Time to Move to the Western Balkans. How the Diversification of global supply chains can benefit EU resilience Together with Zoran Nechev, Head of the Centre for European Integration at the Institute for Democracy – Societas Civilis Skopje (North Macedonia) I recently published the analysis and policy brief: Time to move to the Western Balkans: How …
It’s Menstrual Hygiene Day: Time to talk about (my) period(s)
The art shown in the cover picture of this article has been created by Crafts and Cramps , a Berlin based organization/ artist collective to end the stigma around menstruation May 28th is a day for feminist activism: Today is #MenstruationHygieneDay, a day to fight for ending the global stigma on menstruation, period poverty and …
Women’s struggle: Women rights and communism in the 20th century
The international women’s day roots in the activities of socialist organisations and activists in the beginning of the 20th century. In the US and Europe those early socialist feminists fought for the introduction of an international day for the struggle of women. In 1917 the 8th of March became a national holiday in Soviet Russia. …
The diversity of Ukraine: a visit to Kyiv
Before I travelled to Kyiv, I did not think much about the city. Not that I had planned for that (not) to happen or had been ignorant – the busy weeks (months? year?) before my trip simply left no room for planning. Already during the first hour (after 19 hours in the train), however, as …
A beautiful memory: The best souvenirs from Krakow
It is always nice to take a few pretty memory pieces home from vacation, but let’s be honest – at some point you have more shot glasses than event to drink, your shelfs are overflowing with frippery and you were anyways never really into fridge magnets. Especially during short tourist trips it can be difficult …
How to plan a sustainable and ethical wedding
“Green” weddings are becoming more and more of a thing, but it was still extremely difficult for us to find some information online last year. Let’s hope this will really become a sincere trend! Because unlike common believe, even an eco-wedding can be fun.
The personal (knitting) is political
When I started knitting a year ago, little did I know just how political that would be. Here I was, just looking for a nice, quiet hobby for after all my mind-wrecking thinking about the state of the world. I was wrong (and frankly, I should have known better, because, uh, everything is about politics). And just as I am, I don’t ignore politics when they come up.
Political mobilization on the agenda: national teachers’ strike in Poland
Since Monday, thousands of teachers are on strike in Poland and a wave of solidarity covers the country. Read this article about the background of this strike, its meaning for the political culture of Poland and about solidarity.
The avant-garde of queer culture on the rise: drag in North Macedonia
Four courageous young people fight their creative battle for an open-minded society in one of the most homophobic countries of Europe. An interview with the drag queens from Skopje.
Thinking inside the box: the Balkans as construction
“I can’t stand it anymore”, I hear a friend complain, “This constant need to label us as the Balkans , whatever that’s supposed to mean.” And she is right to grumble, because somehow everyone is talking about it and at the same time nobody: The Balkans. The term brings back memories of the Balkan Wars and not often it …