Sitting in as far East as geographic Europe goes, questions about where we are and how things here differ from things over there arise. While in Western Europe issues regarding climate change are high on the public agenda, how does that issue fair in the East? On this particular night in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, I sit down with Sergio of Eurotopics.net to hear about what their project is about and how he sees the concerns of Europe, from West to East and everything in between.
What I Learned in Rostov
Greetings from my last night in Rostov-on-Don, where the N-Ost conference has just about wrapped up, and it has been a great success as far as I can tell. There is plenty to write about in a city that is so seldom heard about outside of Russia, yet has such personality. As its been a busy few days and I must already prepare to leave, I wanted to make a brief list of things I learned in and about Rostov which I thought you might find interesting:
- Very big Korean population, who have been here for about 50 years, while still maintain their traditions and language, they’re an important part of what makes this city work.
- Parks. They like their parks. Sometimes its more of a long green tree lined walk way stretching many city blocks and offering a great alternative to walking on streets with traffic.
- Sometimes your huge truck breaks down in an intersection and its perfectly acceptable to just stand there and everyone will drive around you for hours.
- Rostov has many religions, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Armenian, Muslim, Jewish and according to the guy at the Korean cultural assocation- Buddhist.
- The Bridge over the Don river takes you from Europe to Asia.
- Don’t count on every street being paved and don’t underestimate how giant potholes can be.
- People in Rostov don’t speak much in terms of languages besides Russian, but if you’re in need of something they’re more than willing to work with you through pointing, hand signals, and smiles.
- The Armenian population of Rostov has been here for ages and make up another important part of the civic tapestry.
- We may be far from Japan but Rostovians love Sushi and manage to put it on the menu at any kind of restaurant.
- 4 days is not enough to really get to know a Russian city like this, but it does provide enough time to make some great friends.
Wikileaks Fights the Good Fight (bmtv#103)
After a long hiatus, a video entry complete with my sick-person voice. Focuses on Wikileaks and what they’re working on and the support they are seeking.
N-Ost Russia This Week
A bit too sick to write a proper post or prepare the next podcast today. However I wanted to point out that this wednesday I’m leaving for a 5 day visit to Russia. Specifically to speak at the N-Ost International Media Conference in Rostov-on-Don, which is located in southern Russia, near the Black Sea.
Looking over the program, which is in German, I see that speakers include many Russian bloggers and journalists working in the world of new and old media. Admittedly I don’t read any Russian blogs although I do read blogs by Russians and blogs by those who happen to be living in Russia. While I’m there I hope to be able to learn about their experiences, concerns, and projects. With any luck you’ll hear about it and perhaps from them directly on the podcast.
My talk, which will be held on Friday morning (and to my knowledge not streamed live) will be on Web 2.0 in Journalism, which means I’ll be talking about today’s web tools for journalists and how they help, hurt, etc.
I’m especially excited as this will be my first ever visit to Russia. While of course everyone thinks of cities like St. Petersberg or Moscow, I’m looking forward to experiencing a city that until recently, I knew nothing about.
ctrp316 Coffeeshops, Drug Tourism, and Politics
Two Dutch municipalities decided last year that all their coffeeshops must be closed down. While in other cities, like nearby Breda, city governments have no intention of going back to the days of street dealing in back alleys and dark corners. Selçuk Akinci is a blogging–tweeting digital native, not to mention the chairperson of the Green Party Delegation for the city council of Breda. He has also spoken out and written over the last few years on the topic of coffeeshops and the attempts to shut them down or instate pass-card systems where only card carrying members could make purchases. When in 2008, neighboring municipalities to Breda decided to close down their coffeeshops in effort to chase away drug tourism and other alleged undesireable elements, Selçuk was a vocal part of the effort to serve the influx of customers by setting up more coffeeshops in strategic locations.
From Breda, to the national level, to the European Court of Justice, Selçuk and I discuss drug policy in the Netherlands and just which way the political and social wind is blowing.
On Afghanistan Goals
Recent guest Rory Stewart said some extremely interesting things on the Bill Moyers Journal. Speaking about the military goals in Afghanistan and how much of a failure, or more importantly, unachievable these goals have proven to be. That said he isn’t talking about all or nothing, not trying to give a simple answer to such a complex situation.
Obviously there’s no shortage of reporting on Afghanistan out there, and it might all seem the same at some point. But if you’re trying to understand what is happening and what has happened when it comes to the International Military forces in Afghanistan, Rory Stewart explains it in a clear and useful way. Highly recommend viewing or listening.