamata, in orderto initiate youth work in Kalamata and promote active citizenship as factor for change.
Hi, I’m Jelena Scepanovic, an EVS coordinator in KANE and the volunteer of the Youth center. I came from Montenegro 2012 as an EVS volunteer. I really liked the idea of the Youth center and the work that KANE does, so I decided to stay and be part of it.
My name is Nantiana! I’m 23 years old. I live in Kalamata! I was living for 5 years in Patras! I was studying there greek philology and now I’m teaching greek to the youth center in Kalamata.
fotini
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Hi my name is Fotini Arapi and I am project manager in K.A.NE. organization and responsible, among other things, for all sending motilities (sending EVS volunteers, participants in training courses, interns, etc). Apart from my work in K.A.NE., I also volunteer in the Youth Centre of Kalamata, a volunteer initiative managed by a team of local volunteers. I am very proud of and I love the Youth Centre, its dynamic atmosphere, and most of all, its natural inclusiveness that allows everybody to feel
“at home” there. See you around :-D
VYRON
would describe Vyron as an imaginative fast learning and inventive generalist with a passion for remarkable food and the great outdoors. That’s enough talking about myself in third person. Hello, I am Vyron Giannakopoulos, I consider myself a curious and open-minded person. I have studied the science of Geography and as the newest member of KANE I am here to help by managing the creative projects of EVS volunteers, planning events, creating new projects and
doing anything that will add value to our organisation. In my free time I like exploring new places and learning new things. But feel free to contact me on any issue if you need help. Namaste
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My sending organisation my friends from Ukraine - NGO Stella
The association was born in December 2013 with the main objectives of promoting youth development, the mobility of young people and fostering active participation of Ukrainian citizens in civil society. The founders of the organization are former EVS volunteers, who have been involved in international volunteering activities since 2008. As an organization, they create different opportunities for young people who would like to take active part in civil society, and through our cross-cultural activities aim is to increase and enrich the social and cultural lives of youth. Through various activities, young people gain new knowledge and international experience, they enrich their personal lives, and they develop their key competencies such as communication in foreign languages, teamwork, cultural awareness. “Stella� believes that today’s youth is the future of the country, and therefore, they invest a lot of efforts in giving them tools for education, in raising their awareness of the dangers of xenophobia and discrimination, and in showing the diversity of the world and the positive effects of intercultural interactions.
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The main objectives of organization are: - To support development of international exchange programmes aimed at international understanding - To promote active participation and youth action in Ukraine - To spread the ideas of tolerance, cultural diversity, gender equality and sustainable development - To promote non-formal education as a tool for intercultural learning and self-development - To inform Ukrainian youth about different volunteering and exchange programmes abroad European awareness and intercultural dialogue are of great importance for Ukrainian youth. Consequently, it is an important task to promote life-long learning, human rights, a sense of justice and dignity for other people, multiculturalism in society, and tolerance and understanding of those who are different. Stella believes that differences should be seen as enrichment and not a barrier between people coming from different backgrounds. I am very grateful to all members of Stella who helped me in this long way to get here as EVS volunteer. Thank you Ira and Katya for your great support! For more information about activities and opportunities visit their web page http://ngo-stella.org and follow on Facebook www.facebook.com/stella.youth/
YANA VOLKOVA
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My Hometown Croatia. Hrvatska.
Croatia. Hrvatska. No matter how they call it, most people will picture a touristy city on the coast and think of Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Pula.... only later they usually remember the capital – Zagreb. Located in the north-west part of the country, it's the biggest metropolitan area with the population reaching one million.It does get quite a bit of traffic because of its location – directly on the routes connecting central Europe to the Adriatic sea andrecently it's becoming a popular tourist destination on its own. What's te story behind the place? From the 1st to the 5th century - roman settlement... but let's not go from that far. How did the story of Zagreb begin? Actually, „Zagreb“ was the name of the area of thebishop's jurisdiction but it looked like two towns in the 11th century. Two fortresses on the top on hills overlooking the river Sava. One was called „Kaptol“ with the cathedral and inhabited by monks, the other „Gradec“ for merchants and craftsmen. Long early middle-ages story short – they merged! 17th and 18th century – nasty times: fire, the plague 19th centory – major construction work: railroads, power plants, residential buildings, theaters, museums.... 18
20st – huge expansion! In the 1920s, the population of Zagreb increased by 70 percent. Then came World War II and Zagreb was the capital of the Independent State of Croatia, backed by the Nazi Germany and Italians. Thousands of people were executed during the war and in the end the city was liberated by Partisans (a super-effective anti-Axis liberation army). Today - even though it has a lot of historical reminiscences,it is still the heart of contemporary culture in the country.So how does it actually look after all of those historical disputes? Picture Vienna. Now picture a mini-Vienna, 19th century palaces and a river included, add a couple of medieval towers and churches,mix in a couple of parks, throw in some socialist structures on the edges and sprinkle it with some laid-back mediteranean drinking-one-coffee-for-two-hours culture. Let it cook. Forget about it. Return after it's well-done, the flavours are divine but it's already a bit thicker than it should be so you're fine with serving it to your family and posting in on instagram but you wouldn't put it on a wedding buffet.
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I got hungry all of a sudden. Ah yes, I should suggest some food as well. Sitting down for coffee in the city center on a nice terase is a must and you can find some affordable places to eat in the center as well. Don't be afraid to ask the locals for suggestions! You can find a nice list of some of the traditional croatian dishes here http://www.frankaboutcroatia.com/croatian-food/ but a lot of those are more popular on the coast as they contain seafood. If I had to pick one that presents Zagreb best, it would be „štrukli“ (I reccomend trying different versions in a little restaurant called La Štruk http://www.croatiaweek.com/la-struk-a-homely-place-serving-traditional-croatian-struk li-almost-as-good-as-our-grannys/) and if you get thirsty, try a locally brewed beer in Pivnica Medvedgrad (http://www.pivovara-medvedgrad.hr/). Sightseeing suggestions Walking tours – there are free walking tours of the city center. A good way to make sure that you didn't miss the major stuff and a nice way to hear some folk stories. Upper town – you should definitely go around the winding streets of the old historic center. You can always take the world's shortest funicular back if you get tired. A more out-of-the-box suggestion: Find some planets! – there's an art instalation around the city that is basically a model of the Solar system at scale 1:680 000 000. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Views). You will easily find the Sun in the center of the city.
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Walk under the city – Grič tunnel is now a pedestrian tunnel that opened last year to the public. It was built during WWII and served as a bomb shelter. It had many functions before returning to the original one durig the Croatian war of independance (fun fact- in 1993., during the war, it hosted one of the first rave parties in Croatia). Now they're planning to construct a Museum of Senses inside. Indoor activities Museums. From the bigger more prominent ones like Mimara, the Technical museum, Archeological museum, Contemporary art museum to the more quirky ones that attract a lot of visitors like the Museum of broken relationships and Museum of illusions. If you're more theater oriented, check out an opera, drama or ballet at the National theater. If your wallet isn't think enough, have a laugh or a cry in a smaller-in-scale-but-still-prominent theater houses such as Komedija, Kerempuh and Gavella. Outdoor activities Lenuci Horseshoe – also known as the „Green horseshoe“ is a U-shaped series of parks in the center of the city.The most well-known part of it (and right by the main square) is Zrinjevac, interesting in every season, it's always busy but retain its charm despite the crowd. Bundek – a big park for picnics, very family-friendly, but also a popular event venue Jarun lake - a popular destination for swimming and sailing Sava river – you can often see joggers on the banks of the river and sometimes stages for outdoor concerts Medvednica – the mountain just above the city (reachable by tram or bus), popular for hiking all year round and skiing in winter Vidimo se u Zagrebu!
TEA KRIŽANEC
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Monuments and Sites Ancient Messene and International Day For Monuments and Sites April 18th marks the International Day for Monuments and Sites. The date was approved by International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 1983 to celebrate world cultural heritage sites and raise awareness about their diversity and vulnerability, as well as to draw attention to the necessary efforts to protect and conserve them. Every year ICOMOS select a new theme to mark this day. In order to align it with the UN’s International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, and in the context of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Goals, in 2017 the theme is Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Development. The World Tourism Organization defines Sustainable Tourism as the one that “takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”. ICOMOS challenged a panel of specialists to address the outcomes of a deepening partnership between sustainable tourism development and cultural heritage conservation. This it’s not a task for a few: it should be a common goal; it should involve common policies and common effort. World Cultural Sites are invaluable assets for humankind; but each country, each city, each community has their own cultural heritage that testifies their history and shapes their identities. We need to come together in order to keep it, protect it and preserve it for future generations. 22
On April 17th I had the opportunity to visit Ancient Messene. Most of the area contains the ruins of the classical city-state of Messene. The city was founded by the Theban general Epaminondas in 369 B.C. as the capital of liberated Messenia, after the battle of Leuctra; it was constructed over the ruins of Ithome, an ancient city destroyed by the Spartans. The first exploratory excavation was performed by the French Morea Expedition during the Geek War of Independence, from 1828-1833. The first systematic excavation of the site seems to be undertaken by George Oikoumenos, from the Athens Archaeological Society, in 1895.
Pausanias (115-180 AD), a Greek geographer who traveled in the area of central Greece and Peloponnese, left us the first description of the city: “Round Messene is a wall, the whole circuit of which is built of stone, with towers and battlements upon it. I have not seen the walls at Babylon or the walls of Memnon at Susa in Persia, nor have I heard the account of any eye-witness; but the walls at Ambrossos in Phocis, at Byzantium and at Rhodes, all of them the most strongly fortified places, are not so strong as the Messenian wall. The Messenians possess a statue of Zeus the Saviour in the market-place and a fountain Arsinoe. (…). There are sanctuaries of the gods Poseidon and Aphrodite, and, what is most deserving of mention, a statue of the Mother of the Gods, of Parian marble, the work of Damophon (…). The most numerous statues and the most worth seeing are to be found in the sanctuary of Asclepius. (…) 23
There is also a temple of Messene the daughter of Triopas with a statue of gold and Parian marble. At the back of the temple are paintings of the kings of Messene (…). The place called Hierothesion by the Messenians contains statues of all the gods whom the Greeks worship, and also a bronze image of Epaminondas. (…) The statues in the gymnasium are the work of Egyptian artists. (…) There is also the tomb of Aristomenes here.” (Pausanias, in Descripton of Greece).» The archeological works brought to light the city center: it has transformed fragmented buildings and incomprehensible ruins into a structured site that blends with the natural landscape. The most important constructions are: the Theater, one of the largest in antiquity; the Fountain House of Arsinoe; the Agora, with the North Stoa and the Temple of Messana; the Sanctuary of Asclepious; the Gymnasium and the Stadium, which formed one architectural unit, one of the most imposing and complex buildings of Messene; and the Saithidae Family Funerary Monument. The ruins uncovered also numerous artifacts, statues, inscriptions and coins that are on display at the Museum of Ancient Messene, near the archeological site.
The restoration and preservation work made possible to use again some of those spaces, such as the Stadium or the Ekklesiasterion, for contemporary artistic events and other cultural activities, allowing their social recapture. Due to the quality of those interventions, the Archeological Site of Ancient Messene was distinguished with the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, in the category of conservation. Sharing good practices for the protection and conservation of local cultural heritage is also a way of promote local communities, supporting their institutions and their economy, empower their identities and celebrate cultural diversity. 24
JOANA GANILHO MARQUES
ORANGE CRAZE
Orange, orange and…. A little bit more orange. This awfully happy colour cannot be missed while being in the Netherlands on 27April. For the Dutchies this is an official day-off, because we are celebrating Koningsdag (kingsday) with a lot parties and happiness. Normally Dutch people are fan of the saying ‘Doe normaal’, translated as ‘Act normal!’, but on this day everyone has a good reason to go crazy. If you are in the Netherlands on Koningsdag, you will find a lot of half-drunk Dutchies partying on boats or selling their old stuff on the streets. This flea market is very popular since Koningsdag is the only time of the year that people don’t have to pay taxes when selling things on the streets. For many years koningsdag (kingsday) or before koninginnedag (queensday) has been the biggest Dutch holiday of the year. On this day people celebrate the birthday of the king/queen. At the moment we celebrate the birthday of our current king, Willem-Alexander, but until 2013 we celebrated the birthday of his grandmother Juliana. Since Willem-Alexander became our king, the celebration has changed a little bit. Beatrix (his mother) used to visit two municipalities somewhere in the Netherlands. Local customs were shown and games were played with the Royal family.Willem-Alexander decided to only visit one city and to take his whole family with him on Koningsdag. Furthermore, he came up with the idea of the Koningsspelen (king’s games). These games happen on every school on the day before Koningsdag. In the morning the Koningsontbijt (king’s breakfast) is served. The idea behind all of this is that children should practice more sports and start the day of with a healthy breakfast. 25
The royal family visiting Zwolle in 2016
King Willem-Alexander and queen Maxima joining a group of children during the Koningsontbijt
During Koningsdag we go crazy with our orange outfits. Dutch people love to wear orange during Koningsdag and major sport and they love it so much, there is even words for it: Oranjekoorts (orange fever) and Oranjegekte (orange craze). As you might have noticed, the colour orange is not in our country’s flag. We use it, because it is the traditional colour of our royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau. I think that Koningsdag really unites people. Everyone is happy and dressing in orange makes everyone equal. The holiday is not about religion and not even so much about the popularity of the Royal family, but it’s just about community and all being the same for one day.
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ROSA VERNOOIJ
NEWS FROM MY COUNTRY United Kingdom Snap election The biggest news in the UK at the moment is definitely that of the general election. It was announced last week by the prime minister Theresa May that there will be an election to decide a new government in June. This has come as a huge surprise because we were not due to have an election this year. Usually an election takes place every four-five years. Our last election was in 2015, so normally the next one should happen in 2020. As this has been called three years earlier than usual the media is referring to it as a “snap election”. The main reasons for the election being called now are: Brexit The prime minister has a hard task ahead of her, negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union. So she wants to make sure that she has a strong government behind her as she leads the country through this process. Right now her political party (the Conservative party) only has a small majority in the government. It is considered very likely that if an election takes place the Conservative Party will win. This will therefore give them a bigger majority within the government, which will in turn give Theresa May more power and strength as she moves forward with Brexit. Leadership When she because prime minister last year Ms May was not actually elected to the position. She was appointed as leader of the country after the previous prime minister, David Cameron resigned. So by winning an election she will show that she has been properly chosen by the people to lead the nation. 27
Attack in London On 22 March a gruesome attack happened in London. It took place at 2.40pm close to the Houses of Parliament. A man drove a car over Westminster Bridge at high speed and crashed into people walking on the street. He then left the car and ran towards the Houses of Parliament where he was met by police. He stabbed and killed a police officer before being killed himself by other police who shot him dead. Police are still investigating how much of a connection the killer has with terrorist groups and to what extent he acted alone. National Health Service working conditions There are currently a lot of issues about to what extent people working in the health sector are valued. Last year junior doctors took part in several strikes and negotiations concerning proposed changes to their working hours. Now nurses working for the National Health Service are protesting because they feel that the amount of money they earn is not enough. Since 2010 their salaries have been frozen and pay rises have been restricted. However, at the same time as this the cost of living has increased. So many nurses are struggling to have enough money to live. These conditions are causing many nurses to leave their jobs and many other people to stop applying for nursing jobs. Managers working in this field are worried about this because if nurses are not happy and there are also less people wanting to become nurses this can cause a big risk to the health and safety of patients. Nurses are now in the process of deciding about whether to start a strike to campaign for better payment or not.
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‘Gorilla Man’ is running in the London Marathon In lighter news, a man dressed as a gorilla is crawling his way through the London Marathon. He is a police officer with two children who is raising money for the charity The Gorilla Organisation. It is a charity dedicated to the conservation of endangered gorillas. He has been crawling through the streets on his hands and knees, like a gorilla, since Sunday 23 April. He is expected to complete the race on Thursday 27 or Friday 28 April, at least four days after the race began. If you’re interested in seeing more you can find lots of photos and videos online of this man/ape making his impressive journey.
MOLLY O’DOHERTY
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PHOTO REPORT !
NATIONAL SHOW OF MESSENIAN DOG SOCIETY
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SOFIENE LAHDHERI
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BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS We need poetry is in the streets
Sometimes we all need to stop and reflect about what surround us. Today Books BooksBooksBooks is not about a book: it’s about democratic values, it’s about freedom, it’s about keeping alive the memory of those who devote their lives to fight totalitarianism with their words and with their action, and to raise awareness of the importance of culture to a better society. It’s about how literature and poetry, as all other forms of art, have a role in fighting all those values – and also about the power they carry when they engage social and political issues. And it’s also about one Portuguese poetess, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen, whom memory is now more important than ever, so we don’t allow ourselves to forget what others stood for so we could live in a free world. The world is changing, as it always changes, and we often don’t pay enough attention. We get caught in our own lives, private lives, our days repeat themselves over and over and we run to try to keep up. We are so focused on ourselves, in our own home, our family, our job, that we forget that there is a common world that doesn’t rule itself. Not taking part of collective processes makes us alienated not just from our own community, but from our culture. And then, we reach the Moebius Strip effect: we walk every time on the same road just to realize that it leads us to where we first were; we are trapped.
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Every historical period carries its own social and economic specifies and culture works as a mirror: it receives from society and it gives it back to society. But it’s a very particular kind of mirror since it has the ability to change the image it reflects. Culture is political. Literature is political. Poetry is political. There’s no other way: if it carries ideas it carries ideology; if it carries ideology, it reflects a vision of the world. And that is exactly where politic starts. Today I pay a tribute to a Portuguese poetess that engaged in fighting for freedom of speech in Portugal. A poetess that made her voice the people voice when she said: “A poesia está na rua” [Poetry is in the streets]. The sentence was immortalized by Vieira da Silva, a Portuguese painter, in a poster for the celebration of Labor Day in 1974, just a few days after the Carnation Revolution. April 25th it’s one of the most important dates in Portugal: it’s Freedom Day. At that date, in 1974, a military group from Armed Forces Movement carried out a peaceful coup that ended almost 50 years of dictatorship and started the revolution that lead Portugal to a democratic political system. We call it the Carnation Revolution. Sophia stood up against the system, with her poems, with her voice, and with her actions. “Art must be free because of the act of creating itself an act of freedom. (...) If the attack on cultural liberty worries me so much is because the lack of cultural freedom is a symptom, and it always means oppression for an entire people.” She had a strong social conscience: she was a convinced Catholic who practiced compassion for others, and she had an extraordinary sense of humanity; the political conscience she developed later with her husband, Francisco de Sousa Tavares. She supported him when he was part of “Cathedral Revolt” in 1959, an independent military movement that aimed to end the dictatorship, in which he was the connection between military and civil society. Later, on his own initiative, he became a member of the National Commission of Support for Political Prisoners, even before the revolution. When the Portuguese Society of Writers (SPE) was extinguished, after awarding Luandino Vieira (an Angolan writer, who was arrested at that time) many of the SPE members were taken by Sophia to the Nacional Culture Centre (CNC), a place that until today gathers people from different political and ideological sectors and that stands for a free and multidisciplinary culture. Sophia didn’t just speak about the lack of freedom of speech; she supported spaces of resistance, where her voice, and the voice of many others, could remain active.
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She was one of the faces of the resistance against the system: she was identified by state Police PIDE and her husband was arrested because of their opinions against the government. She was also one of the faces of the revolution, with her poems, and after that, she was part of the democratic process as deputy member of the Socialist Party in the Constituent Assembly. There, she had an active voice defending not only democracy but the quality of democracy, and the role of culture: “Culture is one of the forms of liberation of man. Therefore, in the face of politics, culture must always be able to function as an anti-power. (…) We want cultural structures for socialism, not for totalitarianism. We want cultural structures for the cultural revolution, not for dirigisme”. It is not possible to separate the poet and the citizen. Sophia was both in an exemplary way and in both fields she defended the values of a democracy based on justice, knowledge, culture, and she defended it kindly. For her, the political sense came from deep within, and she learned it from Ancient Greeks; it was linked to her believes and that was the reason it was so natural in her work and in her life. She first read Homer very young, from her mother’s books; in his literature, she recognized “the splendor of the presence of things"; and in the man, she recognized the educator of Greece: “the culture was put together. And so the Greeks invented democracy. Politics begins long before politics ". Later, she studied classical philology at the University of Lisbon, and although she left without taking her degree, those three years gave her a love of classical Greek poets that remained with her and certainly influenced her work and the way she saw life culturally, socially and politically. “I don’t think there is an art for the people. There is an art for all and all people must have access to it through media. First, the "aedos" sang in the palace of the Greek kings "the venerable and ancient song". It was a deeply aristocratic art. Then the rhapsodies sang the same song in the public square. (…) In her diary of Greece, she is always searching for the connection between men and gods. Although she was unequivocally Christian and Portuguese, throughout her passion about Greece, she became the poet of a pagan world. She uses Greek mythology elements and historical figures, as Minotaur, Elsinore, the Furies, to address contemporary issues; though that appropriation, she brings evil out into the open in her poems, in order to denounce and exorcise it.
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For her, poetry it’s a “matter of attention, sequence, and rigor”, as her life was also. The sense of collectiveness had an almost transcendental meaning for her, equal in her words and her actions. For her integrity, sense of justice and courage, he is still one of the most respected figures in Portuguese culture. In José Tolentino Mendonça’s words, “[her] words are to me as gestures, gestures of courage and freedom.” She stood against her family and her first friends for her beliefs. Her house was a place where her friends could experience freedom during the dictatorship, where books could be read and revolutions could be planned. For her, culture was the first identity trace of a people, and for that, something very powerful and should serve everyone: “Socialism must be an aristocracy for all”. She saw politics as a tool for freedom and justice. The same freedom and justice that we think about as being permanent. We are a generation that gives its rights as certain: we grow up with democracy and we do not conceive the world in another way. But society is a dynamic process: it is constantly changing and changes without us if we do not get involved. We need Sophia, as so many others as her, to remind us of the urgency of freedom. We need her to reminds us how to fight and what to fight for. And we need to make a stand and protect what they achieved, so their efforts were not in vain. Poems by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen: THE GREEKS
APRIL 25th
To the gods we attributed a dazzling existence
This is the dawn that I was waiting for
Consubstantial with the sea the clouds trees and light
The first, whole and clear day
In them the waves’ glinting the foam’s long white frieze
Where we emerged from the night and the
The woods’ secret and soft green the wheat’s tall gold
silence
The river’s meandering the mountain’s solemn fire
And free, we live in the substance of time
And the great dome of resonant weightless free air Emerged as self-aware consciousness With no loss of the first day’s marriage-and-feast oneness Anxious to have this experience for ourselves We humans repeated the ritual gestures that re-establish The initial whole presence of things – This made us attentive to all forms known by the light of day As well as to the darkness which lives within us And in which the ineffable shimmer travels
JOANA GANILHO MARQUES
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LINK
N°94
M AY 1 st 2017
The volunteers responsible for this publication are hosted in Greece in the framework of the European Erasmus+ programme, KA1/youth - European Voluntary Service. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.