A young man with a moustache in Amsterdam

Not with a harmonica.

And why a moustache, how does it help anyhow? Too poor to shave? Possibly. Too stressed out to keep appearances the man approaches, moustache, and only a hoodie to shield him from the All Saints rain. “Are you a tourist?” He is asked. “Are you here looking for some fun?”Fun is when the bench is dry and there are warm and clean leftovers from the 24/7 snack bar.Old men have all the money and all the fun. Young men scurry like rats along wet pavements, looking…looking for the work to get the money to get the fun that makes it worth going to find the man with the moustache in Amsterdam. Looking for work – just like that. Easier to find the camel which slid through the needle’s eye. Young men die in old men’s wars, break backs in old men’s factories. Men die young, old men die too. Who shall inherit the Earth?

Greece is becoming a garbage bin for migrants and it does so with European consent. It is high time to react.

By Apostolis Fotiadis

High Commissioner António Guterres has asked some days ago the European Commission to consider convening a meeting between Italy, Malta, Libya, UNHCR and other relevant partners to work on a joint strategy for a better  response to irregular migration across the Mediterranean, following Italy’s recent  ‘push-backs’ to Libya.

But while Italy is being internationally chastised for the refoulement of refugees that effectively annuls the country’s responsibilities arising from international treaties, most notably the Geneva convention, neighboring Greece is building up a state sponsored persecution of irregular migration which has so far got away provocatively unnoticed.

Taxe-e-e!

International Women’s Day – Demo for Solidarity with Kuneva organised in Sofia

Turkish Toilets in Bulgaria

by Vassil Leftski

Finally something lively to come out of the usually sterile and boring official exhibitions where all the ‘unity in diversity’ of the EU is portrayed. The Czech Presidency commissioned a work to the controversial artist David Cerny – someone I wasn’t familiar with before but who has apparently been involved in very interesting art projects. He came up with the huge art installation Enthropia where he tried to represent each of the EU member states with a particularly embarrassing catchy detail.

petrosani (a very predictable text)

it’s possibly two years full since my first visit to petrosani. two years later, the town looks the same.

Anarchists in Bulgaria

from novinite.com

A Bulgarian organizer and ‘zine publisher describes current anarchist projects in his country, discussing how Really Really Free Markets work in an eastern European context and addressing the local relevance of CrimethInc. texts from the United States. Contacts are included for those hoping to connect with anarchists between Sofia and the Black Sea.

 

Schengen blues

Here’s the link to a highly entertaining article by Gábor Miklósi which explores some of the paradoxes of Schengen in Central Europe.

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-04-09-miklosi-en.html

Re: Toilets in Eastern Europe

 

Pass through this city, quickly, in the dark.

Its 4 in the morning. Snows falls, blankets of snow fall and cover the city. The bus reaches the outskirts and starts turning in the empty streets. The Serbian driver speeds up. The little Bosniak and her French boyfriend are still asleep. The city is also sleeping. No light in the windows, no shops open, no pedestrians walking the streets. Perfect conditions for someone to look carefully for the ghosts of the city before the day push them back in their nest.