This week two E&M editors share their favourite European reads. From blog posts to essays, it can be anything that amused them, worried them or got them thinking about Europe.

Velislav, Diaphragm editor

The EU deserved the Nobel Peace Prize...

Recently, the EU as an entity, and respectively each of its some 500 million citizens, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Tim Judah, who has been covering the Balkans for the past two decades, this was well deserved - the EU as a laureate was the "right choice at the right time." While admitting that it is facing considerable difficulties at present, he emphasises its significant security achievements – not only is a war between its Member States now unthinkable, but it has been central to the slow reconciliation between ex-Yugoslav Balkan countries. Citing the foreign ministers of Croatia, Macedonia, and Georgia - all countries that still look up to the EU - he makes a well argued case...

Or perhaps not?

The Economist on the other hand, is more suspicious about the achievements of the EU. The Charlemagne column stresses the current economic turmoil in the eurozone, subtly mocking the committee's choice - "Note that it does NOT win the Nobel Economics Prize."

Each week, two E&M editors share their favourite European reads. From blog posts to essays, it can be anything that amused them, worried them or got them thinking about Europe.

Juliane, Diaphragm Editor 

Feminism: It's a girl thing

When I tell people that I'm a feminist, they often shrug and think I'm crazy. What's left for feminists to be mad about? Women can work in almost any kind of profession and the universities are filled with women. We've won the battle, some might say. Well, I beg to differ. The reason we still need feminists to speak up about the way things are is because there still is a problem with the attitude towards women. Unfortunately, it seems that the latest example of this has come from the EU - who apparently have not learned much from their last PR disaster. The video "Science - it's a girl thing" produced to attract more women to the natural sciences proves that we still have a long way to go in terms of changing attitudes towards women. Apparently, the EU thinks women need to believe that science is about pretty scientist girls and hot scientist guys in order to be attracted to it. The EU has withdrawn the video, but for me, the damage is already done. Think about how many people must have reviewed this video before it was released - and not one found it offensive? That's why I'm still a feminist. Read more about why it's a problem to think that girls can only be attracted to science when it involves lipstick here.

Brace yourselves: The festival season is coming

For me, summer equals festivals. Some people might not agree with me, but a dirty field, loud music, sleeping in tents and drinking beer all day spells happiness to me. I've already been to two festivals this year - Distortion Festival in Copenhagen (which The Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the European version of SXSW, the largest music festival in the world) and Northside Festival, the German Southside Festival's little sister in Aarhus, Denmark. In a few days, I'm going to Roskilde Festival for the 7th year in a row (hint: Keep an eye out on the blog...) - but there are dozens of other opportunities to enjoy the music, the beer and the beautiful people all over Europe. Here are a few options to choose from and be inspired by.

Tweet, tweet: I'm crazy

I love the idea. I really, really do. The Swedish government turns over a twitter account (@sweden) to different citizens each week, the idea being that the best people to showcase Swedish culture and mentality are the Swedes themselves. Well, it worked fine... Until Sonja got to make the calls. I'm not quite sure if it's for real or not, and some of the things are just outright offensive, but I can't help but think that her photoshopped picture of Freddie Mercury ogling a strawberry salad entitled "hungry gay with aids" is the most absurd (and possibly, if she actually means what's she tweeting, the most offensive) thing I've seen online in ages. Check out the story here.

... and ride for your rights! If you loved your Erasmus year and - like Umberto Eco - think experiences like that have potential to create a European identity, here's a fun way to speak out about issues of student mobility while getting a good workout at the same time! E&M asked Julian Walkowiak from Ride for your Rights! why we should go out and bike around Europe, be it from Łódź to Katowice or from Tbilisi to Anaklia.

E&M: What is Ride for your rights! all about?

JW: Ride for your rights! is a project led by Campus Europae and the Erasmus Student Network. Young people take their bikes and cycle across European countries in order to raise awareness about obstacles to student mobility and at the same time promote such opportunities to students and stakeholders.

E&M: Can you give an example of a tour you thought was especially fun?

JW: My personal favourite this year is the tour taking place in Georgia. Our team was absolutely thrilled when we found out that the idea of Ride for your Rights! travelled as far as Tbilisi. Students will cycle from Tbilisi to Anaklia and join the Georgian International Forum of Student Unions.

E&M: And what else are you planning this year?

JW: 2012 is a very symbolic year, since we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ERASMUS programme. At the same time we're debating and preparing the upcoming European programmes 2014 - 2020, such as the "Erasmus for All" programme. It will be an opportunity for the riders and partner organisations of the project to voice their opinions about the future of the Erasmus programme.

We are excited to announce a new opportunity to make your voice heard! We want you to let us know your thoughts on a pressing issue for today's Europe: social justice. 

In some European countries over 50% of young people are currently unemployed. Does Europe need more justice? The proposal of an unconditional basic income is said to be a model for the future and a way to create a more just society. At its basis it means that every person gets a certain amount of money every month no matter what - without conditions. We are interested in your view of justice in your country, justice in Europe and the unconditional basic income.

E&M, along with FutureLab Europe and the Körber Foundation, has developed a short survey and now we need YOUR voice. Participate at www.europeandme.eu/survey and share! 

Your view will help inform our representatives when they go to the annual conference of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) in Belfast this June. During the Europe@Debate discussion, we will be sharing the views of young Europeans with leading policy makers and academics. And of course, we will share the outcomes of the survey and debate with you. 

THE RESULTS

Still need convincing? Here's the amazing infographics Franc Camps-Febrer made for us from the results of our last survey on European foreign policy. And you can check out videos of our authors and editors confronting politicians with the voice of young Europeans!

Help us raise the voice of young Europeans!

The Editorial Team

Each week, two E&M editors share their favourite European reads. From blog posts to essays, it can be anything that amused them, worried them or got them thinking about Europe.

Matt, Sixth Sense Editor

Günter Grass on Israel and Europe

Famed German author Günter Grass was banned from Israel a few months ago for writing a poem which attacked both Israel's policy towards Iran and Germany's plan to sell submarines to them. 'What must be said' remains an interesting case for what "can" and "can't" but should be said about Israel, Palestine, and Iran.

You may have missed a more recent publication by Grass called "Europe's shame" in the Suddeutsche Zeitung this month. Less opaque than "What must be said", I'll leave the interpretation of the poem in your hands. Here's a short description if you don't trust google translate. Let us hope his final line does not come to pass - "You will waste away spiritlessly without the country whose spirit, Europe, conceived you."

Grexodus

Grass brings me to the Grexodus (or more commonly termed the ‘Grexit’), and the words of the Ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus have increasingly resonated in my thoughts. One quote from Agamemnon in particular seems to offer some insight into the current dilemma. Between sacrificing his daughter or failing in his deep (but also beneficial) commitments, Agammemnon, the ancient king of Mycenae, faces an impossible decision, "Pain both ways and what is worse? Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?" Anyway, the play is well worth a read. Equally, Germany's early speculative alternative to the austerity package and Grexit deserves a read.

Don't know your fiscal pact from your 'big bazooka'? Read this excellent and clear article from the European Council of Foreign Relations. Then tackle 'Europe after the Crisis' (Sorry, it's behind a paywall). Any student of Europe will know the name Moravcsik. I've never been a huge fan of his, but this article is one of the best I've read on the overarching problem inherent in the Eurozone. And this approach, a restatement of causes seems to me somewhat unhelpful when trying to figure out how to save (or otherwise dismantle) the Eurozone. Surely, we're past all of that pointing of fingers? At least in approach, this article seems to get it right, and by framing the problem as Saving the Euro without losing the Europeans is much more constructive.

Is there such a thing as "speaking European"? How does our identity as Europeans affect our everyday lives? And is there actually a difference between German Frikadellen and Turkish Köfte?

These are some of the questions we asked ourselves at our workshop in December - and now, we're launching a special section of the website to present you with our ideas. Among other things, you'll find a European cookbook, a comic strip about transnational love, and a guide to Berlin. Plus you'll discover how our participants see their personal futures in Europe - from Laura, who comes from Romania and is studying in the UK to become a journalist, to Sezin from Turkey, who says she knows the recipe for happiness... And if you're really serious about speaking European, you can get stuck into our European Dictionary or listen to our multilingual poem.

A very special part of the project is our film, What do you believe in?, a mini-documentary in which the participants tell us whether they believe in God, love, stories or laughter - and why.

So: happy reading! Does this understanding of Europe match your own experiences? Tell us with a comment and we can add it to our collection of speaking Europeans! 

And look out for news of our next event in the not too distant future!

Lucy, Heart Editor 

New house? Make it a bright pink windmill

Whether you're travelling through the countryside in the Czech Republic or the Republic of Ireland, you'll see them: oversized houses, painted bizarre colours, and sometimes even featuring turrets and ornamental windmills. In countries where individual wealth has increased quickly over the last twenty years, people are sometimes scarily eager to show that they have the most oddly-shaped carport in the village - and Czech photographer Jan Kruml has documented some of the most weird and wonderful examples. Kruml has campaigned in the past to encourage Czech villagers to maintain their heritage and restore old buildings rather than building new ones inspired by their exotic holidays. His work raises interesting questions: should kitsch eyesores be banned, or does everyone have the right to make their home a castle?

What happened to the revolution?

If Marx travelled forward in time and found himself in the year 2012, watching bankers spend their bonuses or seeing Chinese workers queuing up for jobs making iphones at one of the Foxconn factories, he might have been surprised. Not all of his predictions have come true: for instance, how can we explain the fact that the financial crisis has not yet resulted in a mass revolt by the global proletariat? John Lanchester sets out to answer this question in a lecture called Marx at 193, which is very accessible to non-economists and features a fascinating description of "the world's most typical human being."

Women who "sell" their "assets": businesswomen, or victims?

Pole-dancing: can it be empowering? Or does it always encourage sexual inequality? The question of sexual empowerment divides young women today, with books such as Catherine Hakim's Honey Money suggesting that women should use their attractiveness for their own gain. Poet Sabrina Mahfouz tackles the question in her poem First Night, about a stripper's first night on the job. Mahfouz is an impressive performer, and the poem has many great moments linguistically (look out for the double use of "hard") - but what I really like about it is the way she creates a clamour of disorientating voices. For me, the feeling of overload which you have at the end of the poem reflects many women's sense of confusion and uncertainty when it comes to the question of empowerment.

Open letter from the editors of two European youth magazines to the European Commission

Recently, Stefano Sannino, the European Director General for Enlargement, hurriedly withdrew a promotional video which was supposed to encourage young Europeans to think positively about EU enlargement.

It's hard to say which aspect of this video was more ridiculous.

Many newspapers pointed out the racial stereotyping of the three scary men who surrounded the white woman in the Kill Bill-style leotard. Then there was the fact that the woman summoned 11 identical versions of herself to defeat the outsiders, who vanished to make way for the EU flag. What happened to the old slogan, "unity in diversity"? If they had to go with this concept, couldn't she at least have summoned a whole variety of people, all dressed in different yellow outfits? Let's not forget, the EU consists of 27 countries, each with their own traditions, languages and peculiarities. It's very unlikely that they would choose to wear the same outfit... And then there was the budget, for which there were probably an infinite number of better uses, given the public reaction to the video.

Philip, Brain Editor  

Putin and the EU

Despite the protests in Russia's biggest cities among the growing and new Russian middle classes, Putin has been elected for another six years. What is to be expected from his presidency and what is the EU's role in this? In a paper published for the European Council on Foreign Affairs right before the election, Ben Judah and Andrew Wilson already see the "end of the Putin consensus." They argue that the protests have significantly changed the situation in Russia: on the international level, a weaker Putin could lead to a less co-operative foreign policy, on the domestic level, reforms seems unlikely and a more populist presidency can be expected. This leaves the EU in a difficult position – as could already be witnessed in the reactions to Putin's election. While the EU might find it tempting to support opposition movements, Russia is an important partner in terms of energy, and Putin might represent such involvement as "destabilisation from the West" to regain support. Wilson and Judah give a good, concise overview of pre-election Russia and an outlook on future EU foreign policy – worth a read. 

Solving the European debt crisis?

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and public intellectual, argues that this is not essentially a question of printing money or cutting public spending: in the long run, the debt crisis can only be solved by an integration of citizens into the EU, a more lived democracy. Habermas points to the name of the so called Fiscal Compact, the "Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance," and maintains that the German focus on "stability" and silence when it comes to "coordination" is deeply rooted in a democratic deficit. His article is a critical analysis of Merkel's policy and its consequences as well as a description of how this crisis might open a possibility for the development of the EU. As such it is an expression of Habermas' belief in the future of this project – a must read.

How did it come to all this?

Each week, two E&M editors share their favourite European reads. From blog posts to essays, it can be anything that amused them, worried them or got them thinking about Europe.

Juliane, Diaphragm Editor 

HAS TECHNOLOGY FIGURED US OUT?

I love it when science and technology present easy solutions to complex problems. The notion that you can answer some of life's most troubling questions in one single sentence is deeply appealing to me. Nevertheless, when I first read about complexity scientists having explained the way culture has spread in Europe, I was somewhat... offended. For me, European culture is fascinating, interesting and compelling because it cannot be explained in one sentence. So when a bunch of complexity scientists (which, on a side note, is the coolest academic title I've come across) explain to me that the main reason, or perhaps one of the main reasons, that the democracies of ancient Greece and the Roman empire still remain the most influential and persisting cultural movement in European history is ... that Italy and Greece are located not in the centre, but on the edge of the European continent, I am quite frankly insulted. However, the possibility that they might be right is puzzling and fills me with curiosity. See if you agree here and download the whole paper here if you're interested.  

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE FILM OF THE YEAR... SORT OF

This is a movie that I'm more excited about than I care to admit. A few reasons: 1) It's just about as tacky as science fiction will ever get. Which in itself is a reason to love it. 2) It's one of the few examples of real, not just imagined, fan-funding (the movie has been planned for ages, but director Timo Vuorensola did not have the money to make it happen - until he urged people who wanted to make it happen to pitch in, actually funding enough for proper production of the whole thing). In other words, even before the first screening, the movie had a huge and loyal pool of fans, which in this day and age is quite the accomplishment. 3) The movie, which, just to be clear, is about AN INVASION OF NAZIS WHO HAVE BEEN HIDING ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON SINCE 1944, opened at the Berlin Film Festival Berlinale this year. I love it. I love what it says about Germany being able to deal with their past in, if not unproblematic ways, then at least openly and with the realisation that the past is actually in the past. 4) It's a pan-European project actually said to have a chance of being a blockbuster in the US, which always is a weird satisfaction for me. Intrigued? Read more about what is perhaps the most inappropriate, yet surely entertaining, film experience of the year here.