Libertas 25

World Pro blems

october 2011.

_editorial

Starting and engaging in discussions is one of the main purposes of this magazine, but from time to time we have to remind ourselves that our subject of discussion (the world) is not something far off, that we are part of it, and therefore share its problems and should try actively to solve them.

This is one of those times, and for this month’s issue, our contributors were invited to think about the problems the world is facing today, and in what consequences will develop, becoming new problems, in the future.

In this issue you’ll be faced with just a few problems we have come up with, and those include the fact that soon we’ll become seven billion people living in the planet. Can you image that? Seven billion mouths to feed and voices to be heard? But most of all, seven billion people we have to fight for equal rights, wherever they are. All these people (all of us) also need some basic resources to go on living, and water is one of those we can’t go on without. Knowing that only one percent of the planet’s water is drinkable, how are we going to use and share it?

In this issue you’ll also find something related to the terrorist attack that happened in Norway not too long ago. It made us think about how will prisons be like in the future, and how will people be punished.

We also come at you with some metaphysical interpretations of the problems, one hinting at how humans tend to be problemsearching, instead of problem-solving creatures, and another one reminding us that no matter how hard the problems are, if we keep a positive approach we’ll be able to deal with it.

Last but not least, this issue inaugurates columns from our staff. If you have been following our website you already know what I’m talking about, but make sure to check them weekly online, and monthly on the magazine!

Daniel Nunes

_contents 04 When the young take the future (or

the revolution) in their hands

06 War for water drop 08 7 billion already?

10 problemma 12 jihlava documentary film festival 14 14 value of water 15 ready. steady. procrastinate.

17 punishment of tomorrow 19 good news 21 pigs in maputo 22 events

Libertas 25 World problems published October 2011

When the young take the future (or the revolution) in their hands Claire

4 When the U.S. State Department releases a statement condemning a government’s hostile involvement in the Arab Spring, the roundtable of punditry proclaims a solid step forward in the inevitable removal of an autocratic ruler.

When thousands of nonviolent citizens gather in

the streets to demonstrate against a violent leader, months of protests lead much of the mainstream media to veer off towards disinterest or to the conclusion that every day farther from government upheaval is another day farther from an uncertain victory.

In part, I must agree. A concrete victory is far from guaranteed. Each country’s grievances may mirror dissatisfaction with unresponsive leadership, fledging economies, high unemployment, unfit public services, increasing cost of living and a weakening standard of living. Yet, no uprising is the same.

Perhaps one of the largest differences revolves around the parameters of protest movement’s victory. While the heaviest burden of the fight may be removing a political leader, other countries may view such a prominent action as only the beginning of a larger, structural change in their society. We can see this starkly jagged path in Egypt, where citizens continue to fill the streets as they demand a faster transition to democracy from their interim military leaders.

But there is one glaring commonality between the mass protests sweeping the Middle East, north Africa

article.

and other segments of our world: the involvement and influence of our younger generation.

If you search for the root of the Arab Spring, you’ll find an unemployed 26-year-old Tunisian man struggling to survive as a street vendor in a small town wrought with corruption and a dismal 30 percent unemployment rate. After spending most of his youth working to support his family, Bouazizi’s meager earnings from selling fruit were now at the mercy of the police consistently threatening to shut his stand down if he did not pay a bribe. Last December, after a policewoman slapped him and threw his produce on the ground, Bouazazi stood in front of the governorate building and lit himself on fire, following a failed attempt to have the governorate hear his grievances.

Nine months after Bouazizi’s death, governments across the globe have taken notice. Various countries with large youth populations are facing political turmoil. The median age in Egypt and Libya is 24. In Syria: 21. In Cote d’Iviore: 19. In Yemen: 18.

The youth jobless rates across countries facing mass demonstrations are staggering. In a 2007 study

titled “Youth Exclusion in Syria: Social, Economic and Institutional Dimensions,” the Dubai School of Government’s Wolfensohn Center for Development found that unemployed youth “made up 77 percent of the working-age unemployed population” in Syria and over 75 percent of them were actively looking for work for over a year. Additionally, the youth unemployment rate was more than six times higher than the jobless rate for older individuals.

Even in a country that has largely avoided mass protests - with the exception of the March 11 “Day of Rage” - Saudi Arabia’s youth unemployment sits at a whopping 44 percent for male college graduates.

While many of these uprisings were sparked by high unemployment, the focus of the protest movement is sometimes more specific. Students have demonstrated in the streets of Chile for affordable education and education reform since early August. In Spain - with a jobless rate at 21.29%, the highest in the industrialized world - young adults began protesting in May against the government’s spending cuts and their handling of the economic crisis. Beginning in late 2010, similar grievances led London youth to demonstrate against rising tuition fees, while they turned out en masse in August to riot after a Tottenham man was shot dead by police.

The recent riots in London paint a darker picture on defining the parameters of a successful victory and how an uncertain victory can be achieved. The violence and vandalism from protesters sparked a debate on what measures should and should not be used in the attempt to change the fabric of society. After multiple reports of violence, one Egyptian activist, Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing on Twitter) wrote on Twitter, “Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for Khaled Said and Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players.”

The inherent risk of violent uprisings is the possibility that protests could be labeled as gratuitous unrest.

The most potent fuel for change now is witnessing the success of previous uprisings. The possibility of unseating a despot cannot be dismissed as a distant fantasy, but will set a dim precedent if this achievement is reached through vandalism and violence. Peaceful social and political reform at the hands of the young is now a reality that governments across the globe must face.

This unstoppable wave, on the course to overtake vicious autocrats and belligerent leaders, often sees

influence from western governments. However, the destination is reached by the young and how we get there is just as crucial as reaching the finish line. The path sets the tone for future success stories and future failed uprisings. In a tumultuous society amidst an uprising, combating violence with violence elevates the risk of not obtaining the ultimate goal: to provide a greater future for our fellow citizens and future generations. If our generation is brave enough to draw the lines of a revolution, it must be traced with an unabashed call for unapologetic and strong dialogue, unwavering persistence and peaceful actions.

] ! [

About the author An unapologetic news nerd, Claire lives and works in Washington D.C. A native of Chicago, Illinois, she left the midwest to study journalism, political science and business in Boston, where she recently graduated from college.To fulfill her politically charged personality, Claire blogs at Pantsless Progressive, which she started in early 2010. Since then, she has appeared on Al Jazeera English and has received mentions in Mother Jones, Mashable and Mediaite.

After interning in state government and for an international news website, she returned to Chicago to work for an energy efficiency firm and now works for a non-profit in D.C.

5

War for

water

6

drop

Jelena Gavrilov

It wasn’t an ordinary day. It wasn’t a day when the sun felt good. This was a day when the sun compelled you to water, but water was nowhere to be found. Those that are coming are just minor characters - the main role in this story is something that doesn’t exist.

“Do you have a bit of water?” asked the

first one. “No” answered the second in a barely audible voice. They silently walked side by side.

It was very hot and the incandescent land just absorbed the heat.

“Can you see it; it’s right there? Yes! It is water! Water!” very happily exclaimed the first. They both rushed, as fast as they could, toward the oasis that would save their lives.

When they came near to the water, they were disappointed. The water of which they were dreaming was too dirty and thick to drink. They looked at each other desperately and shook their heads.

“Only now do I understand how much water means; only now, when we don’t have it. Do you remember what we were saying? We were

article.

saying: “Come, spend it freely, there is water for everyone. Water is free and healthy.” Look how far we’ve come. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die of thirst. Yesterday I drank less than a pint. There wasn’t enough for all of us...” The second looked sadly at the first one and walked on slowly.

“Where are you going? Where are you going now? Just fifty years ago, there was a lot of clear water; there was water for any single man alive! Then we started buying water. Water was not free, but it was clean. And what’s happening now? Now we are going to die without water!

There is no water at all!”

“Stop it! Go further; maybe there is still some clean water!”

They continued walking further, slower than before. They were walking in silence, surely

thinking about water. At some point of their walk, a sort of delirium had crept into the first.

He started ranting more than ever. He didn’t just talk about water; he talked about some crystals in the ground, about heat, about the past. The second was silent. He didn’t have the strength to answer him.

The presence of the first began to annoy the second. They were walking further and further, until the following day – and they didn’t find water. But then, passing by some ruined town, the second saw some shimmer on the road in front of them. Without saying anything to the first, he started running. It was water. He knelt and started drinking. It was clean, but there wasn’t enough for both to quench their thirst.

When the first saw that, he also started running and pushed the second so hard that he fell feet away from the place where he stood. The first overtook the pond. They began pushing, hitting each other, pinching. All this was accompanied by their anxious voices. “That’s my water! I saw this source first!” “No, it’s not yours! You drank your part!” “I will give you ‘your part’ now” ironically said the second. “Everything is mine!

My treasure! ”This lasted until they were either dead or the water dried out. No, this is not just a harmless story. This is a story about what’s coming next, what may have begun, and what will certainly happen. What will happen, won’t affect just these two men, it will affect the entire humanity. The war for water! Two sides already exist. Two sides will kill each other because of water. Do you know that more people died because of thirst then because of war? This war that may come will be led by thirsty people. I don’t know if this can be stopped, but we know that we are in a stage when water is not free, there is not enough water for everyone and in some parts of Earth water has to be delivered.

We are in the stage when millions of children suffer from intestinal infections caused by parasites. Parasites weaken the already weak body, slow down their development and this leads to poor education and their dependence on somebody else. Many consequences, one cause - scarce of clear water.

] ! [

About the Author Jelena Gavrilov is a serbian high school student who would like to study medicine afterwards. She is a volunteer in Kikinda, her hometown, and takes part organizing various projects. She likes reading and writing, and has won the first prize in a competition for short stories.

She spends her time listening to music, watching and drawing anime characters and training athletics.

7

7 Billion Already?

Nevena Smilevska

8

In the year 1798, in one of the most influential essays of his

era called “An Essay on the Principle of Population”, Reverend Thomas Malthus, an English priest and scholar who was very influential in demography and economy, wrote of the unequal nature of food supply to population growth stating that “population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio”. The outcome of this non-equation would be not having means of sustenance, resulting in wars, diseases and famine, unless of course, the human population decreases.

About 10000 years ago, in 8000 BC, only about 5 million

people lived on Earth. Natural resources or the lack of them was not even an issue. At present, the 7000000000th citizen is expected to see the light of day somewhere in the October of 2011. Now, nearly 7 billion people need food and water, housing and clothes. This certainly is a stretch of demand from our planet, but it would still not be that much of a threat if those needs were met with the same sense of sustainability by all people. Unfortunately, this is not the case and we mostly have unsustainable lodging, overfishing, poor farming practices, all leading to threatening not only human life and health, but also the biodiversity of our planet.

As mentioned above, it is expected that Earth will welcome its 7000000000th citizen before 2011 ends. The main problem is that it won’t be long after the population rises to 8 billion. This is predicted to happen in year 2050. As it is now, the population rises at about 78 million people per year, even though population increases have stopped in Europe, North America and Japan.

One of the largest population countries, China, is

article.

already below the level of common replacement (of parents); in part due to the imposed policy of having one child only. Still, the population grows and the growth is greatest in those parts of the world that can least support more population - sub-Saharan Africa and some parts of South and Western Asia. It is estimated that at the beginning of the 21st century more than a billion people will not be able to support their basic

needs. Developing countries are the home of approximately 4.8 billion people and three-fifths of them have no basic sanitation. About a third lack access to clean water, a quarter have no adequate housing and a fifth can not get modern health services.

In his essay, Malthus said that the lack of sustenance would lead to war, famine, disease and other calamities. Since the time of Malthus, mankind has done and is still doing its best to improve the practices of farming, to have longer life expectancy and to live as comfortably as possible. But does living comfortably mean living sustainably? Can our planet meet all our needs if we go on increasing in population and go on living unsustainably?

Whatever the answers to these questions, obsessing with the high number of population is not the best way of facing the future because it’s not only the number of people that is important, but also how those people spend the resources.

The main challenge for humanity in the future is to get more people out of poverty and at the same time to diminish the damage that each and every one of us inflicts on the planet.

Several solutions are proposed, among them reducing the birth rate in developing countries through empowerment of women, education of all people, universal access to birth control and a societal commitment to ensuring that all species are given a chance to live and thrive. All these steps will reduce human poverty and overcrowding, raise our standard of living and sustain the lives of plants, animals and ecosystems everywhere.

Quick Facts •An average of 4,45 babies is born every second somewhere around the world.

•The world’s fastest population is in Africa.

growing

•Nearly three-fifths of the 4.8 billion people in developing countries lack basic sanitation, almost a third have no access to clean water, a quarter lack adequate housing, and a fifth lack access to modern health services.

•Population has slowed or stopped in most developed countries.

•Developing countries account for more than 95 percent of today’s population growth.

About the Author Nevena Smilevska is from Skopje, Macedonia. She works for one of the leading environmental NGOs in Macedonia called Eko-svest (Eco-sense). She is also a student of sociology and an active promoter of volunteering for good causes.

In her free time she likes to read, sing and play the piano.

] ! [

9

PROBLEMMA Tiberiu Iacomi

I admit, I am a problematic person. I cause problems wherever I go,

whatever I do. I am a troubled guy. I get in trouble. I deal with many issues. I admit it. However, I think that I am not Hamlet’s brother, even though; I always ask questions which pose dilemmas.

10

There are so many problems in the world today.

There have always been. The more we solve them, it seems that more appear. These are the stats that the people who track such things show us. This is the theory for world organizations who are interested in these things. When one works in an NGO or goes to Africa or watches the TV

article.

shows organized for helping Haiti, one can get a feeling that there so many people ready to help. Indeed, with more than 6 billion people in the world, maybe we can change the world and solve its problems. We have power, leadership, charisma, energy–all that it takes. The leaders of the world even sign treaties. They have governments, organizations, social media, youth, people behind them, supporting them through word of mouth, endorsements, campaigns, sponsorship, etc.

Still, there is a problem here. There is a problem when it comes to solving problems of the world.

People do good. It seems to me that people overcome problems nowadays much more than 10 years ago partly because of education, partly because of the means and channels they have. Yet, people do not do good, people do not solve problems - together - at a large enough scale. There are hundreds of associations, organizations or foundations for each disease and problem of this world, but we rarely see them all together and united - both in ideas and actions - to fight against a single problem and solve it for good.

There is a problem when it comes to solving

problems. People who badly want and fight to solve problems do not know how to solve problems. I mean, they know, each one in their own way. None of them knows how they would do it if all of them would unite.

I admit it. I am a problematic person. I write utopias wherever I go, whatever I do. Writing an utopia which puts forward a solution creates

a problem: people start believing in it. So, I will stop here. I will go outside and volunteer for planting some more trees in my neighborhood. I will not forever solve the problem of the ozone layer. I will solve my problem of feeling guilty that I have not contributed up to now.

I change my mind, I am Hamlet’s brother: I have the dilemma of being selfish and altruistic at the same time. ] ! [

About the Author

11

The walls of this box I am caught in are getting tighter and tighter and I have no air, I have no energy, no strength left. I only have a pen to scratch the walls in search of the light outside.

And I have imagination. And I imagine, I simply imagine how I am outside the box, I think outside the box and I get myself out of the walls that limit my ideas. The world is my box but I think that we can have larger boxes with no walls and just pillars. I am a hopeless dreamer. And I hope you will dream with me in my box of words.

event! ival Black & Blue Fest anksgiving On the Canadian Th of thousands weekend, re ltu cu y ga te partygoers celebra good causes and raise money for ck & Blue at Montreal’s Bla Black and e Festival. Attend th Ball and r he at Le Blue Ball, the major at ts en ev s ou other rauc Montreal venues.

what where when website

l

Black & Blue Festiva Montreal, Canada

er 5th to 11th of Octob real Bad Boy Club Mont

12

article.

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival Vladimira Bravkova

Every single autumn during the last 15 years, several thousands of

documentary film fans have headed to Jihlava, a pitoresque town in the middle of the Czech Republic, and my home region. The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival is a celebration of creative documentary film, the greatest event of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe; and, as a patriot, I must say the biggest event in the Vysocina County--at least in my point of view. Every year, in the end of October, I feel like Jihlava changes completely. It goes from being a sleepy town to a meeting point of filmmakers and people from different countries who are searching for an inspiring and playful reflection of the world from various perspectives.

The 15th issue of Jihlava IDFF will be held from October 25 to 30, 2011. The festival program is based on four competitions: Opus Bonum awarding world documentaries of innovative themes and film language, Between the Seas presenting remarkable films from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Czech Joy surveying the newest Czech filmmaking, and Fascinations for the best experimental documentary.

In the past, many interesting guests have held

discussions with visitors during the festival. For example: Victor Kossakovsky, Jorgen Leth, Sergei Loznitsa, Naomi Kawase, Manoel de Oliveira, Frederic Wiseman, Ulrich Seidl, Woody Vasulka, Želimir Žilnik, Richard Leacock, Mike Hoolboom, Jean-Pierre Goran, Herz Frank, Khavn de La Cruz, Fernando Solanas. Among film theorists, certain names will be familiar like: P. Adams Sitney, Bill Nichols, Guy Gauthier and Francois Jost.

According to the press information of the festival, Dutch film historian Thomas Elsaesser characterized Jihlava as one of the most original festivals he has ever attended, and Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira declared it a “Mecca of documentary film”.

Jihlava is a town about 115 km away from Prague with very good transport connection to the capital city. Visitors of the festival usually sleep in pensions and hostels, or cheaper overnight stay in a gym. When they are tired of watching films, they usually go to some concert, exhibition or authors’ readings within the accompanying program.

More information about Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival is possible to find at the official web: www.dokument-festival.cz.

image source: http://www.dokweb.net/en/idf-network/video/?off=180

About the Author Vladimíra Brávková is a freelance journalist and youth worker. She studied economics, tourism, linguistics, TV/film production.

For several years she had been working at the Czech Radio (public service broadcasting) and at the College of Polytechnics Jihlava.

During her European voluntary service, she worked as the coordinator of Libertas+ magazine.

] ! [

13

Value of Water Evgenia Kostyanaya

Summer is gone, and we are already back 14

to our studies and work. Most probably many of you have been to the seaside lying on the beach and enjoying swimming or diving. It sometimes puzzles me how free I feel in water, how close to the nature and to the real nature of me, when I look at the sun through a few meters of water holding onto a stone at the bottom. And having so much water around you, it is hard to imagine that there are places in the world where people fight for it, have to make a long way to get it, and simply die because of the bad water quality.

If we think today of problems we are facing we would probably name economic problems, financial crises, lack of democracy. But to me it all fades away when I read about those whose life depends on the purity of water or its availability in general. That is what I read in one issue of the National Geographic Magazine: One out of eight people lacks access to clean water.

3.3 million people die from water-related health problems each year.

Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrheal disease by 45 percent.

An eradication campaign that includes a simple water filter has cut the number of Guinea worm cases by 99.9 percent since 1986.

article.

When you go showering tonight, just try to imagine this: Americans use about 100 gallons of water at home each day (appr. 380l).

Millions of the world’s poorest subsist on fewer than five gallons.

46 percent of people on earth do not have water piped to their homes.

Women in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles to get water.

In 15 years, 1.8 billion people will live in regions of severe water scarcity.

So while in one part of the world we are thinking about mortgage, changing for a better paid job, in other parts of the same world the quality of water determines the quality of life. It does actually take time to realize that despite all the progress we have made since centuries there are regions that badly need just water. Simple water. Clean water.

Think of those areas where washing oneself is considered to be a rare event, where you have to buy clean water. And then next time we go to the bathroom we will probably look at water running from the tap differently, and we will feel happy just because we have it in our homes and we don’t have to walk kilometers to get it.

] ! [

Ready. Steady. Procrastinate.* Marija Gavrilov

Hello, Blank Page. I am not really fond of

looking at your pale whiteness, because I know the next step will be the hardest one - writing the very first word which will build the opening sentence. That very first sentence will determine whether the reader will continue reading or give up on you and me.

What I gave up on a minute ago was the book I should be studying from. Letters kept lining in front of me, but my visual senses and mind were too busy catching the sounds of whistling wind entering my ear shell. This idyll was torn apart by an idea which regularly comes to my mind in the moments of poor concentration on what I actually should be doing. So, I thought: “Hey, what’s happening online?’. I took my laptop, opened the browser-my-dearest-companion and mechanically gave life to three tabs. Gmail.

Facebook, YouTube. Whole world in four clicks.

Gmail reminded me of the things i should do today or be doing/ have done already.

article.

*Procrastination is a defence mechanism your creativity uses every time you try to kill it.

Great, I have done two of seven. Since I’m online I could send the e-mails and find the phone number of FEUM. Before I do that I think of playing some cool music. Searching the YouTube slowly turns into REsearching and mini karaoke party, making me abandon (other) must-do’s. Oh, well. After half an hour of doing practically nothing but singing, I decide to go back to sending e-mails.

But, hell no, you won’t do that before taking five minutes break to check on your four hundred and something friends on Facebook! Time is relative and five minutes suddenly expands to fifteen minutes of looking at my friend sister’s wedding photos and fifteen more minutes of checking on posted articles on the changes Mark Z. introduced during the f8 conference. Most of them say that Facebook will change radically.

It will turn into a timeline following our years of life, of happiness, sadness, getting-togethers, breaking-ups, disappointments, amazements.

Design looks cool to me. But, I feel as if I’m getting more and more claustrophobic while scrolling the cursor down the FB homepage. Comments, likes, posts are invading from each corner not letting you even think properly about the thing you saw before you move to the other one. So much information makes me feel brain-clogged.

No wonder why I have problems with memory at the age of twenty. The angel sitting on one of my shoulders tucks a thought in my ear - that’s why you’ll have your FB timeline to remind you of who you were, what you ate, who you liked, where you were, what music you listened to. Right! One more point goes to Mark Z. The legendary ‘Like’

15

button goes to history and is being replaced by Facebook Gestures. Apparently, every verb will be able to turn into a button. So called ‘Ticker’ will be an infinite source of your friend’s activities aaaaaand, guess what - you can watch movies,

shows and listen to music withing Facebook.

Whole life at one place.

Then I remember that my whole day is at the forgotten peace of virtual paper - the daily duties. Welcome to the life of a procrastinator*. *Procrastinator is a person who likes to forget.

] ! [

16

About the Author Marija Gavrilov is a sociology student from Serbia. She is a member of the European Youth Parliament and the Serbian national coordinator for European Youth Polls. In 2010 she and 300 friends broke a Guiness World Record for arm wrestling, but their record was broken again so fast they didn’t even have time to enjoy it. When she was a young girl, her dream was to become a taxi driver, and that’s probably why she has no fear of talking to famous people. Her job is so good she gets to spend the whole day on facebook oh yes: she’s a volunteer in the Libertas team, that’s why she’s all the time on facebook!

event!

Pusan Intern ationa

l Film Festi val

Pusan’s Internationa l Film Festival brin gs the best of world cinema to scre ens across the city.

More than 30 0 films slot in to the festival’s cine matic catego ries, including Wor ld Premieres, Asia Premieres an d Wide Ang le, to name just a fe w.

what where when website

Pusan Intern

ational

Film Festival Pusan, South

Korea

6th to 14th of

October

Pusan Intern

ational

Film Festival

Punishment of Tomorrow Marija Gavrilov

After execution, incarceration is one of the

oldest methods humans used to punish the one who wouldn’t obey to group’s rules and also give an example to others in an attempt to make sure the same violation wouldn’t occur again. Since the 80’s the number of prisoners in jails in the USA has grown by more than 300 percent ‘till the beginning of the 21st century. If the current trend continues, prisons won’t be overcome in a hundred years time. But, they will certainly change. In order to get a sense of what will be different, let’s take a look at what the best prison in the world looks like: It is Building located in Austrian Leoben and literally looks like it’s gonna (going to) fly back into space anytime. Building Made out of glass, wood and concrete is just as friendly looking from the inside as from the outside. Corridors and rooms are filled with sunlight, colored in white, with stylish furniture all around. On one side of the prison is the block for prisoners on remand, while on the other side are convicts – living in pods, units accommodating 15 people who share one kitchen but live in personal cells with private lavatory. Prisoners wear their own clothes, have access to sports courts, prayer room, a room for conjugal visits, to wide and green garden.

Something more futuristic comes with Sylvester Stallone and Demolition Man from 1993 which introduces the idea of cryogenic prisons, or to put it in apprehensive way – criminals would be frozen and kept so with all the vital functions working properly for the certain period of

article.

time, for tens or hundreds of years while being rehabilitated through subconscious suggestions.

The inmates are unfrozen as soon as the penalty expires and rehabilitated are put back in the society. This is a solution which would include both isolation of individuals potentially threatening for the society and their re-socialization or reeducation on the level of subconsciousness.

The future may also make sleeping a punishment.

This would be realized in so called ‘sleeping prisons’ - buildings with no windows, only one entrance door, with the capacity to keep five million inmates serving their time in induced comas. The pros of this way of incarceration would be low costs, the inability of inmates to run their business from inside the prison, and also impossibility of novice criminals to be taught lessons by more experienced ones. For they don’t move for quite a long period of time, the arm and leg muscles atrophy and it takes several months or even years of intense physical therapy to be able to use the muscles normally again. Because of this, sleepers would maybe age faster than people who are free.

There’s no better way of letting one know what they have done wrong to other person and why it was considered bad, than making them feel the same as their ‘victim’. By stimulating their nervous system, the offenders in future could be made to experience the feeling of being on the other side of the story in the moment of the crime commitment. Strong imprint this would leave on their personality would hopefully lead to prevention of another criminal act.

17

18

Scientists on the West Coast have recently learned that (anti)social behavior in mice can be turned on and off using optogenetics. Combining genetics and optical methods to stimulate nerve cells, researchers believe that this could be applicable to humans, since it is thought that mice and we shared a common ancestor some 75 million years ago. If this will be an after-solution or prevention is left to be seen yet.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” If

you’re an optimist you will be happy for human dignity will be respected when punishing in the late 21st century. Yes, racks, drowning or hanging will be only a bad memory.

If you’re a pessimist, you might be bothered by a question: what will be left out of human liberty if they’re disabled to think freely even when in pain? (If punishments are modernized, why will there still be a need for pain methods? Maybe you can specify is it a physical or psychical pain)

] ! [ images source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mendhak/3594808612/in/photostream/

event!

ndsome Bull Festival of the Ha dances The Toro Guapo bull ts ee str ’s through Antón ging ar ch ly nt ge , ar every ye ate lic de the accompanying ed ess dr ls gir empolladeras, irts. sk n nia ma na Pa in typical ric Cattle parades, folklo ts and dancing, local contes ce at the pla ke ta o als fireworks some Bull.

Festival of the Hand

what

Festival of the Handsome Bull

where when

Anton, Panama er

13th to 17th of Octob

Good News Petra Huijgen

19 When looking at any news paper or news broadcast, a striking thing is the overwhelming amount of reports on the seemingly ever increasing bad events happening to the world we live in. It would be easy to believe that little good ever occurs, judging from the wars, natural disasters and environmental issue as we are confronted every day with pictures of the horrors happening in the outside world. It is a given fact that good news is usually seen as less important, as it affects many people’s lives less drastically. That this is true was proven to me in my own Journalism class. ‘Just count’, the professor said ‘how many reports of good news there are on tonight’s news’. The outcome was not too motivating. (suggestion: instead of good or bad news you can use negative or positive news agenda).

So Well, this experiment did not really have a happy ending. I was stuck at ´one´. which is on one hand not very surprising, but on the other hand also a bit disappointing. Of course, positive news has usually less impact and it affects people’s lives drastically, but on the other hand: in this way the world is presented as a dark place with very little light on the end of the tunnel and admittedly, sometimes it really seems this way. And the trouble just increases day by day – rarely does the news report on issues improving or being solved. Knowing what is happening in the world around is one of the

article.

basic elements of being a well-informed citizen. so Keeping track of issues is vital, but on the other hand: and sending a more positive sound in the world could do no harm at all. Eventually positive stories have a certain value in the news as well.

Initiatives like this have been popping up the last couple of years. Perhaps the best known is the ‘Good News Network’, which sends happy news into the world every day. Over 15.000 people ‘like’ this special source of news on Facebook, and many more tune in on the website for their daily dose of good news. The type of news articles varies enormously: From new breakthroughs in medial research to a 12-year old girl who saved a friend from drowning. Every type of news with a positive tone is good news, and can inspire people, is the philosophy of this website. There are stories from all over the world collected, and it gives a contra-sound to the news that reaches people usually. Another important point that the founder wants to prove is that there is no shortage of good news, but there is simply a lack of promoting it in the world. All in all, this good news reaches mostly stays exclusive for the small audience that is looking for it, other people are unlikely to hear about it.

Of course this call for a more positive outlook on the world does not mean that all the serious “business” that is going on should be ignored.

Quite the contrary, I would be the last person

to say that it is not important to inform yourself about what is going on beyond the borders of your own garden and well, it would be na誰ve to close yourself off for all the terrible things that are going on. However, I do argue for a more balanced overview of events. Many things are

going wrong in this world and it is not very likely that this will change in the near future. In addition to the information regarding this, we should look at some of the beautiful and good things every now and then to remind ourselves to keep smiling.

] ! [

About the Author

20

A student from the Netherlands, currently spending some time in the United Kingdom. The biggest problem in this life is that there are too many interesting things to discover, too many books to read and there is too little time to get into all of this. With a major in Literature and History she is trying to get as much out of backgrounds as possible. The goals for the coming few years include seeing more sights, getting to know many cultures and broadening horizons in order to make more sense of everything that the world offers us.

event!

Kinofest Kinofest brings cutting-edge short films and new media to Bucharest. With both Romanian and international films on show, the festival is accessible to a variety of language speakers, and also features exhibitions, parties and cultural events taking place across Bucharest.

what where when website

Kinofest Bucharest, Romania 27th to 31st of October Kinofest

Pigs in Maputo Pig cartoons of life in Mozambique

by Iris Yan

21

Jeovah’s Witnesses

for more, every day: pigsinmaputo. blogspot.com/

pigs in maputo.

Tattoo&Rock Festival

22

Lisbon’s Pavilhão Atlântico presents the Tattoo&Rock Festival, an international tattoo convention with a line-up of rock music. Tattoo artists com e from all over Europe, some hop ing to win coveted tattoo titles, while bands include Sons of For tune and Wild Tiger Affair.

what where when website

Tattoo&Rock Festival Lisbon, Portugal 7th to 9th of October Tattoo&Rock Festival

ival

st t Fe r A 798

a ict, Distr trendy 798 r of even ’s g n i j luste er with c Bei an t th s ov mian bohe ies, spill rary ar l Art o a r galle contemp ts annu pecial i s e r g t s, mo rin hos ance l du enues m a r u o s s f V r y u e a . l p l d isp va Festi tions an ulpture d c bi exhi outdoor s eets. tr e s l i e h h w er t v o e tak

events.

what e wher when

tival t Fes r A 798 hina ng, C to Beiji mber e t p e of S 19th tober of Oc h t 5 2 ct istri 798 D

ite

webs

credits Libertas Team: Daniel Nunes Vladimíra Brávková Dragan Atanasov Kristijan Nikodinovski Scott Pinkster Christine Moore Ivana Galapceva Carolina Santana Evgenia Kostyanaya Marija Gavrilov Marina Danic Rjasnoj

Contributors for this issue: Alexandre Fonseca Claire Evgenia Kostyanaya Iris Yan Jelena Gavrilov Marija Gavrilov Marjan Angelovski Nevena Smilevska Petra Huijgen Tiberiu Iacomi Vladimira Bravkova

All texts published in Libertas represent solely the opinions of their authors, not of the magazine or of its publishers. Libertas and creACTive are not responsible in any way for the contents of the articles, or for the photos published with them.

23

Have you signed up? Send an empty message to hello@magazinelibertas.com and receive your personal copy of Libertas by e-mail every 5th in the month!

Have something to say? Contact us at hello@magazinelibertas.com and read your article in the next edition! about us: Youth Magazine Libertas was founded in September 2009 as a project of Youth Association creACTive.

Youth Magazine Libertas aims to be a place where young people from all over the world can share their thoughts and views on topics that matter for them, in this way starting discussions and working as a means of change for the future.

Every month, Libertas is published on the 5th, featuring articles about a different main topic and other kinds of articles such as movie, book and music reviews, travel destination, interview and brainstorm.

designed by Carolina Santana

front and back cover photos by alexandre fonseca. The illustrations, unless otherwise stated, by carolina santana.

Youth Association Creactive