Balkan Beats 33 - Change

Balkan Beats

Change

#33

FREE PRESS

A BIMONTHLY MAGAZINE BY THE VOLUNTEERS OF THE UNITED SOCIETIES OF BALKANS

Editorial

The 33rd Edition “There is nothing permanent except change” This

Heraclitus quote perfectly encompasses our approach to the topic of this edition of Balkan Beats: there is nothing normal, consistent or certain about our lives.

For everyone, 2020 has been a punch in the face

of normality, but what is normal? Is dumping up to almost 9 million tons of plastic per year into the ocean normal? Is it normal that we’ve seen a sharp resurgence in popularity of the far right in politics?

Endless wars continue to rage around the world, displacing millions and destroying homes and cultures, while authoritarian leaders stay in power as we sit on the sofa eating popcorn and watching Netflix. Perhaps Covid-19 isn’t so abnormal. Things can change for the better as well. COVID-19 has been a wake up call and has pushed people

Change

by Michael Magee and Filippo Massariol

into forming stronger connections, and to not take their loved ones for granted. Images of marine wildlife wrapped in plastic and of massive stagnant landfills have urged people to think of the environment. Not everything is dreadful in politics either; Greece saw its controversial neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party eradicated, and we can finally say goodbye to Donald Trump. Change is part of us.

You cannot swim in the same river twice; being is becoming.

In Balkan Beats 33, we will explore the topic from

various perspectives, and hopefully by the last page, you will see that change is inevitable and that you have the power to make your own decisions and to become who you are.

Balkan Beats, a part of Balkan Hotspot

Balkan Hotspot is the EVS (European Voluntary

changes in the Balkan and Eastern European Service) project of “United Societies of Balkans”, region and under the need for the creation of a a NGO founded in Thessaloniki in 2008 by a team better social environment. of active young people.

Key areas of the organization’s activities concern The Balkans and Eastern Europe are geograph- the defense of human rights, the organization of ical regions with many cultural features which youth exchanges and training courses, which will offer a broad spectrum of actions and youth in- bring young people from Balkans and Europe tovolvement initiatives. The organization was cre- gether, the organization of local educational semated as a response to the pressure of constant inars and multimedia production.

United Societies of Balkans is a Non Governmental Organization, founded in Thessaloniki in 2008, by a team of active young people. The organization was created as a response to the pressure of constant changes in the Balkan and Eastern European region and under the need for the creation of a better social environment. Key areas of the organization’s activities concern the defense of human rights, the organization of youth exchanges and training courses, which will bring young people from Balkans and Europe together, the organization of local educational seminars and multimedia pro- duction(webradio, videos, documentaries).

Main goals of the organization • To promote the values of non formal le- aring,volunteering, active citizenship and democracy for the creation of a better future for European youth.

• To promote human rights, solidarity and respect for diversity.

• To build healthy cooperation bridges between countries of the Balkan area and that of Eastern Europe with the rest of Europe.

• To locate and multiply the special cultural attributes of our societies.

• The break down of prejudices and stereo- types between Balkan countries.

UNITED SOCIETIES OF BALKANS, NGO

9, Alamanas str., Agios Pavlos, Thessaloniki

Property of Balkan Beats The United Societies of Balkans, NGO, does not necessarily share the opinions expressed in Balkan Beats. It is illegal to reproduce any part of this publication without referring to the source.

www.balkanhotspot.org

This magazine is distributed free of charge.

Tel./Fax: +30 2310 215 629 | www.usbngo.gr Cover © Hugo Veron

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Contents

Contents Volunteer Life Volunteer Voice

04

Politics

Thessaloniki calling

07

The change through travel

09

Do you want to hear a story?

USB News

12

Youth Work in Debate

Local Life SOLIDARITY

14

26

Jorge Bergoglio: being the Holy Father in the 21st century

Current events

16

18

They are not innocent Photography

22

The Dog Saviour My body my choice

48

How to help women grow Philosophy

51

Randomness as the engine of change

Mix Fix

30

Alert, change is not always for good Sci-fi and reality

34

Reflections

54

Prose on Change Future

Life on Mars

38

56

The Day After the Lie Music

Sustainable dietary transition Travel

Thoughts on Migration

society

sustainability

Food

Give and get…let’s change the way we live!

24

Out Of The Borders

40

60

How Technology Has Shaped Music Sustainable tips

“Nus et Culottés”, a new way of travelling

63

Sustainable self care

Science

43

The race for Humanity (Part I: Race as a social construct)

Poetry and Art

66

Changes

67

Energies are contagious

03

Volunteer Life Volunteer Voice

Thessaloniki calling The story of the change that turned my life and brought me from school classes to European

by Marco Scarangella volunteering

“There is nothing permanent except change”. With these words, the Greek philosopher Hera-

clitus summed up all his doctrine of change. Honestly, I’ve never really agreed with the thinker of Ephesus: for a good part of my life, I thought that each of us had a well-marked path to follow with determination and without hesitation. But in human life nothing is immutable and, borrowing another phrase from our Heraclitus, “Everything changes and nothing stands still”.

In recent months a real earthquake has hit my life.

Since I was a teenager, my goal has been to

become a teacher. I was influenced by the my father, who taught (and still teaches) humanities in a high school. I loved the passion he put into reading, studying and preparing lessons, the idea of being able to talk about my favourite topics in front of an “audience” every day excited me.

friendly towards me, I faced those months putting in all the passion, dedication and professionalism possible.

During that time, I was sure that no other job allows you to try so many different crafts at the same time.

So, since then, I have set my entire school career If you are a teacher, you are more than that. You on following in my father’s footsteps. First high are a psychologist, a judge, a lawyer, a social school, then the faculty of humanities at univerworker, a poet, a historian, a graphic designer, sity, every period of my youth has been nothing a mediator, a computer scientist, a nurse and a more than a stage of approaching the final goal secretary. You have the opportunity to be a difof teaching. ferent version of yourself; every day gave me an After so many years of study and effort, finally, extra thrill that pushed me to commit even more in 2016, I managed to get my first job in human- to my work. ities at middle school.

But unfortunately, very often in life, not all that I was excited; finally, my life project was starting glitters is gold. After the first beautiful experito come true! I admit that I also felt some anxiety ence in the teaching world, a little because of when I reached the desired goal; one is always some obstacles along the way, a little because of the feeling of having built a habit that inevitaafraid of losing it. bly began to present itself, in the following years That first experience as a teacher was incred- slowly my initial enthusiasm began to diminish. ible: despite the difficulties, the bureaucracy, If in the first year of teaching my spirit pushed and some older teachers not always being me to overcome all kinds of difficulties, then it

04

Volunteer Voice

Volunteer Life

became more and more complicated to face the obstacles that faced me.

I still haven’t figured out when that mechanism

that seemed to work so well had stopped working, but I began to question what until then had been one of the few certainties in my life, the fact that teaching was my way. The causes of this doubt could be anything, like the diversity of views with older colleagues, an outdated school system and the precariousness that forces young teachers to change schools every year without allowing them to give continuity to their work. However, still today, after many reflections, I have not yet identified the main one.

Once I lost the greatest certainty of my exis-

tence, nothing was as before, more and more often I felt depressed, angry and frustrated.

Later on, for about a year and a half, I had taught the Italian language to some African migrants in my city’s reception shelter.

I admit that this was one of the most difficult

and at the same time most satisfying challenges I have ever had. I met people from other cultures who had suffered so much and who, despite everything, were willing to put themselves again in the game, it was an experience that touched me deeply. Unfortunately, due to the decision of the Italian government to close most of the reception centres on national territory, this adventure came to an end and so I went back to teaching in public schools. Yet, as much as I tried to put all the determination and professionalism I could

“All the doubts, frustrations and confusion that have characterized the last years of my life have now vanished, there was no space for them on the plane that took me to Thessaloniki.”

© United Society of Balkans

into my work, I soon realized that those doubts had arisen as they did earlier. I understood that I needed to change, to try something different in another field of work. But often the fear of change slows us down, also because in the end when you want to twist your life, you know what you leave behind, but you never know what you find in the future. So I continued for months to do a job I was less and less convinced of.

Paradoxically to end this period of inner con-

fusion was the lockdown. It was suspending all kinds of activities for three months. Despite the hardness of this moment, it gave me the chance to meditate at length about my future, my dreams, my projects, my aspirations. The lockdown was the turning point of my existence, as well as for many other people. On the threshold of thirty, I realized that I needed a new experience away from home, to meet new people and to test my real value.

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Volunteer Life Volunteer Voice

After the lockdown, it’s like some kind of invisible hand guided me.

Talking to my best friend, she mentioned the pos-

sibility of participating in some European projects.

Despite my initial reluctance, I soon realized

that it could be my chance. So at the beginning of last summer, I decided to look for a project that could help me to improve both my skills and my person.

When I discovered the Balkan Hotspot project,

which could offer me the opportunity to work in media in a country like Greece which I always liked, I didn’t waste time, and I sent my application immediately. From that moment everything went so fast that, just a few months later, I have not yet managed to process what happened and I still can not explain the mix of emotions that I have experienced in recent weeks.

Now

I live with twenty-five other youngsters from different European countries. I meet new

people every day, share with them my deepest emotions, creating a real family with people that I didn’t know until a few weeks ago: all this for me was like going back to my college days, it was like being young again. I was also lucky to have found a place like Balkan Hotspot that allows me to unleash my creativity and learn new skills that will be useful to me in the future.

All the doubts, frustrations and confusion that

have characterized the last years of my life have now vanished, there was no space for them on the plane that took me to Thessaloniki.

Our dear Heraclitus claimed that “day by day,

what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become”. Trying to follow the advice of the Greek philosopher, when Thessaloniki called me, I didn’t hesitate even for a second before accepting its invitation.

© Marco Scarangella

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Volunteer Voice

Volunteer Life

The change through travel

Statistics of young travellers in the world

by Charlotte Remy

If you have the chance to travel, take this beautiful opportunity. It’s one of the most enriching

and positive experiences I have ever had. Discovering new places is so gratifying. There are many benefits like learning to enjoy the present, gaining self confidence, learning about another culture, making new friends, and focusing on yourself. So if you need to take a break and to open up to the world, this article is for you!

Statistics of young travellers in the world

More

and more young people want to go abroad to discover something new. Discovering another culture and another way of living is the primary motivation as well as for mindfulness, autonomy, maturity, self-confidence and of course learning a new language and developing professional skills.

According to 20minutes.fr, 75 % of young people between 18 and 30 years dream to live abroad for a long period of time.

ians and Spanish people usually move abroad to find more job opportunities or to flee from difficulties they met in their countries.

My personal travelling experience

My volunteering experience in Greece in the city

of Thessaloniki was amazing.

54% of them do humanitarian and ecological

work, and 44% try to learn new languages, because travelling abroad is a really enriching and rewarding experience.

The people who want to leave consider these adventures as significant and important. 55% of aspiring travellers encounter obstacles, personal and familiar, which don’t allow them to travel, as well as financial reasons.

Top Destinations for French people

Canada, United States and Australia are top des-

tinations for French people, while Greeks , Ital-

Š Hugo Veron

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Volunteer Life Volunteer Voice

© Bernardo Machado

I was not expecting to experience so much in

such a short time. It was my first experience as a volunteer and I stayed two months. I wanted to travel, to discover new horizons and to help Before coming to Greece, I was afraid of leavothers. My project was about media and human ing my country because currently with covid it’s becoming complicated to travel, but I had the rights with United Society of Balkans. chance to leave and I don’t regret anything as it I wrote articles for the blog “Balkan Hotspot”, was an enriching and unforgettable experience. and this article for the magazine Balkan Beats. And with this kind of experience, human connecI also participated in workshops in an associa- tions are, for me, the most important (to learn to tion which helps homeless people and refugees share and maintain solidarity).

(I collected, cooked, and distributed food).

This experience give me the desire to travel I learned another culture, another way of living somewhere else and to continue to discover and I discovered a beautiful place. the world !

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Volunteer Voice

Volunteer Life

Do you want to hear a story?

by Eirini Daskalaki

“Having graduated from the department of Philology on July 2019, asking myself “What do I

want to do with my life?”, I decided to look for an experience without books, exams and stress, through which I would gain some working experience and change on a personal level. Thanks to United Societies of Balkans, I finally found the volunteerism project that I was looking for, and without second thoughts, I decided to go to Italy!”

I welcomed the “happy” new year of 2020 while

ed to learn about the African culture, and Sicily I was preparing my suitcases and my boarding seems to be more easily accessible than Africa! passes with my final destination being Palermo of Sicily. Why Sicily? Because I was curious From January 2020, I started to volunteer in the about the “peculiar” socio-economic and politi- organization Per Esempio Onlus, where I met cal background of southern Italy and I also want- my supervisor Anna, my mentor Myriam and the

© Per esempio onlus

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Volunteer Life Volunteer Voice

spreading positivity daily. Along with the volunteers, we were preparing artistic activities for the kids and their meals. Due to the pandemic, the kindergarten has been closed since March, and unfortunately, I couldn’t meet these cheerful faces again.

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to support the activities of a Center for the empowerment of women in a less privileged neighborhood of Palermo. Along with the Social workers and the Spanish volunteers, we were visiting this Center three times per week, and we were meeting strong women coming to participate in various workshops aimed at, for example, studying for a school certificate, sewing, theatre, and handmade jewelry. Almost all of them were motivated to communicate, learn, create, and participate.

In February, we contributed to the preparation of © Per esempio onlus the carnival. In contrast, my favorite activity in volunteers of our group coming from France and May-July was the preparation of an open-air cinSpain. When I arrived in Italy I could understand ema. The women and the neighbors collaboratsome Italian, but I wasn’t able to communicate. ed and constructed chairs and pillows to use on Still, thanks to Per Esempio, I started an Italian course at University, and I could use the OLS “I had the opportunity to support the activities of a Center for the empowerment of women in a less privileged neighborhood of Palermo.”. (online linguistic support), a tool that is provided to every participant. As a linguist and having had previous experience in learning foreign languages, I assure you that by being in everyday interaction with native speakers, nine months are enough to learn a new language and communicate effectively.

In the beginning, my main activity was the support of a kindergarten with migrants of African descent, the energy and the smile of which were

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© Per esempio onlus

Volunteer Voice

Volunteer Life

© Per esempio onlus

© Per esempio onlus

the screening day. I was, am, and always will be grateful for my participation in these initiatives; I contributed to women’s empowerment. At the same time, I had the opportunity to learn about the management of these projects.

tancy on where to search for a job, how to write a CV and a motivation letter, how to present oneself in an interview), I broadened my knowledge in this topic. I acquired new skills useful for my next steps.

Of course, The pandemic and the lockdown

(March-May) impacted my enthusiasm for this ESC project. Throughout this period, my supervisor and our mentors supported us through video calls every week, and we found creative ideas for remote work, apart from the work that we had to do for the office. For example, along with the volunteers, we finally created a news series. Every week we were sharing videos in which we were presenting some good news about the world or recipes of typical food from our home countries. In the outbreak of the pandemic, we also helped our neighborhood’s families by offering groceries.

In the last period, after the summer holidays from September to mid-October, I continued working in the office, translating documents, and helping my supervisor with the CVs and the interviews of the new volunteers in the organization.

Through this activity, along with my participation in the consultancy service of professional orientation through activities of non-formal education provided to migrants from Africa (discussion on soft/hard skills and personal ambitions, consul-

“I contributed to women’s empowerment. At the same time, I had the opportunity to learn about the management of these projects.”

To sum up, I would say that despite the unfortu-

nate circumstances of the virus and the travel restrictions, this volunteerism project was the best life decision! In a professional level, you have the opportunity to acquire a working experience and to understand your strengths and weaknesses.

While on a personal level, you get out of your

comfort-zone, you meet people from different countries and even continents, you develop empathy, you communicate in other languages which is the norm of modern societies, and you also make a new network. In Sicily more specifically, despite the “peculiar’’ socio-economic and political situation, there are picturesque cities, a lot of history and a rich gastronomic culture worthy of discovery!

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Volunteer Life USB News

Youth Work in Debate Support youth opinions and raise your voice for young people

by Filippo Massariol, Michael Magee

Youth Work in Debate, is a two year long-term international Strategic Partnership funded by

the Erasmus+ Programme. The idea is to help young people participate more actively in a social and political sense and improve their critical thinking skills through debate methodology. The project will involve 60 youth workers & youngsters aged 18-21 years, respectively, from June 2019 to May 2021.

The Partners of the project are Bluebook, a com-

munication agency from Italy and United Societies of Balkans and Youth Empowerment Association from North Macedonia.

The program is divided into 3 phases. Current-

ly, the project is in the second one. Phase one

consists of training activities to motivate and prepare the participants for the subsequent activities. The next phase involves three different workshops in each country, conducted by youth workers who have completed the first phase, and monitored by people from the projects team.

In the 3rd and last phase, debate activities in

Š Olga Katsilidou

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USB News

Greece are conducted with the youth workers and the young people they work with.

First transnational meeting

“Youth Worker In Debate” officially started with the first transnational meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece, from 16-17 of July 2019. The meeting was hosted by USB – United Society of Balkans.

Two members of each organization attended the kick-off meeting. They discussed the preparation of the subsequent activities, the general lines of action, and the dates of the first youth exchange to be held later on in Turin, Italy.

“Debate as a skill is of the most importance, both in daily life and for further professional development of young people.”

An alternative phase one

On June 15th in Italy, Bluebook started work-

ing with the young participants on debate methodologies through Google Meet and Google Classroom. Due to the Covid emergency, the first workshop has been split into a series of virtual meetings. The participants had the opportunity to take part in a lecture about organizing and facilitating digital workshops about debate methodology.

Volunteer Life

Yannis Tsotsos, the project manager for USB, is

satisfied and enjoys participating in the project although the programme cannot advance as intended, due to the pandemic.

“So in KA2, we have several activities in the

partner countries of the project. In Youth worker in Debate, there was a mobility activity in Italy, where the participants created some tools on how to have a fruitful debate and how to support their own opinions. After that, the partner organisations had to do some local activities in order to share the results of the training course in Italy.

One of the activities was in the part of the project implemented in October, in which we shared those tools amongst our participants from the local community. We have two other activities to implement in order to share everything that was made up from this mobility activity in Italy.”

During these youth mobility sessions, participants are taught ways to better voice their opinion and support their arguments. Also, speech itself is improved, in that they are taught to speak more clearly and to raise their voice when speaking. According to Yannis, the project is quite fulfilling as he can see that the participants are motivated and are learning from the project results. sources: https://youthindebate.eu/

Luckily, in October, it was finally possible to conduct the project in Turin. This part is a preparatory phase for the upcoming workshops that will include 16 young participants from the local community in every participant country.

The activities aim to improve the skills of youth workers by exchanging good practices in youth sectors from the participating countries. © Olga Katsilidou

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Local Life SOLIDARITY

Give and get…let’s change the way we live!

Exploring Solidarity in Thessaloniki

by Filippo Massariol

Have you ever wondered how you can be helpful to someone else? Where is the thin line that divides normal from abnormal? Oxfam says the wealth of the richest 1 % is equal to the other 99%.

The capitalistic system has created an enor-

mous gap, never seen before, between the wealthiest and poorest members of this society. What we’ve thought to accept as normality for years, it’s now finally revealing itself as a big lie. One century of innovation and unstoppable consumerism has in part destroyed our planet and negatively impacted on our lives. But in this madness, many people think against the tide.

People with small changes, fight hard every day to get this world a better place. Today we met Verena and Dimitris, two members of Oikopolis, which is a social space part of the Ecological Movement Thessaloniki.

So what are the main activities you carry on?

Twice a week, we have the distribution of prima-

ry needs to people in need. On Saturday, we collect food from a market and cook for up to 300 homeless people. We provide furniture to support folks that are looking for a house or need health assistance but don’t have enough money

What is the aim of Oikopolis?

In a society that makes us strive to receive and

not to give, we love to share our idea with people to give and get. There is a difference between charity and solidarity, and the aim here is not only to help out but also to get the people involved. For example, the refugees: we’ve tried all these years to make them part of our activities, making them cook for the local people and distribute the food. We’ve created an interaction, so also Greeks can understand how refugees want to be part of our society and not just to take, as the politicians or the media try to convince us for their propaganda. Everyone gives what they can give, and everyone gets what they can get.

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Food distribution

© Oikopolis

SOLIDARITY

Local Life

job. And still, it’s not simple to get employed even for greek people, and if you don’t speak the language, it’s quite hard.

© Hugo Veron

So also with the previous government, nothing concrete was done to help the migrants, but now there is no kind of support.

to pay for. Further, Oikopolis organizes language [For more details on the new law read the next courses for refugees. We try to involve them also article of this magazine “Thougts on Migrain environmental activities. More often nowa- tion” ED.] days, people are obliged to migrate because of What do you think about it climate change, and it’s a serious issue we need personally? to tackle.

What is the background of the people you help out in the street?

They are mostly refugees, and the number keeps changing since they don’t want to stay in Greece, but they’re trying to go to Northern Europe through the Balkan Route. Their number has reduced during the covid-19 pandemic, so somehow they found a way to leave the country. Many of them are still illegal without papers though as they haven’t had their asylum request approved during the lockdown, and Greece’s new laws about refugees haven’t helped much.

How is the government responding to the refugee crisis?

In the last years, we’ve seen that Greece, in one line with European Union, is showing people from all the countries of the “unlucky part of the world” that Europe is not a good place: “Don’t come to Europe you will stay in camps like Moria, you will not have support or find work.” They want to show this. On the other side, the government tries to get asylum and documents quicker.

The applications are not t aken into account with all the appropriate details, and many people are obliged to return to their countries, which most of times means to remain in the islands. But I want to add this is just my personal thought, even though what’s been happening recently in Moria and all around Greece is showing us that this is not the solution.

The new government, elected at the beginning

of July 2019, implemented different laws that made things difficult for migrants; now, it’s tough to get asylum. The procedure is quicker, but for fewer people.

Before, the precedent legislation was certainly

more open. Back then, once the request was approved, it was possible to move to an apartment paid by the government to integrate and find a

“Trash Art” one of Oikopolis’projects

© Oikopolis

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Local Life Current events

Thoughts on Migration

Reflections about Greece’s approach to the migrants crisis

by Maria Roidi

Greece has a new center-right government since the sum mer of 2019. Its approach to im-

migration is quite different from that of its predecessors, with more measures and restrictions being taken for asylum seekers. The government claims that this will make the system more efficient but some organizations do not seem convinced.

Until the summer of 2019, the Greek refugee reception centers were under the management of the Ministry of Immigration. On July 8, 2019, the newly elected government decided to transfer the responsibility of the centers to the Ministry of Citizen Protection - which is responsible for Greece’s public security services.

Compared to the government of Alexis Tsipras, the new government has taken a tougher line on immigration, denouncing its predecessors for the mistreatment of the refugee crisis and the abandonment of people in inhumane conditions in overcrowded refugee camps. In addition, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has launched

© @UNHCR https://www.facebook.com/UNHCRGREECE/photos/5037810092910875

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Current events

Local Life

an investigation into alleged irregularities involving EU funds granted to Greece under the Tsipras government to improve the living conditions trapped for more than a year on the Greek islands in inhumane conditions, suffering from a lack of of immigrants and refugees. safe food, water, medical care and housing. The In the summer of 2019, the Greek government Human Rights Watch issued a press release on of Nea Dimokratia announced that it would not December 4, 2019, urging the Greek government provide health cards to non-EU nationals, thus to take steps to ensure basic rights, services and preventing refugees and immigrants from ac- security for women and girls in Moria and other cessing the Greek health system. Parliament hotspots on the islands. also passed a controversial new asylum law, aimed at speeding up the process. In addition, “Thousands of people have the government announced the closure of the been and are trapped for more notorious reception and identification centers in than a year on the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean, the creation of new closed inhumane conditions.” detention centers, and the conversion of open refugee accommodation centers located on the The new law 4636/2019 on asylum aims to supmainland into controlled centers. port the Greek Authorities in dealing with asylum According to the law 4375/2016, new arrivals applications faster. My personal thought is that should stay in these centers for a maximum of by this method the asylum process will in fact 25 days. Until recently, the 5 RICs located on the be faster, however the applications are not takislands served as registration centers as well en into account with all the appropriate details and many people are obliged to return to their “The Greek government of countries. As a lawyer, I had 2 cases with asylum Nea Dimokratia announced that it seekers who had the authorities decline their apwould not provide health cards to plication twice. The next step was to apply to the non-EU nationals.”

Greek Courts and try to win the case in court.

The process is very slow, as the people do not have their papers, and also do not have money, as open accommodation centers for asylum and still, after 3-4 months, we are waiting for the seekers and persons subject to the return / re- Court Decision. patriation process. In fact, these centers housed refugees and migrants for more than 25 days, until repatriation or asylum procedures were finalized. Only on the mainland, the Outpost center operated for registration procedures with a real stay of up to 25 days.

From the beginning of the refugee crisis until

today, thousands of people have been and are

© @UNHCR © https://www.facebook.com/UNHCRGREECE/photos /a.130156750342925/4934413636583855

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Local Life Current events

They are not innocent by Àlex Sánchez Aragón

This motto was exclaimed all over Greece regarding the trial of the neo-Nazi party Gold-

en Dawn. The court of Athens declared that this extremely far-right movement was guilty of acting as a criminal organization and not a political party, which meant a turning point for Greek politics.

5,5 years. 453 sessions. 216 witnesses. These

the murder of the Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas in 2013, which was a milestone in this story.

are some of the numbers of the long-awaited conclusion of the Golden Dawn trial that start- The beginning of the trial ed back in 2015 and has ended up with a major result: the neo-Nazi movement was operating as On the night of the 18th of September 2013, Pava criminal organization under the guise of a po- los Fyssas, also known by his stage name Killah litical party.

P, was fatally stabbed when 20 men dressed in black assaulted him when he left from a bar in In total, 35 members are now in prison facing his hometown Athens, in the neighborhood of terms up to 13 years, including the leader Ni- Keratsini. Although Golden Dawn always denied kolaos Michaloiakos, imprisoned for leading a any link with the murder, an investigation arose, criminal organization. Other members are behind and their main leaders, Michaloiakos included, bars for participating on the net that ordered were arrested and sent temporarily to prison. many victims’ assassination and assaulting. The most significant sentence is for Giorgos Roupa- In April 2015, the case against Golden Dawn kias, who is facing a life sentence after admitting started with three major cases to solve out: the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, the attempted murder of three Egyptian fishermen in Piraeus port in 2012, and the assault on the Greek Communist party trade union PAME in 2013.

Under the umbrella of these three big incidents,

© Hugo Veron

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the prosecutors began a trial that had to prove that every action involving Golden Dawn members or supporters was not individual or isolated but coordinated to attack the dissidents: immigrants, communists, LGTBIQ+ people, or any hu-

Current events

Pavlos Fyssas memorial in Keratsini, Athens

Local Life

© Àlex Sánchez Aragón

man being differing from their supremacist ide- browsed through his four notebooks with hunology. On the other side, the defendants denied dreds of details of every single racist case. any direct link with the attacks and said this trial was “politically motivated” and a “conspiracy”.

In the same vein, an expert on far-right movements and professor at the University of Reading Despite the court’s historic decision that took in the UK, Daphne Halikiopoulou, stresses that vithese criminals to jail, some experts and wit- olence was the “key existence” of Golden Dawn, nesses focus on the shades of this case and the and the police and political elites were aware of meaning of this verdict. those episodes. “There were reports about those attacks, and lots of parties turned the blind eye until Pavlos Fyssas murder became the catalyst,” she argues.

“Former Golden Dawn member

Ilias Kasidiaris has formed the new political party “Greece for the Greeks” and is sharing his message from the prison..”

Even harsher on this topic, the Greek journalist Aris Chatzistefanou, who has produced three documentaries regarding fascism, highlights that the ideas of Golden Dawn “are still alive” in the extreme right-wing section of New DemocJaved Aslam has been the president of the Pa- racy. This conservative party is now leading kistani Community in Greece since 2005, and Greece and was ruling the country when Golden he has been writing down every attack on immi- Dawn entered the Parliament in 2012. grants since the rise of Golden Dawn in 2009. “It took four years to have an arrested person; the Despite this fact, the current Greek Prime MinisGovernment was doing nothing,” he says, as he ter Kyriakos Mitsotakis said this was a “traumat-

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Local Life Current events

Together ic cycle in the country’s public life” and stated it’s now a “closed chapter.”

“In terms of the party and the structure, it is dis-

mounted as many leaders left or created other parties, plus they closed down their website and

“Lefteris Papagiannakis: “The voters of Golden Dawn keep a low profile now, but if they have the opportunity, they will come out again.” shut down their offices. But the narrative, the language, and the attitudes are still there”, explains Lefteris Papagiannakis, member of Golden Dawn Watch, an observatory of the trial set up in 2015 to follow the procedure in the courthouse and deliver the process through social media. “This verdict puts limits to democracy; our institutions have set these limits; outside these boundaries, you are out,” he adds.

with associations like the Hellenic League of Human Rights, they have been informing of what was happening inside the court since the beginning. “Every day, two of us were inside taking hand writing notes, and then we sent it to someone from the team who made a report and posts for Facebook and Twitter”, he explains.

Trying to be objective was their main goal: “A member of Golden Dawn was complaining that we were informing about the trial, when actually we were just posting the exact same words he said to the judge”, he recalls.

The future

Considering the rise of Golden Dawn was asso-

ciated partly with the economic crisis of 2009, a question arises as the coronavirus pandemic may lead to a new critical era for Greek citizens; will they trust again in the extreme right to solve their problems? Who is going to inherit Golden Dawn legacy?

Daphne Halikiopoulou sheds some light on this topic: “If anything, the pandemic has damaged

Pavlos Fyssas poster at the office of the Pakistani Community in Omonia, Athens

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© Àlex Sánchez Aragón

Current events

Local Life

© Hugo Veron

these parties, not helped them. The immediate reaction in a pandemic is to vote for competence; you tend to support those who have ex- These types of comments show the hardcore perience in governing, you don’t vote to protest”. voters of Golden Dawn, according to PapagiHowever, it remains to be seen what will happen annakis. “They should have some type of rein the future. morse, but fascism is something you have in you.” “They keep a low profile now, but if they Actually, one of the most charismatic and vi- have the opportunity, they will come out again,” olent leaders of Golden Dawn, Ilias Kasidiaris, he stresses. Also, Javed, who has been dealing has created a new party called “Greece belongs with racism for more than ten years in Greece, to Greeks” and has been rallying around the says, “fascism will never end, and they will try to country before entering prison. Even now con- stand up again.” victed as a criminal, he gets support from his fanbase on Youtube, with comments like “God As somehow a sacred metaphor, for Javed, bless you and unveil the conspiracy,” “we found this was like a giant stone that fell from heaven our leader in the jail,” or “keep your head high, and hid down all those dark ages. Let’s hope for eagles fly high now.” a long time.

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Local Life

Photography

The Dog Saviour

by Hugo Veron

“At the end of October 2020 I met Giannis Lazari-

di, the dog saviour, who is a member of an organization that rescues abandoned dogs. 4 years ago he started a dog shelter, “Ζεστή Αγκαλιά,” with his partner and few friends. He rescued 70

© Hugo Veron

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dogs from the street, not only in good health, and with Giannis’s skills, passion and love they are now safe and looked after. I followed him for one day and captured some beautiful moments.”

© Hugo Veron

Photography

Local Life

© Hugo Veron

© Hugo Veron

© Hugo Veron

© Hugo Veron

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Local Life

Photography

My body my choice

by USB volunteers

23-29 November 2020: #HotspotWeek for the

to decide freely what to do with their own bodies, facing taboos and prejudice, as laws often do Elimination of Violence against Women not guarantee their fundamental rights and fail This year Balkan Hotspot decided to dedicate to protect them. a whole week full of initiatives to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence During the week we gave space to the voices of those who work with women and for the womagainst Women (25th of November). en to present their work and discuss various asViolence against Women is a very broad topic pects of gender-based violence. that includes many aspects, so we decided to focus the attention on what is often the centre From the personal contribution of the ESC volof discussion and the target of discrimination: unteers of United Societies of Balkans to interviews with organizations from all over Europe, female BODY. such as Amnesty International Polska (Poland) From denying the right to abortion to accusing and Lucha y Siesta (Italy), we offered different rape victims of “asking for it� just because of the points of view which can be great opportunities way they were dressed, women are still unable to reflect on this hot topic and to take action.

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Photography

Local Life

© Sara Angioletti

© Alejandro Sánchez Aragón

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Out Of The Borders Politics

Jorge Bergoglio: being the Holy Father in the 21st century The Pope’s attempt to change the Catholic Church

by Sara Angioletti

Pope Bergoglio has often rocked the clergy and the entire Catholic community with his

speeches and gestures: a persona so different from his conservative predecessors, an opportunity for the Catholic Church to renew itself. From Twitter to climate change, from terrorism to same-sex unions, can his statements, therefore, be considered as a mental shift of the Catholic Church to survive in the 21st century?

“After making my confession I felt something er he became the spiritual guide of the city he had changed. I was not the same. I had heard served and loved so deeply. something, like a voice, or a call. I was convinced After being appointed cardinal by Pope John that I should become a priest”.

Paul II in 2001, he has faced some of the most Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born in Buenos Aires in challenging times for Argentina in recent de1936, was a chemist and used to work in a lab- cades. During the riots of the same year, Beroratory before receiving the “call” that led him goglio led the Argentinian Catholic community to join the Jesuits in 1958. After fifteen years through a political, economic and social crisis, of training, he took his final vows in April 1973, always standing by the side of the poorest and without knowing that his faith would lead him most forgotten. In such a way that the adminisdirectly to Vatican City, to hold the highest eccle- tration of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner saw him siastical office of the Catholic Church. as a political opponent.

An ordinary Argentinian who decided to dedicate But his true revolutionary nature showed up afhis life to God and others, inspired by a spiritual calling. His closeness to the most suffering and the most marginalized and the rejection of material wealth for a fairer and more just world, have allowed him to distinguish himself. So much that he was named Argentina’s provincial superior of the Society of Jesus at a surprisingly young age, and appointed successor of Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Only ten years lat-

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ter his election as the successor of Pope Benedict XVI, as bishop of Rome. To great surprise, the conclave, after two days of closure, elected him the new Pope, head of the Catholic Church.

A persona, so different from his conservative predecessor, an opportunity for the Catholic Church to renew itself. Starting from the luxury and privileges that have always accompanied members of the Catholic clergy and rose numer-

Politics

Out Of The Borders

ous discussions among the Catholic community, but also strong opposition from the more conas they are far from the principles of humility servative ecclesiastical members. and charity that the Catholic faith promotes.

Pope Francis, even after his election, did not In fact Pope Bergoglio chose “Francis” as his let the weight of his role darken his personality official name, a name never used before by any and silence his ideas of change and modernity. of his predecessors. St. Francis, one of the best known figures in Catholic Christianity, symboliz“Homosexual people have a right es humility and detachment from earthly goods. to be in a family.”

Son of a rich merchant, St. Francis left everything he owned to live a milder life in the name of earthly poverty, but rewarded by spiritual wealth. For example, his Twitter profile @Pontifex, with more than 18 million followers, is one of the “The Lord comes to inaugurate his kingdom with most followed in the world: “communicating is his humility, removing us from every comfort- perhaps the challenge that we have with young able dream of ecclesiastical power and vanity” people,” the Pope said. Priests, pastors, bishops, were his words during one of his speeches to the even Popes have to learn how to speak with the youngest members of the community because Catholic community in Buenos Aires. “the church grows through attraction, not proseBut this was only the beginning of his attempt lytism”, he added. to change the rules of the Catholic Church: his speeches and gestures have often rocked the His social profiles were just one of the means clergy and the entire Catholic community, some- through which Pope Francis launched his mestimes receiving great approval from the public sages and often also some provocation. TED

© Mazur

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Out Of The Borders Politics

© Alfredo J G A Borba

conferences, speeches at the United Nations General Assembly or the U.S Congress: Bergoglio has never lost an opportunity to make everyone hear his voice and take a stand on the most current problems of society.

In 2015 Pope Francis discussed migration at

a U.S. congress assembly: “the people of this continent are not fearful of foreigners because most of us were once foreigners”. The following year, after President Trump’s decision of building a wall to divide the U.S from Mexico due to the unstoppable flow of migrants that tried to enter the country illegally, he remarked his position once again. He pointed out provocatively that “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian”.

In 2016, when the migrant crisis was at its peak in Europe, Bergoglio visited the Greek island of Lesbos, where there is one of the largest refugee camps in the country, which shelters migrants from the Middle East who try to reach Europe by

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crossing the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coasts.

He returned to Vatican City accompanied by 12 migrants from Syria: in a statement published in the bulletin of the press office of the Holy See, he spoke of a welcoming gesture towards them and all the others that risked their life looking for a better future. Gestures and words that wanted to be an example for other European countries that have not found an agreement on how to manage the flow of migrants from Asia and Africa yet.

Also in 2015, following the terrorist attacks in

France, Bergoglio stood up for Islam, criticised by many as a foment of fundamentalist groups: “I don’t think is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not just and is not true”.

Worried about the world’s environmental situ-

ation, Pope Francis also expressed his opinion on climate change. During his opening speech at the 2019 Climate Action Summit, he said: “while the situation is not good and the planet is suffering, the window of opportunity is still open. Still.

We are still in time”. He urged rulers and private

Politics

Out Of The Borders

companies to do more in the fight against global comment has raised many doubts, especially warming as the results expected after the sign- among the more conservative members of the ing of the Paris agreement had not been at the Catholic clergy. height of expectations.

“The feature-length film, directed by Evgeny Bergoglio also spoke on the shocking events Afineevsky, tells the story of Francis’s papacy of the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic and over the past seven and a half years, covering the lockdown. At the General Assembly of the many of the trips he made before the COVID-19 United Nations in 2020, he gave a speech during pandemic and his handling of the sexual abuse which he remarked how much the pandemic had scandals that have engulfed the church” explains shown the fragile nature of men.

The Guardian.

With his words, he underlined one of the most However, the position taken towards same-sex discussed aspects of the response to the pandemic, the lack of access to medical care for all. COVID-19 has highlighted the social gap between the wealthiest segment, that can pay for analysis and medical treatments. And the poorest, that often don’t even have the resources to get masks or soap. “The pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to promote public health and to make every person’s right to basic medical care a reality”.

unions does not imply acceptance of gay marriage for the Catholic Church: the Pope, in fact, speaks about legal protection, the creation of a law that protects same-sex couples, not of the opening of the institution religious marriage to same-sex couples.

Despite this, the Pope’s comments are certainly

a leap forward in modernity: Bergoglio himself in fact in 2010, when he was still in Argentina, opposed to the plan of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner Homosexual people have a right to be in a fam- to legally allow homosexual unions saying that ily. [...] What we have to create is a civil union “every child deserves a mother and a father”. law. That way, they are legally covered. I stood up for that.”

Considering all his statements, is the Pope doing his best to overcome the bigotry that for But it was only a few days ago that Pope Francis some characterizes the Catholic Church to make shocked the world for the umpteenth time with a it more inclusive? statement that one would never have expected from the head of the Catholic Church.

“Each of you, dear friends, carries a life story that speaks of drama and war […]. But each of you His words came in an interview in a documen- carries above all a richness of humanity and relitary film titled “Francesco”, which premiered at gion, a richness to be welcomed, not feared. We the Rome Film Festival on the 21st of October. must not be afraid of the differences!

It is probably the most explicit comment on same-sex unions ever made by a pontiff. This Pope Francis

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Out Of The Borders sustainability

Alert, change is not always for good Climate Change, a real struggle becoming a challenge for the XXIst Century

by Bérénice Chapon

Nowadays, climate change is a very accurate topic. Everyone knows about recycling and

consuming less. However, is knowing sufficient enough to change our behaviors? This article is trying to understand this by showing that changes do not always occur for good.

Climate change is a global transition that af- Take the example of sea and ocean pollution. fects us all. It is also a very present theme implying many consequences. Climate change is closely linked to human activity on Earth. These are long-term changes primarily created by human overconsumption of energy.

Some of these consequences are:

The oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and alone contain phenomenal pollution. Much of the plastic waste ends up decomposing in the ocean. This kind of pollution is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the tons of plastics dumped in the world’s oceans led to the involuntary creation of a 6th continent made entirely of plastic.

These different plastics take thousands of years to disintegrate and will, therefore affect the entire maritime ecosystem. Most of the fish we eat have first ingested the plastics that we reject. So, ironically, all this overconsumption has pushed us to swallow our waste and those against our sandstone. Men and their way of consuming are the only ones responsible for our current food poisoning.

Another consequence of global warming is the ris-

And it affects all sectors...

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© Sara Angioletti

ing waters due to the melting of glaciers in the Arctic Ocean. This phenomenon, combined with the consequent release of CO2 into the atmosphere, is responsible for acidifying the oceans and its global warming. This result will have severe consequences for the future of flora and fauna of each ocean.

The first will be the change of species in some environments, others will be forced to adapt, and a final category of species will disappear. This category broadly includes polar bears, which are already in great danger of extinction.

sustainability

Out Of The Borders

on microplastics through specialized filters. This unprecedented action will allow French and European scientists to map pollution by microplastics in ocean waters and assess their synthetic saturation. Unfortunately, these initiatives are still relatively rare, and cleaning and environmental protection campaigns are rarely of interest to those with the financial means.

Some changes in mentality are already visible

© @pxmolina Source: https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international/ photos/a.165558403299/10158350180618300

In recent years, the acidification of the oceans has had the effect of destroying one of the world’s greatest submarine treasures: the Great Barrier Reef, located off the Australian coast.

This treasure loses its splendor every day. Corals have been around for several hundred years and cannot stand adaptation or sudden changes in their habitat. If this barrier is destroyed, the en“Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it”

but remain insufficient. Every year, since 2018, in the context of Fridays for Future Movement, garbage and beach clean-ups are organized to make a difference. Fridays for Future Movement is an international initiative put forward by some ecological activists like Greta Thunberg to promote a greener future for the world. The aim is to show people that it is time to act and change the way we consume and recycle. This is the case for the United Societies of Balkans, which, through the Balkan Hotspot project, took the initiative to clean up last June the city of Thessaloniki and Perea’s beach. If you are interested in this initiative, the article can be found on the website balkanhotspot.org and is entitled “World Environment Day 2020 in Thessaloniki: Cleaning the City Center and Perea Beach”.

The phenomenon of climate change has been in the media for a few years now. Thankfully, more attention has been paid to our daily actire underwater balance will collapse. Fish and tions. However, a section of the population, other animals that lived there will be forced to qualified as climate skeptics, do not considmove further south or north, leaving this part of the ocean abandoned. The food chain system will be broken, and the consequences will follow one another. Climate change is all about the snowball effect. Every minimalist action leads to irreplaceable and unpredictable repercussions that challenges the global balance.

— Tony Blair

However, some people are aware of the urgency

of the situation. For example, the French skipper Fabrice Amedeo proposes to put his Vendée Globe at the world’s service by collecting data

© https://www.facebook.com/FabriceAmedeoNavigateur/ photos/3772423149458198

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Out Of The Borders sustainability

© https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international/photos/10158064054288300

er global warming to be a real phenomenon.

Moreover, all of this advertising had the oppo- fields of exploration. The conquest of space is site effect on some people. They felt less and seen as a powerful solution to this problem. less concerned about this cause and trivialized its consequences. It is a negative awareness, “It’s not a choice between our which creates a societal phenomenon of trivialenvironment and our economy; it’s a ization of the urgency of action.

Solutions are being considered, but they do not seem convincing enough given the extent of the problem. An international convention was organized under the name of the Paris Agreement. This convention has different aims, keeping the increase in temperature below 2 degrees for the next few years, reducing the emission of gases that contribute to global warming… However, these are long-term decisions that take time to be applied and years to notice positive outcomes.

choice between prosperity and decline.”

— Barack Obama

However, is this a possible solution? This “solu-

tion” remains only temporary. Indeed, if human behavior is not modified and adapted to its environment, changing the planet will only delay the problem. Men will perform the same actions and reproduce their current behavior with extraordinary recklessness since unconsciously, they will tell themselves that another planet will always be colonized to ensure the human species’ surSome have chosen a more radical solution: vival. In this case, human ambition brings no space. Indeed, the planet Mars opens up new positive change.

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sustainability

Therefore, the best solution to all this excessive pollution would be a local action method for global changes. Everyone at their level must do small daily steps to reduce our rate of waste and pollution. This can involve adapting their diet to consume less meat, the farms consuming a lot, and recycling. At a broader level, we need each government and global actors’ help to implement drastic decisions that will enable everyone to consider the future more serenely.

Indexes:

Ultimately, changes are essential, but we must all make sure that we move forward in a united and positive manner.

-Journal de 20h France 2

Out Of The Borders

© Balkan Hotspot

-The consequences of global warming: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/ https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming/Environmental-consequences-of-global-warming

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-jt/france-2/20-heures/ -Fabrice Amedeo internet page https://fabriceamedeo.com/fr/ -Fridays for Future Movement https://fridaysforfuture.org/#:~:text=%23FridaysForFuture%20is%20a%20movement%20that%20began%20in%20 August,the%20lack%20of%20action%20on%20the%20climate%20crisis.

-Paris Convention https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement#:~:text=%20Some%20 of%20the%20key%20aspects%20of%20the,–%20The%20 Paris%20Agreement%20establishes%20binding...%20 More%20 -Quotes: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Global-Warming-Is-Too-Serious-For-The-F3BW3C9QKPTDX

© https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international/photo s/a.10157116483473300/10157118692798300

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/04/22/ldquoa-choice-between-prosperity-and-declinerdquo

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Out Of The Borders Sci-fi and reality

Life on Mars

by Michael Magee

It seems that all too regularly we are confronted with a news story that tells us how our

planet is suffering. We have record amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and there is plenty of evidence to show us that ice caps are melting and permafrost is receding in the arctic.

All these weather changes are having a heavy impact on ecosystems all over the world as a staggering number of species continue to be under the threat of extinction. Then there are the political tensions; World War 3 seems to be around the corner, the far right is rising and new conflicts are continuously popping up here and there, not to mention the ever present possibility of nuclear war which will undoubtedly put the nail in the coffin of Mother Earth. People have been thinking about a plan B: an extreme last resort to save our species should something happen to our planet; maybe it’s time to colonise another one.

So which planet should we choose? Mercury

has no atmosphere and the temperature drops hundreds of degrees between day and night. If you decide to continue in that direction, you’ll find yourself on Venus; if you bought a frozen pizza here and left it on your windowsill, it would cook in 9 seconds. Other planets don’t even have a surface for us to stand on. You don’t need to be Stephen Hawking to know that these conditions wouldn’t be the best for human beings.

Talk about life on the 4th rock from the sun

been studying the planet for decades, and was the first to notice that it had polar ice caps just like the ones we have on earth, and also figured out that it had a 24 hour day. The idea of martian exploration has become more widespread since science fiction came into the limelight especially in cinema, since Thomas Edison’s A Trip To Mars in 1910. It wasn’t until as recently as 1976 that we actually managed to explore the surface of Mars using a rover, and now Elon Musk’s SpaceX have made it their goal to get human boots over there too.

known as Mars goes back as far as 1698, when Christiaan Huygens made speculations on its There are plenty of reasons to believe that it physical state and its orbit, writing one of the first could theoretically work, but there are signifipublications about extraterrestrial life. He had cant obstacles.

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Sci-fi and reality

Are we there yet?

First of all, we need to think about how we are

planning to actually get to Mars, and SpaceX’s Starship is the main candidate. The cost of refurbishing previous models of space shuttle can be about the same as producing new ones; this is because the external tank, a huge fuel container attached to the shuttle containing a little over 2 million litres of fuel (that’s 6,666 full bathtubs),

“no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.”

— SpaceX terms of ser vice

burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere when it detaches from a shuttle. Starship is completely reusable; when its fuel tank detaches, it lands on its feet back on earth. The Starship shuttle itself is then refuelled in Earth’s orbit by another Starship stationed, for example, on the moon, before it makes the long journey to Mars. When it reaches Mars’ orbit after 5 to 7 months, it will be travelling at 25 times the speed of sound and so it needs to execute a very specific manoeuvre in order to land. It will also be burning up, and therefore needs to be made of a strong heat resistant material like steel, which is conveniently cheaper than carbon fiber which is more typically used on spacecrafts.

Out Of The Borders

Perhaps the most interesting fact about Starship

is the costs being significantly lower than previous launches. A SpaceX launch could cost over 400 million dollars less than the current average cost of launching. The fact that it is reusable and uses cheaper materials contributes to this fact; it is predicted that a launch could cost as little as 2 million dollars. SpaceX has plans to produce hundreds of Starships in the coming years, so the degree of human presence in space has the potential to grow exponentially, with each Starship carrying 100 people and 150 metric tonnes of cargo.

We’ve landed, now what?

Well, actually, before humans set foot on Mars

there needs to be some equipment waiting for them at the surface. That’s why in 2024 SpaceX aims to send uncrewed Starships to deliver essentials such as solar panels and equipment for a mining system, the latter of which will be used to process water and CO2, with the long

SpaceX’s 120 metre tall Starship

© CNET - https://www.cnet. com/news/spacex-willstream-potentially-fireworksfilled-starship-test-flight/

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Out Of The Borders Sci-fi and reality

A rendition of a Martian city containing domes with a controlled atmosphere

© https://www.humanmars.net/2019/04/1-million-human-colony-city-on-mars-by.html

term goal in mind of converting them into fuel through the Sabatier Process, which produces oxygen and methane. On top of all of this, at least a year’s supply of water and dehydrated food will be needed for the crew members to sustain themselves. When the first crewed missions arrive, there will unfortunately be a long way to go before a settlement can be established because of one huge and unavoidable obstacle: money.

net project which is currently in its beta testing phase, but more private investment will inevitably be needed.

If, however, we decide to change the atmosphere of the planet itself, we need to bring water back to the surface. This will allow flora and fauna to thrive on the dead planet, which will begin to look more like earth as a result. This is called terraforming, and sounds like science fiction but is Estimates for building a city on Mars range from in fact theoretically possible albeit undoubtedly 100 billion to ten trillion dollars because of the costly too. amount of equipment and resources that are needed to set up the miniature Truman Show- Due to permafrost, most water has gone undertype biodomes (probably at least 1 million tons ground or is frozen in ice caps, so Mars needs of cargo). There will need to be at least a year’s to be heated up as the average temperature worth of food and water supplies on board the is minus 60 degrees celsius, colder than anyStarships, since starting cultivation on Mars, at where on Earth. This is because it doesn’t have least on the first mission, is something of a long a “thermal blanket”, i.e. greenhouse gases. shot. There is talk, however, of testing the effica- Luckily, carbon dioxide can be found on Mars, cy of a greenhouse on Mars during these first ex- but it’s 1% as thick as our own, and much more peditions; in fact, placing a greenhouse on Mars of it is locked away in ice caps. There have been was Elon Musk’s initial plan for putting life on the suggestions about using giant mirrors to catch sunlight which will then be directed towards red planet. this ice, increasing not just CO2 but also water How all of this will be funded is a mystery; vapour which is another powerful greenhouse most likely, a significant fraction of it will gas. Essentially, terraforming Mars entails decome from SpaceX’s Starlink, a satellite inter- liberately triggering global warming.

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Sci-fi and reality

We’ve settled, now what?

Something that must be considered before we

Out Of The Borders

ica seemed to work well to begin with; life was peaceful, open and free. Eventually however, lawlessness took over the little utopia, which eventually started to militarize itself as relations with the outside world became increasingly tense.

Eventually the commune completely dissolved.

If we take this idea of starting fresh to the other extreme of scale and severity we can argue that this is what the Soviets tried to do; this regime produced oppressive dictatorships and resulted in the deaths of millions of people. Even the Nazis wanted, in essence, to reset the world with a clean slate.

set up a society on Mars is how it will be governed. One of the main arguments for attempting this mission in the first place is the idea that society is failing; not only is Earth’s natural state declining, but the threat of man-made armageddon is something that people are frightfully aware of and want to escape. There are no existing international laws about settling anywhere other than Earth however, and SpaceX’s terms of service even claim explicitly that “no Earthbased government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities,” so the practicalities of Colonizing Mars will be a long, gruelling, and governing Mars is a topic worthy of discussion. extremely difficult process. The cost of it is almost inconceivable, with the 100 billion dollar The people who want to flee Earth might be estimate mentioned earlier being a relatively unthinking that it would be wise to start completely realistic estimate for just one city. If we can raise fresh, but would this be a wise choice? ‘Start- this amount of money and find the technology to ing fresh’ has, in the past, not worked so well. accomplish such an awesome task, maybe we While it can be argued that this is a trivial exam- should ask ourselves: can’t we put the same efple, the Rajneesh anarchist commune in Amer- fort into saving our own planet?

A rendition of Martian land and ocean based on topographical relief.

© SteamCommunity, Spacemutant14

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Out Of The Borders Food

Sustainable dietary transition Vegetarianism, veganism and flexitarianism, emerging trends? by Hélène Vallée (Volunteer at Action Art)

In recent years we have heard a lot about vegetarianism, veganism and flexitarianism.

These modes of food consumption are benefiting from a fertile ground that facilitates dietary change, particularly through the growing media coverage, the development of the plant-based offer, the introduction of vegetarian menus in collective catering... But what is the reality of the phenomenon?

Vegetarianism is still a marginal trend, so that

To begin with, what do the terms vegetarian,

vegan and flexitarian mean and what are their differences? Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes the consumption of meat and fish but not the consumption of foods of animal origin such as eggs or milk. Not to be confused with veganism, which is a way of life. A vegan person excludes all products of animal origin and adopts an animal-friendly lifestyle (clothing, cosmetics, leisure activities, etc.). As far as flexitarianism is concerned, it corresponds to a reduction in meat consumption, and is practised in different ways: by applying a “meat-free day”, by not eating meat at every meal or by reducing the size of portions.

it is still difficult to establish the profile of a vegetarian in every country. Nevertheless, the phenomenon seems to attract more women, people under 35 and urban populations or those with a strong cultural capital. On the contrary, flexitarianism, which is more widespread, affects all age groups and seems to respond to different logics. The number of vegetarians is constantly increasing, as numerous studies in different European countries show. In Germany, for example, the number of vegetarians has doubled since 2006. There are now about 7.8 million vegetarians (almost 10% of the population) according to the study by YouGov. As far as the French are concerned, according to Xerfi, vegetarians represent only about 2% of the French population (around 1.3 million people) while flexitarians account for a third of the population, i.e. nearly 23 million people.

What are the reasons to reduce meat consumption ?

The motivations of vegetarians or flexitarians are usually multiple. Awareness of the ethical, environmental and health consequences has led

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Food

Out Of The Borders

many Europeans to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy products or even to ban them being the world’s largest meat producers. Tyson Foods has been involved in a number of controfrom their diet. versies related to the environment, animal welThis trend is supported by the idea that a re- fare and the welfare of its own employees. More duction of meat consumption is good for your researches lead by GRAIN have shown that most health. A study published in January 2013 by Ox- of these large companies do not report their ford university has reinforced this claim. Based greenhouse gas emissions data and that few of on blood data from 45,000 British people aged them have set targets for reducing their overall between 50 and 70, it concludes that vegetari- emissions. This is especially true as some of ans are 32% less likely than non-vegetarians to them are trying to increase production and exsuffer from coronary heart disease. ports.Meat and dairy products are a market that has created a lot of profit and will continue to Over the past half-century, meat consumption do so. in Europe has increased by 60%. Adding meat to the daily menu had become a dietary habit. Conclusion Today, the price of meat is a motivation in the decision to limit its consumption, but is a con- The greatest fear for companies is not an instraint rather than a choice. This motivation is creasingly demanding customer, but the cuscited by various consumer profiles, important tomer’s ability to boycott to force companies to in France (31% cited) and the United Kingdom comply with certain economic, social or envi(32% cited). In France, financial reduction is the ronmental rules. A simple individual choice can first argument of 27% of people who claim to change the whole market if it is made by more have reduced their meat consumption accord- people. We can continue to support the econing to the CREDOC survey for FranceAgriMer omy of powerful companies, but together we carried out in 2018. Anyway, individual choice is can also stop this system by choosing products still at the base of reducing (or removing) meat more responsibly, by financing local and sustainconsumption, even if there are plenty of reasons able businesses. What do you choose? supporting its benefits for people and the planet.

If meat has so many side effects why governments and institutions don’t tackle the phenomenon?

One of the main reasons for the lack of institu-

tional initiatives to reduce meat consumption is that animal agriculture is one of the most powerful industries in the world. In 2018, according to FAO, world meat production was estimated at 336,5 million tonnes (in carcass weight equivalent). In addition, according to National Hog Farmer, the US meat and poultry industry accounts for more than $1 trillion in total economic output, with Tyson Foods, Cargill and Smithfield

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Out Of The Borders Travel

“Nus et Culottés”, a new way of travelling What if we changed our way of travelling and base our journey on human solidarity?

by Pauline Quentel (Volunteer at Action Art) When we go on a trip we always take a lot of stuff “just in case”. And in the end, you don’t wear it or use it for the whole trip. Maybe it’s time to understand what we really need on a trip and to make a clean break from what’s around us! Take a deep breath and embark on a journey with Nans and Mouts around the world, with nothing but their hands and their smiles.

What is “Nus et Culottés” and who are they?

their show “Nus et Culottés” have tried to demonstrate over almost ten years of traveling around world. Kindness and solidarity exist everyToday, our travels take many forms: in our own the where in the world. country or in foreign countries, with family or friends, through volunteering, internships, or on “Nus et Culottés” is a French television program a whim with a backpack. We can travel with or broadcast since July 26, 2012 on France 5. Nans without a specific goal or time limit. But in our and Mouts, whose real names are Nans Thombackpack, there is always more or less the same assey and Guillaume Mouton, have been friends stuff, even minimal. Moreover, we rarely sleep in for a long time and have already organized severpeople’s homes because of the media, the films, al trips together when they were younger. During some stories we hear, we place very little trust their trips, they started to take less and less things with them, and to question themselves about our real needs during a trip.

“Finalement, le voyage n’est

qu’un prétexte pour se découvrir les uns les autres.” / “In the end, the trip is only a pretext to discover each other.”

— Mouts

in the people we meet on our way, we are suspicious and it’s human. What if we tried to get out of this comfort zone? What if we relearned to ask and give again? This is what Nans and Mouts, in

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So, they decided to start their journey com-

pletely naked: no backpack, no clothes, no money! A team drops them off at a place, usually in a natural setting. They are naked despite the weather and despite the place, and only have small cameras and a red and white bundle in which the chargers of their camera are located. They have three cameras: one that films the people they meet, one that films them, and another that they can put wherever they want to film the environment they are in. The first goal is

Travel

Out Of The Borders

© https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/tv/france-5-nus-et-culottes-meme-dans-la-vraie-vie-04-07-2017-7108554.php

to find something to wear, then a place to sleep and eat, and finally the means of transportation, The fact of going towards a total stripping gave birth to real treasures and totally changes the usually hitchhiking. vision that one has of these objects. One is satFor them and for the people they meet, it’s a isfied with little, one concentrates much more spiritual journey, as people learn about them- easily on the gesture of giving than on the object itself. It’s a new way to understand our real needs and consume less.

“Les choses les plus énormes sont parfois celles qui passent le plus inaperçues.” / “Sometimes the biggest things are the ones that go unnoticed.”

— Laurent Gounelle

selves and others. The goal remains to show that human solidarity is everywhere, despite social differences.

As your backpack becomes lighter, your comfort grows. This is the first step. Then comes the time to trust yourself and the road: hence the goal of removing “useful” objects such as clothes. According to them, acting like this has given rise to some really unexpected surprises.

One

of the biggest fears for someone who wants to travel without money is being seen as a “parasite”. We don’t dare to ask, we have the impression that we are disturbing, we are afraid that people will look at us badly and that we will be told to go to work in order to earn money by ourselves. Nans and Mouts advice in these moments, if you want to start an experience like theirs, is to have a gift box with you. You can make a necklace out of flowers that you find on your way, you can create an origami with paper that people will have at home. Or a more physical and long term help, like helping them build a cabin, mowing the lawn. Nans, on his first trip to the United States, brought with him some of his grandmother’s recipes, such as pancakes. And

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Out Of The Borders Travel

© https://www.senscritique.com/serie/Nus_et_culottes/16060275

to the other, to the disagreements in the pair, to since the ingredients are easy to find, he shared hunger, to material detachment, to the unexpectthis meal with his hosts. ed. It is the school of life. And it is a school that must be integrated into the rest of our lives, in During their trip to Rodrigues Island, their desire everyday situations. was to ride a motorcycle. Through their need for mobility, they met the owner of the motorcycle, Dare to say yes! Dare to live situations you never they met a person who provided them with gaso- thought you would live before. Get out of your line, another person who helped them when they comfort zone! Let life decide for you. If you find broke down. The goal is also to be clear in intent. yourself, like them, in a gym dancing with older people at a neighbourhood party, go for it. When “Dare to say yes! Dare to live people open their arms, dare to go with them. situations you never thought you That’s the beauty of being human: sharing. would live before.”

Learning to see the good in each of the people you meet in your life can be applied at every moment and not only when traveling. This program You need to know what you want and ask for it opens up new visions of the world and people. directly. It is your choice to make this kind of trip, Do you feel ready to try the adventure? so you have to be ready if the answer is no or if Sources : the person is not available.

They realized, during their first trips, that they

could waste a lot of time stubbornly sticking to their goal and lose this sensitivity in their travels and encounters. The journey must be seen as an initiatory experience: an initiation to the cold,

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-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9drHBSqE81M&ab_ channel=Wikicampers-Locationentreparticuliers -youtube.com/watch?v=-B73RzoKnjI&ab_channel=Brut -https://www.geo.fr/aventure/nus-et-culottes-les-confidences-de-mouts-sur-la-derniere-saison-de-lemission-196297

Science

Out Of The Borders

The race for Humanity (Part I: Race as a social construct)

by Bernardo Guerra Machado

Older it may seem, the discussion about the use of racial categorization in our species is on-

going. Such is to a great extent due to the lack of objectivity of race as a concept and the need for a holistic approach to examine it. Even if no definite answer may be provided on whether its appliance is legitimate or not, an alternative approach can be seeking to better inform about the fascinating diversity existent within our species, and the difficulties our cognitive system faces processing it. This is the race for Humanity, a series of articles in which the reader is invited to take this path and formulate an opinion even beyond that expressed by the author.

Introduction

The main problem in the debate to come starts

le thoroughly race as a social construct, there are a series of questions worth raising: How is this mechanism of categorization built in our minds? Can we trust our cognitive system regarding this aspect? Are there any behavioural and psychological differences between Human groups which could help justifying a racial classification? By providing answers, it is possible to draw a statement on how seriously, or not, we should take the concepts being examined as they are elaborated in our minds.

from the very beginning: the definition of the concept of race. Here, it is proposed that race can be approached from two perspectives: as a social construct, associated with traditional delineations of animal breeds, a classification, in a great extent transmitted by teaching, based mostly on phenotypic aspects – meaning, established according to similarities of external traits – and sometimes recurring to behavioural cues as well; or following the current taxono- The machinery of prejudice? my’s rules, as a synonym of subspecies. This first part will consist of a psychological trip to For many years, race encoding was thought to the realm of our cognitive system and its cate- be automatic and mandatory, a primary dimengorisation processes. Though it is hard to tack- sion of categorization, just as sex [1]. This was

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Out Of The Borders Science

Scheme of the several hypotheses concerning how racial categorization is encoded. It was possible to exclude that race is a primary dimension of categorization, and that it is part of a domain-general correlational system. On the other hand, convincing support was given to our coalitional psychology as being responsible for the racial encoding. Nevertheless, some kind of interaction should occur with our essentialist inference system, as we tend to ascribe essences to the perceived races.

partially due to the fact that researchers were not being able to reduce racial categorization through context manipulations [2]. However, it was later argued that race categorization could be merely a by-product of some cognitive mechanism. Three main hypothesis were laid on the table: that race encoding is part of a domain-general correlational system affecting our perception; that race encoding is a consequence of our essentialist inference system; and, finally, that race encoding was a side-effect of our coalitional psychology [3]. The first, fails to explain why attributing membership into a racial category through observed phenotypic features frequently ends up being a basis for making behavioural inferences, and empirical data has shown that race is not trivially processed as colour or shape [3]. Regarding the second, there is a reasonable amount of anthropological accounts supporting we perceive races as natural-kinds, to which we

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Source: Based on cited literature

by Cosmides et al. [3,5] and GilWhite et al. [4].

tend to ascribe a certain essence [4]. The final hypothesis obtained convincing empirical evidence. Kurzban et al. [5] designed a recall task, which, by manipulating basketball teams’ jersey colours as coalitional cues, significantly reduced, at last, the race effect. They concluded that social alliances should, then, be the primary target of the categorization process. From this point of view, race codification can be seen as a collateral outcome of a cognitive shortcut; part of a set of tools, which may have been selected due to our need, as an extremely social species, to elaborate a priori inferences about with whom it’s safe to interact with. Furthermore, being it, after all, a dynamic process whose function seems to be rather specific, despite including attributing essences to the perceived races, it may not be merely a vague consequence of a broad essentialist inference system.

Science

How well do these engines work?

The bias towards faces perceived as belonging

to the same race is a widely studied phenomena, which has been observed even in children with 3 months [6]. This is related with a cognitive deficit, requiring higher efforts to process faces from allegedly different races, as both eye-movement patterns and pupillometry [7], plus brain activation [8] research have shown. Nevertheless, there are accounts that this effect is ameliorated when participants are aware of the bias and elicited to overcome it [9], as well as when they are trained to individuate a wider range of faces [10] – demonstrating there’s a neural plasticity which allows us to learn to better process the Human unknown, so to say.

Interestingly, eliciting a group context with people sharing the same ethnicity is enough to produce a face recognition deficit towards those belonging to the out-group [11]. It may be that we focus only on faces from individuals we feel a priori we can safely interact with, as it were a deeper search for signs of trust. Let us draw a parallel with a specific cultural trait: music from other cultural traditions tend to be judged

Out Of The Borders

as more cognitively demanding to process and more tense [12]. Isn’t it a common-place, when exposed to a certain music genre one is not at all familiar with, to feel that “it sounds all the same”? Stereotyping is told to work similarly: the brain response to social stimuli anticipated as being somehow potentially overwhelming [1]. Furthermore, Semyonov et al.’s [13] study in Germany provided revealing results: natives perceived the relative size of the immigrant population significantly higher than the actual size, usually the double, across several districts. And it was the agents’ estimation, not the objective size, that was positively correlated with the perceived threat from out-groups – which by its turn, related to discriminatory behaviours. This phenomenon has been called “racial innumeracy”, and there are accounts that it extends to an underestimation of the majority [14]. Therefore, on one hand, we tend to produce an artificial categorization when facing cognitively demanding judgements; on the other, it seems they become exaggeratedly salient from those we are familiar with [1]. In conclusion, the answer to this section question, as non-scientific as it may seem, would be: terribly; across many aspects.

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Out Of The Borders Science

Variation in mean IQ score across the World. Native populations refer, from the left to the right, to Greeks, Native American Indians, Kalahari Bushmen, New Zealand Maori, Micronesians and Polynesians, and Australian Aborigines.

Can Humans be classified in terms of behavioural and psychological criteria?

Human groups differ behaviourally, otherwise

there would be no cultural diversity. It follows that there is a potential loop, with culture shaping behaviour, which affects the brain, which by its turn impacts behaviour, and so on [15]. For example, distinct language systems may not recruit exactly the same neural networks [16], thus differently tuning the brain [17]. Additionally, Park and Huang [18] reviewed studies comparing Western and East Asian cultures, providing evidence that the latter was culturally biased to process context, recur less to categorizations, and rely more on intuitive reasoning. This resulted in behavioural differences, with contrasting eye-fixation patterns emerging across several tasks; accompanied by disparities in brain activation, brain structure, and aging. Despite admitting other factors can also play a role in these results, the authors advocate they are to a great extension due to cultural wiring of the brain.

Conversely, other types of explanations have been advanced in one of the most sensitive contrasts studied: the intelligence coefficient (IQ).

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Source: Based on a review by Lynn [21].

As represented on Figure 2, disparities in mean scores across Human populations have been detected with considerable consistency [19], and there are researchers attributing these to genetic factors [20]. Such claims tend to raise a wave of indignation and aggressiveness [21] – but, ironically, taking this stance can be considered ethnocentric in itself, because the IQ is a construct connected with one cultural conception of intelligence, by any means objectively paramount or determinant of Human dignity. The IQ scale may be valid, reliable, and applicable across Human populations [22], but it does no more than providing a score to intelligence as it is conceived by a very small fraction of Humanity . For the sake of the argument, here intelligence is proposed to be defined as the capacity to efficiently navigate in the world that surrounds us. It continues by considering the accounts Henrich [23] gathered, of European explorers getting lost in expeditions to other continents, and depending on the cumulative cultural knowledge of the native populations to survive. No test needed to be administered by the locals to conclude that these visitors, at that particular place and time point, could be easily be classified as dumb – mortally dumb. The point here is to argue that intelligence is quite

Science

a relative and fluid concept. However, what is of real interest to the present work is to investigate if this variability is indeed governed by genetic transmission. Some critics can be pointed to such position. First, IQ scores were documented to be increasing within populations, similarly to height [22] – which may be much less a consequence of polygenic selection and inheritance as once thought [24]. In fact, despite existing reports that genes regulating our brain size are under positive selection [25], other recent studies have noted that the recent evolution of Human genome might have been mostly affected by negative selection, sweeping alleles reducing the individuals’ fitness, rather than the selection of superior novel ones [26]. Second, factors like birth order and socioeconomic status were also associated with test score [27], suggesting there may be confounding variables behind the effect; familiarity with the test, for example. Third, several psychological experiments have shown that, by removing stereotypical threat, performance in intellectual tests gets even between Americans of African and European ancestry [28]. These are good reasons to advocate that there is no safe ground to conclude that mean differences in IQ can be explained by genetic inheritance.

Still, even if there were, there is a considerable intra-continent variation, which would produce categories without sense, at least in respect to the traditional racial classification (White, Black, Mongoloid, and Native American) – for example, in Europe the mean values decrease in the South from 100 until 89, very close to that of Micronesians and Polynesians; also in Asia, from the Northeast to the Southeast, there is a decay from 107 to 96 [21]. Even intra-country inconsensties have been detected, which were attributed to socioeconomic contrasts [21].

Another problem arising from using behavioural

and psychological criteria to support a racial classification is that these characteristics, unlike

Out Of The Borders

genes, can be to a considerable extent mutable through horizontal transmission. Bicultural individuals are told to be capable of engaging into cultural frame switching [29], meaning they have disparate behavioural pathways which can be triggered according to the specific cultural cues.

As an example, this has been documented to occur when distinct cultural primes were presented during aesthetic judgments [30], and personality shifts provoked by changing the language being used [31]. There’s also data showing a tendency for migrants to, across generations, approach the host society’s level on several traits, such as religiosity, collectivism, self-esteem, trust, and social closeness [32].

Then… what’s left for us to do with all this Human diversity?

Explore and appreciate it.

Conclusion

From the information provided, it becomes fair

to state that there are very good reasons for not trusting our cognitive system when it starts drawing racial categories – and stereotypes in general. We even know it potentially betrays us for the sake of facilitating navigation in a dense social environment in which we are demanded to make quick judgments about whom we can safely interact with. Being conscious of the side-effects of this mechanism is already a good step to prevent letting it blind our intelligence. Overall, we have seen that the fantastic behavioural and psychological diversity exhibited by our species doesn’t seem to serve as a reliable proxy for establishing a racial classification due to being mutable, highly prone to biases, and having internal inconsistencies.

For all the references check out: https://balkanhotspot.org/blog/”

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Out Of The Borders society

How to help women grow You are not better

by Katarzyna Ciszewska

Why do we, women, take so much pride in think-

ing that we are better than other women? “I’m better than her. My face is better, my body is better.” - we are all guilty of these thoughts. Even without realizing we subconsciously make these assumptions. There is this part of our conscientiousness that continually tells us to compare ourselves, and the only way it will be satisfied is when we convince it that we are better. Even when we gossip, we tend to focus on other women’s appearances, whereas men might talk more about wealth and their competitors’ athleticism.

Scholars agree that gossiping is an excellent way to learn about others and to enforce group norms. Then why do we like to bring other women down while gossiping? Where does this come from?

Feeling good enough

We all have our insecurities. Sometimes it is tough for us to feel beautiful, to feel like we are good enough. Even though we all experience that, it is not normal. Society wants us to normalize it by profiting from our insecurities and we

“These days more than ever, we should stand united”

© designbydarby

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are doing exactly what they want. By feeling bad about ourselves, we tend to put the same energy on other people, especially other women. Making them feel like putting on more makeup or losing more weight will make them acceptable in our society. That it will make them ‘enough.’

We stopped listening to our bodies, our thoughts because we already know that they are wrong.

Instead, we start to listen to ‘influencers,’ ‘social

society

media experts,’ or anyone with the ‘best’ idea of how we should present ourselves. That is a profit from our self-doubt. We start to believe that the problem is within us, and the only way to get rid of it is to fit into this patriarchal society. But just because the experience is universal, it doesn’t mean it’s how it’s supposed to be. We can not let

Out Of The Borders

to look perfect and pure to find a good husband who will love and take care of them. So understandably, the idea of always trying to be better than other women was implemented very early.

But we do not live like that anymore; we must not

“Giving other women love and appreciation will not make our beauty and self-worth disappear. I believe that helping people grow and flourish will only make us stronger.” ourselves drown in these thoughts. When we do, we spread them everywhere, and then it’s one big messy world full of insecurities and secret hatred towards everything.

Support over competition

So again, why would we not want to support

each other and make our lives easier? I think the problem goes deeper than we might think. For thousands of years, women were forced to fight with each other for a man’s approval. They had

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Out Of The Borders society

have this kind of mindset. There is much more freedom in simply appreciating ourselves and the people within us. Giving other women love and appreciation will not make our beauty and self-worth disappear. I believe that helping people grow and flourish will only make us stronger.

These days more than ever, we should stand

united. We face hundreds of different struggles every day. If you add ‘being a woman,’ it makes it even harder. Lower pay rate, sexism, catcalling, feeling ashamed of our bodies – the list goes on.

And not so long ago, we couldn’t even vote. Only the suffragettes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries made that happen. They stood united and believed that together they could change everything. And so they did. Why then, do we feel the need to compete with each other continually?

We are all beautiful

What has to change in our mindset is what does

beauty mean to us. What does it mean when I meet a beautiful woman that may intimidate me? It should mean nothing. At least nothing for my self-esteem, nothing besides acknowledging and appreciating the beauty of another person.

There is much more freedom in this. Of course, it is challenging. We all want others to admire us, so another woman is already a threat. We have to get the constant competition out of our heads.

As history shows us, we are way more powerful when we work together, when we uplift each other, when we fight for the same cause. I believe that together women can make the world a better place. So let’s change our mindset. Believe in other women, believe their stories, support them, and help them evolve. We are way more than what our brain tells us.

© silvanavdesigns

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Philosophy

Out Of The Borders

Randomness as the engine of change How useless is having a goal in order to live responsibly?

by Francesco Ziveri

Making plans to grow, to become a better person, to be successful in life. The notorious

good resolutions. We very hardly stick to them or to any kind of plan. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”: the most difficult question, because one cannot foresee change; in fact, at the core of change lies an unbelievably valuable element: randomness. The world is all that is the case, with no design. If there were no randomness, there would be no change, no evolution, no history, no life. The well-known chances to be seized.

For many of us today it is almost taken for

a brilliant observation the value of randomness in evolution: why does an individual adapts better to the surrounding environment or other factors from the outside world, allowing it to survive and generate offspring to pass on its genes?

Because it was born with a random mutation in its genome for which it has, for example, slight“By virtue of a small chance, ly longer legs thanks to which it can run faster a change takes place, evolution from the predator, or sharper claws with which to takes place. And no one could have clasp better its prey, or even a more dense plumforeseen it..” age thanks to which it resists the cold better. By virtue of a small chance, a change takes place, guys locked in laboratories or libraries; it doesn’t evolution takes place. And no one could have seem something about our lives. Evolution, foreseen it. however, concerns us very closely. It was the biggest upheaval in human consciousness in recent centuries, perhaps millennia: there is “Your story, your decisions, your no project, the world just happens. Everything plans will be definitive only once they changes in a sole process, everything changes have already happened; only once they have already slipped into the past..” without anyone having any idea where it is all going, because it is not going anywhere. The absence of a predefined project and direction (which means, among other things, the end of Why does this concern us closely? In addition every God omniscient and creator), however, is to the obvious scientific knowledge reasons, taking charge of the role of randomness in change based on a central element: randomness. has brought this disruptive element into our In The Origin of Species, Darwin does not talk being-in-the-world structures: you will never be about genetics because he did not know it yet, able to have definitive projects; your story, your but he discovers with surprising clarity and with decisions, your plans will be definitive only once granted, we rarely stop to think about it because at school - since we are children - we are taught as if it were a dogma; as if it were something that, after all, is about science, books, strange

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Out Of The Borders Philosophy

simply call ‘randomness’ what we cannot grasp: they have already happened; only once they have in this way we renounce our responsibility. already slipped into the past.

On the other hand, the logically purest and newTry to take a blank sheet of paper and write est possibility, which emerged with the evolution down in detail what you will do in the next week theory and in the last 170 years filtered more in order to reach your goals, day by day, hour by and more into our daily lives, is this: staring in hour. Probably after a few lines you will realize the face of randomness, not postulating the exthat it is impossible that what you are writing will istence of something more and not necessary: come true exactly as you are anticipating it, you will begin to think that it is a useless exercise: “Adapting – yes -, knowing that we instinctively know that randomness slips into there are things on which we have the interstices of our daily life and that, every no control, but which can turn into time, it turns the tables.

Of course, one can think that every unexpect-

the most fruitful and unexpected opportunities.”

ed change has a will behind it, someone who thought it up and put it into action (and here re- just us, randomness and change. Understanding ligion happily marries conspiracy theories); this that, to become who we are, we must embrace thought is warm and reassuring, it is an almost chance. This does not mean letting ourselves go to despair or drifting aimlessly: it means doing “Appreciating with a serene the best with what we have available, actively taking responsibility for it. Without spreading mind all that randomness lends us, our arms and sighing “it had to go like this, what without depending on it” can I do?”. “Appreciating with a serene mind all — Ad Lucilium, Seneca, 87,7 that randomness lends us, without depending on it” (Ad Lucilium, Seneca, 87,7). Adapting – yes -, maternal and instinctive consolation as much as knowing that there are things on which we have the awareness we were talking about earlier: it no control, but which can turn into the most fruitgoes like “everything happens for a reason”, “it ful and unexpected opportunities. was destiny”, “it is in God’s plan”. “There is something more, greater, out of my reach, that loves And where can we learn all this? Right in a me and decides for me and I cannot understand church, the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. it, but I can accept it and give it the hope of my For centuries now, those who enter the Basilexistence, passively”. ica of San Marco, in Venice, could admire four Is this really a reassuring thought? Isn’t it, rather, marvellous spandrels adorned with astonishing an abdication of all true responsibility? We have Byzantine mosaics, representing the four evanreached a crucial, almost paradoxical point: gelists. A magnificent project. But no: those in front of the undeniable intrusiveness of ran- spandrels and their art are a wonderful oppordomness, one can be attributed it to our limited tunity offered by randomness: the architects understanding of a larger plan in which we are did not hesitate to take it, but there was no will inserted; one can be believe that, after all, what behind them. When a dome is grafted onto a happens has a meaning, which by its nature square base structure, it is inevitable spandrels eludes us. And within this inscrutable plan we we arise. This observation has served the two schol-

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Philosophy

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Out Of The Borders

extraordinary lessons we can draw from biology: change is inevitable, randomness even more so.

But it is not necessary to indulge in the arms of a mysterious superiority, nor in a gloomy despair.

Just stay in the world, which is all of what we are made of. Perhaps, it is enough to recognize the creative potential that just randomness releases: it pushes us to make conscious projects, ready to continually reinvent them on the basis of what we have available, ready to start over and change again. Because change is based on the cards that chance gives us - it’s true - but we do

ars Goulding and Lewontin precisely to change the adaptationist paradigm: randomness in evolution is not an engine that generates only small improvements, which slowly accumulate over the millennia. Randomness also leaves structures, just like in the case of San Marco, which are no longer of any use. But at some point, suddenly, they come in handy. Not ad-aptation, but ex-aptation. Evolution is not a linear process of “There is only us and the world, improvement, it is rather a bricoleur who does who are the same thing and, in this the best it can with the material it has, rummag- completely materialistic union, we can even lose all the frustration” ing through drawers and cabinets to find unused material to which he can give a function.

By chance, that big bone that was there but did not have any actual use, can now be used by the create the house of cards every time with our energy. The responsibility for that energy is all ours. panda to hold the bamboo stick in his paw.

“I have learnt to distinguish the cause of acting Does this remind you of anything? Adapting – from the cause of acting so and so, of acting in yes -, knowing that there are things on which this direction, in view of this goal [...]. According we have no control, but which can turn into the to a centuries-old mistake, people are used to most fruitful and unexpected opportunities.This seeing the propulsive force precisely in the obcompletes our circle on how randomness is the jective (purpose, vocation, etc.) - but this is only engine of change not only in evolution, but also the directive energy, in this regard the pilot of the in our daily life: there is no continuous improve- ship was mistaken for the steam. The ‘purpose’, ment, there is no goal; there is only us and the the ‘goal’ are very often nothing more than a subworld, who are the same thing and, in this com- terfuge to disguise the self-blindness of vanity pletely materialistic union, we can even lose all in retrospect, reluctant to admit that the ship is the frustration of the engineer who does not re- following the current it ran into by chance? “ (The spect his supposed project. Indeed, one of the gay science, Nietzsche, af. 360).

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Mix Fix Reflections

Prose on Change

There’s a spot at the port of Thessaloniki, where you can sit on the most outer part of the city land, with your feet just above the sea. As it is a sunny and bright day, in front of me I can clearly see the profile of Mount Olympus. I stretch my back to look behind me: with just one gaze, I can embrace the whole seafront. Thessaloniki is a city that resisted many events, and its architecture has been here to witness it. Every time I look around, a new detail appears: I challenge you to focus on the buildings and not to think “Wait a minute! When did they add this balcony?!?” I spot a façade of some building from the 20ies, and it gets all of my attention: such buildings are so rare, as the city almost got destroyed back then. In the following decades, new edifices were erected to substitute the previous ones and satisfy the

population growth. Further, I recognise Aristotelous Square’s carmine columns, and on the very right, the White Tower. Once – it is common knowledge – it was called Red, a reference to the colour of blood, as it was a place of pain and torture. Now, in White, it has become the symbol of the city and the background for pictures and happy faces.

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by Chiara Parrucci

I assume a more natural position and continue

to look in front of me: it’s easy to get stuck focusing on the small waves that ripple the sea whilst a mild wind blows from the city. The shapes the waves take are similar to one another yet different all the time, they remind me fractals, and I can’t help but dive into my thoughts. It’s a Thursday afternoon and, as a personal rule, nothing special happens on Thursday: too soon for the weekend, too late in the week to pick it as the day for a “fresh new start”. It’s okay, I have learnt to accept Thursdays as a necessary evil to take time and reflect on what to improve in my life «starting from next Monday». Amazingly enough, we are told that there’s always room for changing

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied,

For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love!

For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d, For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Ode on a Grecian Urn By John Keats

Reflections

what we don’t like, but we shouldn’t take failure

too personally. How on earth am I supposed to accept my expectations torn apart by reality, if I moulded the idea into an action?! I expect something to really happen, you know? As far as I am concerned, the most effortless change is the one brought unexpectedly by the fate: at least, you can always use it as an excuse for the next failure. Anyway, as human beings, we are constantly subjected to at least two types of change: we passively experience the physical one, also called the body decay, and there’s nothing we can do about it, nor anti-ageing creams that will save us from it. And there’s the invisible one, particularly related to our emotions. Both of them are our real companions as they travel at our side day after day. A more indulgent way to put it is that change makes us grow and growth leads to maturity… Sometimes it’s more than enough to meet one single new person to find out a lot more about ourselves (that’s also a fast and verified method to broaden our horizons or to start hating something). We experience change, as I said, in the smallest things happening every day: if you are a lonely traveller on your road to work, there will always be someone different sitting close to you on the bus even if you take the same bus day after day. Or think about things that

all of a sudden have been called differently, like the EVS, now ESC. Moreover, what else is a squat if not an abandoned place that the bravery of a few people – if not a single person – transformed into a place for social inclusion? One day you forget to put flour in the dough, and you create a new cake (the Caprese cake), the day after you forget to close the gas while leaving the house and the life of an entire street is changed forever. Speaking of which, after your life just exploded like a grenade between your arms, small changes are the things from which start to rebuild your own identity. Can you do something to avoid all the bad changes?

No, stacce1 and be done with it. As someone

Mix Fix

once told me, human life is nothing but the sum of good and bad moments, so if you want the good things you need to take also the bad ones.

It seems a cheesy explanation of how life goes on, right? Okay, then, let’s look at the ancient Greek language: the word “crisis” back then had a positive meaning, as it was considered the moment in which you were called to take action, that is to create a new state of things, put differently, to embrace change. And it’s totally fine by me, once you get the rules of the game. Still, right now we aren’t only dealing with the consequences of a constant and natural change, we have also been forced to accept and act accordingly to all the changes that the outbreak of the pandemic brought with itself...

And now our lives are twice as more challenging as... but maybe this is also a part of the Change, I mean, not two different changes but just one with three main faces… and we are supposed to accept the situation and adapt to the new reality as much as the previous generations, our predecessors, had to take the inevitable and try to build a life with what they had… and maybe soon enough in a new edition of any medical book we will read “Covid-19: eradicated”, and I hope to live enough to see such description for many other severe illnesses, starting from HIV and - - -

The sound of a shoe rubbing on the asphalt an-

nounces the shape of a guy that sits almost two meters away from me on my left side: maybe he came to sit and contemplate life too. I put my eyes on him, I don’t know what I am expecting to happen, but somewhere I read that it can be just a smile you share with a stranger to change his or her life for good. As he never lifts his eyes, the moment is lost. So where was I? Ah, I lost the thread too. The wind is now blowing from the sea to the city, the waves changed their direction, and soon enough they will start to shatter against the quay.

It’s better to go, while the rosy-fingered dawn casts its light all around the place.

© Bernardo Machado

1/΄ stat∫e/ or stuh-chew. A colloquial yet not vulgar expression. It

is considered to come from Rome. It is used to express the idea of “accept what happened even though you wouldn’t like to, and don’t try to complain about it”.

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Mix Fix Future

The Day After the Lie

by Filippo Massariol

Inspired by Arundhati Roy’s essay for Financial Times -”The pandemic is a portal”-”A gate-

way between one world and the next.”, I’ve brought up the fragment of a novel I’m writing entitled “The Day after the Lie” that talks about Fran: a rich man, whose father is a famous entrepreneur, that lives in the US. Fran’s not an ordinary rich guy. He hates the fact that he’s got everything while many people are starving. Besides, he cares about poor people and social rights, most of the time going against his class. Every night Fran has very vivid dreams about a utopian future where all people are equal and humanity, for the first time since globalization, tries to go back to its roots, respecting nature and other living beings. Through his tales and his trips worldwide, Fran will discover himself and fight for what he dreams at night, hoping that one-day dreams will become true.

International Protection)1. But yes, man, I supthis is the price for Fair Trade every West“Yo, Fran, get up, we need to go! The guys are pose ern business person needs to pay. coming down, move your lazy a** now bro!”

“Ohhhhh!” I said, yawning and stretching as fast I like the way my new housemate, Brad, wakes as I could. I put on the shirt I had bought last me up… At least better than that frigging Greg, week at the Shelter, and I was ready to jump! that lunatic-Uncle-Sam groupie that tried to spill a cup of Heineken on my jacket.

Once I walked out the door, I saw the police once they were checking on a car, probably a “Make an effort and be nice next time, homie!” I again: non-hybrid vehicle, one of those that still tried yelled at him. to go around with a covered-up muffler bought “I’ll be nice when you get the last shared-car on from the illegal oil market. “God knows why time with me to go to work, dear lazy boy! Your these frigging thugs still try to waste money not juice is on the table. Dress up and go! Don’t even reducing CO2!” said Brad wash your body or your teeth even if you stink like a sloth.” Replied Brad with courtesy.

In fact, today’s CR (Carbon Radar)

was orange, meaning that probably other scammers were still “Thanks, man, don’t you still got some coffee’s around with their noisy cars trying to go further south where carbon regulation isn’t so restricted. leftovers from Kenia?” I kindly asked him.

2

“Yo, that stuff’s expensive, bro! You still owe “Man, check number 38668991. That’s the lime some bucks and a full day at work if you cense plate we’ve gotta look for and watch out!”

Said Brad. don’t hurry!”

I’ve been craving coffee so much since its price got doubled four times after the “CoorporationAid Law” and the AAIP (African Agriculture

56

1 AAIP (African Agriculture International Protection) Law passed in 2023 to higher all the prices regarding Africa’s Raw Materials 2 CR (Carbon Radar): it is a big screen installed in most cities to monitor CO2 emissions to respect 2050’s climate targets. The first city was New York on Times Square.

Future

Mix Fix

“Why do I gotta watch out for a damn car if I

see only buses around, man? We’re the only freaks that are going to Denver by Green Car3 and spending a whole lot of bucks just because you decided to work in Bennet to get Shanina’s number. That girl’s not even caring for you, man, wake up!”

“It seems to me that envy is your sin!” Said Brad trying to provoke me with that twisted grin.

“She’s got a mustache, man; I think you must love her a lot for not admitting this.”

“Yo, shut that mouth, man!”

He firmly replied.

“As

a generous rich man helping homeless people like you way before WWRR (World Wide Revenue Reform)4, I don’t know if I would have invited you in my big house or left you stranded straight up in the street back at the Crazy Time!” I said, remembering when Capitalism and social Pyramid were still part of our lives.

“Things have changed, man! And since we’re

equal, your money doesn’t make any difference and doesn’t mean anything to anyone!” Said Brad showing all his passion to me.

“Yes, but being equal is not equal to being an a**hole like you!”

“Give it a rest, man; 38668991, that’s the vehicle!

Pull it over!” Said Brad noticing the car.

3 Green car: it is a sustainable and free car-sharing system born in 2024 when oil and personal vehicles were banned to protect the environment.

4 WWRR (World Wide Revenue Reform): In 2036, all the people with annual revenue of over 200.000 dollars have to invest 30 % (or more) of their incomes in social issues or help people with a lower revenue under 20 thousand.

Once we got

in and sat, we felt uncomfortable inside that vehicle.

“Looks like these eco-seats came from some

very low-quality garbage, man!” Said Brad, not remembering that I work for a Re-Up company5.

“Huh, these are from M and M’s and Diet Coke’s packages found in the Artic, most of the seats are usually made of brand new plastic from old deposits, these were probably flowing ‘round the sea, way before Martin Luther King got killed! By the way, my name’s Jordan. Nice to meet you!”

“And my name’s Eriksen”, – Said the other guy sitting next to Jordan.

“YO WE’RE BRAD AND FRAN WE GO BEYOND… SO MUCH LIKE CHEECH AND CHONG GRAB A PEN DON’T USE A BAG MILEY THEY CALL ME MAD BUT I’M A MAN, HUH…. HONEY THEY CALL ME BRAD BUT I DON’T BRAG FOR MONEY !” Said Brad trying to rap.

5 Re-up Companies: In 2025, the oil industry was completely banned, and all its entrepreneurs were locked in prison, doing social labors for 12 hours a day on environmental projects.

Since that law passed, Re-up waste companies took the market, making brand new objects out of recycled materials.

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Mix Fix Future

pick up every sort of waste and transform it into a large vastity of items.

“Cut

that cr*p off!” I said, laughing at him.

“Yo, what up, man, that was hilarious!” Said Eriksen.

Basically what we do is this: some sailors working for us go and pick the trash up with hi-tech tools that allow them to go deep and avoid trapping sea animals. Once they got all the stuff, they clean it up and send it to us where a team of engineers first decide what to make of it, thinking of demand needs, and then artists and manual workers do the rest of the job.”

“Wow, that’s what in Norway we call Gjenbruk Ressurs: Waste is a resource.”

Said Eriksen.

“You a rapper?” Asked Jordan that was fun-

“Exactly!

nily staring at us.

“Yeah, it’s my passion; back in the days, I used to

work as clandestine Day Labourer in Texas. Hard times you know, man? Making a living out of that was like grasping at straws, but I was rapping all day about human rights and racism.”

Up Spring sticker, so they came straight from us for sure.”

You see, these seats have our Re-

“That’s nice! So we still got four passengers to pick up in Pueblo on 3rd Avenue, and then our “And how you know each other?” job is done. So what about you? What is your job, Asked Jordan once again. and what do you do for a living?” Asked Jordan.

“I’m a guest in his big house along with 23 other “I work at Bennet’s Shelter, selling clothes and people coming from the Shelter6. He is such deshoes. And my lazy homie you see right here? cides-on to wake up.” Said Brad.

He’s the co-owner of the Shelter, but he’s working for a Re-Up Waste as well.

“Oh, I see! so you got together since the WWRR (World Wide Revenue Reform)?” Said Eriksen “What is a Re-Up Waste?”- says Erikssen with his with a tone of surprise. weird Scandinavian accent.

“Yes, I’ve had the chance to meet and welcome “I’m from Norway there we’ve got some different so many people at my house, and you know I was an activist and a fighter for human rights names. Could you explain?” way before the LIE”, I said, proud of my actions.

“Yes, sure, since we got stuck up with the “More Water Less Plastic Law” back in 2023, that was “Don’t you brag about that, man. You still haven’t practically unuseful considering the 2029 tar- given me those seeds we planned to plant in Arigets. Thus it was violating even the Kyoto protocol switching the problem to undeveloped coun- 6 *Shelter: it is a place that sells used clothes to the poorest part of the society since rich people were not able anymore to own tries. So they set up these Re-Up companies that over a certain amount of clothes.

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Future

Mix Fix

“Oh, no, man, again! It was so wonderful. Why do

we have to behave like this?”

I said to myself, almost crying for the desperazona this summer.” Said Brad referring tion. I woke up, drank that coffee, opened up that to the anti-deforestation campaign I started industrial garbage, and turned on the Television, with him in the South. not expecting any good news:

“Don’t you try to bring that up cause I…” I was “Prosecutor

abruptly interrupted by the Radio:

“Sherek Chausen, one of the last corrupted Po-

said Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and…”

licemen responsible for a series of crimes against “An other fire in Australia Koalas are now potenthe black American community, got busted by tially going to be extinguished…” the PIA (Peaceful Internal Agency) this morning, the man was hiding in a secret bunker along with “The war in Siria seems to have no end…” other former politicians arrested during Trump “Hungary is now a Dictature, Victor Orban is now Administration. in charge of the country and…”

“That beast’s got to pay for all the crimes our How long do I gotta fight to change this world? government committed without getting any hands dirty! Wait! Watch out man, it’s red nooo….”

“Huuuhh”

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Mix Fix Music

How Technology Has Shaped Music

by Michael Magee

Music and technology have always been undeniably linked, but the relationship between

the two has changed since electronics have become a part of the picture. Increasingly, since the 80’s especially, the majority of popular music is created using synthesizers, samplers, and computers. In the early days of electronic music, these instruments were primarily used as tools applied to existing forms of music, with German the electronic band Kraftwerk being a notable exception. Kraftwerk represented a trend in music where technology, through its limitations, has shaped, controlled, and changed our music significantly.

samplers in the mainstream features a much older piece of technology: the turntable. Most One of the earlier uses of technology which famously, it played a pivotal role in the creation predates the heavy usage of synthesizers and of hip hop music. Typically, DJs would use only

Turntables

Grandmaster Flash in the late 80’s

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Š Vulture

Music

The Roland 808 drum machine

© Electronic Beats

one turntable, but when disco parties became more prevalent, two were used so that music could play non stop. Then in the 70’s, New york DJs like Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash popularized the break mix; drum breaks (parts of old funk, soul and rock songs where there was no singing) were mixed into each other repeatedly, providing a long, continuous beat which dancers could enjoy (in fact, this is the meaning of the word breakdancer). This way of DJing allowed people to rap on top of the continuous beat, and evolved into the hip hop and rap music that we know today.

This piece of tech has been accredited to other genres too. Jump forward a few years and people were changing the speed setting on their turntables while house records were playing, resulting in the more energetic genres of dance music, such as “hardcore” in the UK or “gabber” in The Netherlands. These genres evolved into the now globally popular drum and bass and hardstyle.

Synthesizers and Drum Machines

Electronic dance music in general is perhaps

the most popular of all modern music. An escapist form of music with roots in socially and financially disadvantaged groups from large American cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit, dance music’s evolution can be traced from disco, where synthesizers began to be used in combination with the relentless 4-on-the-floor drum beat, to house music, where drum machines

Mix Fix

came into the picture. The most popular drum machines were produced by a company called Roland, and were initially a commercial flop due to their fake and flimsy sound. They quickly went out of production as a result and were sold cheaply in pawn shops where they were accessible to poorer customers from the ghettos of America. They functioned using a sequencer; like an ancient music box with notches on the cylinder triggering sounds of a certain pitch, certain voltages within a drum machine would trigger specific drum sounds stored on the device which were either sampled from real drums or created using synthesizers. As a result, the seemingly endless drum beats of disco became well and truly endless, and parties could go on for longer and longer with the music becoming more and more hypnotic, no longer relying on the endurance of the drummer in the disco band.

Synthesizers also used a sequencer to produce

similar repetitive trance inducing melodies. The Roland TB303 Bassline is perhaps one of the most pivotal synthesizers to be heard in dance music. Like the drum machines, it was a flop due to its plastic and artificial sound, and was considered to be useless for its intended function, namely to produce bass noises. When it was picked up by house musicians, they created a new genre of music: acid house. With a melody playing automatically on the 303, musicians could twist the knobs and create a variety of evolving otherworldly noises, which in combination with the Roland 808 drum machine, produced a strange and futuristic sound never heard before, and far removed from the disco

The famous Acid House synthesizer: The Roland TB303

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Mix Fix Music

programs such as Ableton or Logic Pro. Giant synthesizers of the past, with their cables and inputs galore, can now be imitated by a small laptop with the right software on board. This ease of accessibility and excess of possibility has, for some producers, apparently caused a change in music making methods and now a trend has appeared wherein people are looking to go back to using old technologies like the ones mentioned above. Other machines that can deliver the same sounds are becoming accessible to the average bedroom producer, with roots. This futurism developed over the years in their vintage limitations providing a boundary Detroit as well as in Chicago, and it was in the within which some people feel more at ease making music, instead of experiencing the muformer where techno music came to be. sicians equivalent of information overload.

Samplers

In 1987, the EMU SP1200 sampler was released.

This was initially used in hip hop, at first by Marley Marl, who sampled his favourite drum breaks and then used the samplers function to “chop” the break. This meant that the snare or kick drum could be isolated and then rearranged at will, providing endless possibilities to create new breakbeats. This same function was applied to the sped up breakbeats used in UK hardcore to produce wild, unpredictable, and aggressive drum sequences emblematic of jungle music.

So, with musicians having gotten tired of the

endless possibilities of digital technology, they have now decided to go back to a simpler time, and a simpler methodology, much like the DJ choosing vinyl over CD players or the photographer choosing analog over digital cameras. This begs the question: has our desire for innovative technology in art exhausted itself?

Sometimes samples were “boosted” through studio equipment like samplers, meaning that drum sounds could be distorted beyond recognition providing new harmonics to basic drum sounds from, for example a clean 808 kick drum. This gave Dutch gabber music its aggressive edge.

Modern Limits

With the computing power of modern music

software, the limits of technology have almost disappeared. More or less any sound can be made through modern sound synthesis, with most modern dance music being made on audio

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A large array of modular synthesizers and a software synthesizer

© Rolling Stone

Sustainable tips

Mix Fix

Sustainable self care How to take care of yourself and the environment at

by Beatrice Cosner the same time

Most of the products we commonly use for personal care, such as soaps, toothpaste,

moisturizers and so on, are harmful not only to our body but also to the ecosystem. Personal care is one aspect of our lives that needs change.

Why use natural cosmetics? The whole process

of making cosmetics – from manufacturing to disposal– causes damage that we could avoid.

We use Petroleum to make plastic packages, which releases CO2 in the atmosphere during the process. The petrolatum inside our products derives from oil and, together with the other chemical ingredients and rinse water, end up in

the sewers and the sea. Moreover, many beauty products contain microplastics which account for most of the plastic that pollutes the oceans.

Why self-production? Self-production is swimming against the tide. It’s cheap and fun. If you don’t like this type of activity, choose bulk shops, where you can find soaps on tap, bars of soap and refills for toothpaste. Or buy home-

© Beatrice Cosner

63

Mix Fix Sustainable tips

made cosmetics from people in your community so that you can support the local economy and have the container refilled once the product is over. In short, when you buy soap or shampoo at the supermarket, you contribute to emissions, energy and water waste in manufacturing and water pollution. By making a different choice, you could do yourself a favour both physically and economically.

place three products often, if not always, present in our bathrooms. I hope you’ll find these tips useful.

1.Hand and body soap

This soap is made with demineralized water, an

oil of your choice and caustic soda. I advise all people who have a fireplace to look for the recipe ash instead of soda.As for the oil, for one By using natural products, the environment will with kilo of each type, the amount of caustic soda thank you, but so will your skin and hair! For this and water changes. You can also use used oil: it reason, in this article, I recommend how to rewill be a less valuable soap but still valid and at a much lower cost. I use regular olive oil, leave extra-virgin olive oil for the kitchen because it loses some of its properties in the process. So, what you need is:

-1 kg of olive oil -134 gr of caustic soda in flakes -280 gr of demineralized water -essential oils of your choice or dried herbs -a kitchen scale - a wooden spoon - gloves, mask and safety glasses -immersion blender -stainless steel pot -silicone moulds or a pan lined with baking paper Open the windows before starting, as the proŠ Beatrice Cosner

64

cess emits gases that are best not to breathe.

Wear gloves, a mask and glasses. Weigh the in-

Sustainable tips

gredients. Pour water into the pot and then the soda a little at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon to prevent a crust from forming on the bottom. The mix will heat up; do not breathe with your face over the pot. Wait a few minutes and then pour the oil slowly. Use the immersion blender until you get a creamy and thick mixture (if you try to “write” on it, it will remain imprinted). Add the essential oils and mix for a few more seconds. Pour the mixture into the pan or moulds. Now you can draw on it with a knife, for example, or print a stamp. Cover everything with a blanket or towel. After 48 hours, with gloves, you can remove it from the moulds or the pan, cut it and lay the pieces well apart on a tray. Cover it again and let it mature for at least 40 days.

The older, the better!

Mix Fix

essential oil of your choice. Pour everything into the chosen container.

3.Deodorant

You will need two tablespoons of baking soda, 1

of corn starch and 15 drops of tea tree essential oil. You can choose to flavour with five drops of essential oil of your choice. It is applied by pouring half a teaspoon on the fingers and then dabbing on the armpits.

If, on the other hand, you want to make the spray

version, reuse a particular vial we have at home and add 200 ml of demineralized water. Shake and leave to rest for at least an hour. I recommend shaking every time before using it.

2.Shampoo

Ingredients: -7/8 gr. homemade soap I was telling you about -230 ml of water -10 drops of tea tree essential oil -2 drops of apple cider vinegar -5 drops of essential oil of your choice (optional) Heat the water in a saucepan over low heat: do

not boil. The temperature must remain low, so if you start to see bubbles on the bottom turn off. Pour in the grated soap and stir slowly with a fork to prevent foam from forming. When the soap has melted, turn off the heat if you haven’t already, and let it cool. Then add the tea tree essential oil, vinegar and if you want five drops of

Deodorant, spray version with half of all ingredients due to container size

© Beatrice Cosner

65

Mix Fix Poetry and Art

Changes Verses by Bernardo Machado

Drawing by Emmanuelle Dos Santos

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Poetry and Art

Mix Fix

Energies are contagious

by Emmanuelle Dos Santos

67

Katarzyna Ciszewska | 19 years old

Staying in Greece for seven months, until April 2021

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Favorite topics are counter-information, music and environment

Favorite Topics are film studies, women and LGBT+ rights, mental health

Marco Scarangella | 30 years old

Chiara Parrucci | 26 years old

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Favorite topics are politics, culture, art, food, sport

Favorite topics are languages, social rights, mental health and politics

Charlotte Remy | 23 years old

Michael MaGee | 24 years old

Staying in Greece for 2 months

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Favorite topics are travel, music, books and nature

Favorite Topics are journalism, politics and social issues

Sara Angioletti | 25 years old

Alejandro Sánchez Aragón | 26 years old

staying in Greece until April 2021

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Favourite topics are relationship, culture and sustainability

Favorite topics are journalism, politics and social issues.

Emmanuelle Dos Santos | 23 years old

Bernardo Guerra Machado | 24 years old

Staying in Greece for 2 months

Staying in Greece for 7 months until April 2021

Favorite topics are international relationships, fitness, tatoos and drawing

Favorite topics are cultural diversity, stories, and Life

Berenice Chapon | 20 years old

Hugo Veron | 20 years old

Staying in Greece until 13th of December

Staying in Greece for 2 months

Favorite topics are politics, sustainability, literature.

Favourite topics are photography, travel and discover new cultures

Guests

Filippo Massariol | 22 years old

Beatrice Cosner

Hélène Vallée

General Directors: Editors: Aristodimos Paraschou Michael MaGee Christian Cibba Filippo Massariol Graphic Designer: Alexandros Tagaridis Find us: www.balkanhotspot.org Usb_ngo.gr

Pauline

Quentel

Francesco

Zivieri

Eirini Daskalaki

The volunteers responsible for this publication are hosted in Greece in the framework of the European ERASMUS+ Programme, European Voluntary Service. This project has been funded with support from the European Commision. This publication [communication] reflects the views of only of the author, and the Commision can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.