Oamenii și cărțile din Freiburg. Experiența mea cu Erasmus (III)

O parte foarte frumoasă, pe lângă oraș și cursuri, a fost experiența de a cunoaște oameni din toată lumea și câteva cărți deschizătoare de ochi.

Am avut șansa să cunosc colegi din: Italia, Lituania, Liban, Franța, Australia, Brazilia, Trinidad și Tobago, Namibia, SUA, Spania, Chile, Anglia, India, China… și alții.

A fost foarte interesant să văd cum gândește fiecare, să ascult povești de la ei de acasă sau să văd cum există aceleași proverbe în țări foarte îndepărtate, sau același tip de mâncare tradițională, cu mici diferențe la fiecare (aproape toate culturile au ceva asemănător cu tocănița noastră, doar că unii adaugă curry sau sos de soia).

Un lucru pe care l-am observat în contactul cu colegi din alte țări a fost că majoritatea dintre ei erau mult mai implicați social decât cei pe care i-am cunoscut până acum în România. Fiecare era interesant de câteva subiecte social-politice și voia să se implice într-un fel sau altul (în organizații non-guvernamentale, politică sau prin artă). Așa că am făcut un scurt sondaj, iar unii mi-au răspuns.

I-am rugat să-mi recomande și câteva cărți, așa că vreau să vă împărtășesc și vouă acum perspectivele și recomandările lor, pentru a vi-i aduce mai aproape și pentru a-i cunoaște, prin intermediul lor:

What are 3 socio-political issues that concern you the most?

Feminism, I’ve been involved since I was very little
Education (quality, egalitarian, etc)
The egalitarian distribution of the world’s assets.
(Antonia, Chile)

Harmful colonial histories and how this has developed into modern day racial capitalism and behaviours
Micro-aggressions and how normalised these have become e.g. the patriarchy and normalised misogynistic views and the gaslighting that comes with unraveling this
The way the justice system works (especially in the US) to systematically imprison those most vulnerable, to prosecute those who are not evil, but just replicating symptoms of global injustice through crime.
(Shivani, England)

Finding out ways to understand the language of animals. I think this is a legit social issue. You know, if we could actually use science to figure out exactly what animals say to us, we could solve a gazillion problems. Birds could tell us which group of people caused deforestation, or they could point at which poachers hunt down the wild elephants in the savannah. We could also have an actual heart to heart conversation with our pets, other than just asking them who’s a good girl/boy/pet.
The cornerstone of every democracy is voting. Every individual gets their say on who is best suited to handle the finance, international relations, public welfare of the nation. However, these are issues that not everyone is an expert on or even have a clue about. Hence, it would be interesting to have an experiment (and use the results from there) in say, a small island with a tweak to democracy. Of course every one gets to vote, but we give two votes only to people who are experts in the certain field. For example, for the election of the finance minister, finance and economics graduates get extra votes., and so on. We only have to hope this doesn’t turn autocratic in some way.
Last but most importantly, digital detox. I think the most hazardous form of poisoning is the poisoning of the mind. And the last decade or so has shown us how this has been carried out with the help of social media. We have to prevent disasters that could be directly related to effects of social media, like the 2016 US election and Brexit, and the degradation of mental health of nearly every Gen Z. This can be done by including courses in school curriculums and lessons for old people on how to identify and disregard misinformation spread over the internet. The internet is the closest thing to a totally egalitarian invention. We should use it for good and not for harm.
(Kathir, India)

Education (free education for all and you don’t have to prove that you don’t have enough money for scholarship)
Crime and justice (what if someone did not do it?/ technology: should we trust it?/ should teenagers get away with it?)
Abortion (is it right?)
(Sophia, Hong Kong)

(any books about mental health, money/economics and death)

The rise of Critical Race Theory
The extreme volatility of the political climate in the US (and in the EU)
The abuse of “hate crime” sentences
(Radu, Romania)

Homophobia, Hate Rhetoric and Speech and Hate Crimes Against Members of the LGBTQ+ Community in the Balkan Region.
Even though Balkan countries pride themselves on being progressive European countries (asubstantial number of countries are even members of the European Union), discriminationagainst Queer people is evident on a daily basis. It is not only prevalent among ordinary people but also in online spaces as well as in mass media and political actions and speech. Here are some articles and examples:
Matteo Mastracci,. (2022). Anti-LGBT Sentiments Flourish Online in South-East Europe. Balkan Insight. https://balkaninsight.com/2022/08/23/anti-lgbt-sentiments-flourish-online-in-south-east-europe/
Reuters (2021). Bulgarian presidential candidate charged after storming LGBTQ office. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/bulgarian-presidential-candidate-charged-after-storming-lgbtq-office-n1283189
Matthias Herr (2019). ‘Sorry for Your Misfortune, but That’s How Things Are Here…’. https://www.helvetas.org/en/eastern-europe/about-us/follow-us/helvetas-mosaic/article/March2019/better-answers-to-the-discrimination-and-violence-against-LGTBI-people-in-the-Western-Balkans
Human Rights Violations in the Middle East
Military conflicts in the Middle East are not a new issue brought to the table but are a contemporary example of how military and political conflicts can result in the suffering of the people by the hands of the supposed governments and armies, which duties are ought to protect the population. Countless murders, tortures and other atrocities happen to innocent people. One of the most well-known examples being the women’s right violations and the so-called morality police in Iran. In the Iranian case, it its striking – from a mini-skirt to being killed by the morality police for showing a strand of hair.
Mary Dejevsky (2018). I stayed in Iran during the last days of the Shah. What I saw is particularly important to mention now. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iran-shah-regime-1979-revolution-protests-liberal-reform-hassan-rouhani-ayatollah-khomeini-a8141311.html
Rothna Begum (2022). Iranian Women’s Demands for Freedom Must Be Heard.  https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/16/iranian-womens-demands-freedom-must-be-heard
Mary Dejevsky (2018). I stayed in Iran during the last days of the Shah. What I saw is particularly important to mention now. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iran-shah-regime-1979-revolution-protests-liberal-reform-hassan-rouhani-ayatollah-khomeini-a8141311.html
Rothna Begum (2022). Iranian Women’s Demands for Freedom Must Be Heard.  https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/16/iranian-womens-demands-freedom-must-be-heard
Iranian women in the last days of  the Shah’s reign in the 70s
Human Trafficking
Despite human trafficking being dubbed the “modern form of slavery”, it is one the oldest forms of human exploitation. Nowadays, however, it is aided by the Black Market on the Dark Web. Human trafficking channels run all around the globe and for various purposes – sex trafficking, organ trafficking, slavery, child exploitation etc.
The Borgen Project (2017, 2019). https://borgenproject.org/tag/worst-countries-for-human-trafficking/
Anti-Slavery. What is human trafficking? – Anti-Slavery International https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/human-trafficking/
Kelleytina Williams & Jean Muhammad (2021). How does the Dark Web Influence Human (and Sex) Trafficking? What Security Implementations are Involved in the Dark Web? https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10284706
(Mihaela, Bulgaria)