Politics

In an important two-part piece (read part 1 here) Erik Redli looks at the state of Eastern Europe. In this second part, he looks at how small sparks of tension can be dealt with before they start a fire.

At the moment it might seem that tensions between Ukraine and Russia are only the problem of the ‘marginal parts' of Europe. However, the consequences could sully the whole community. Look at the protesters in Aachen in the video below during the speech by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. 

In the first of a two-part piece, Erik Redli looks at the state of Eastern Europe and how learning lessons from the past have helped people move forward today. 

We might live in Europe but first of all we live on our own country, city or village. Therefore all European activity should start at local level. Last week I took part in the Charlemagne Prize ceremony in Aachen, Germany and this week I decided to attend a roundtable discussion in the town where I used to live as a child - Šahy in south-west Slovakia.

Šahy is a small town of about 9,000 inhabitants, two churches and a few bars where the people live at night. Because of its location on the borders, it has always been a gate to Hungary and a multicultural town with many foreigners and lorry drivers passing through and leaving rubbish. That's how we were introduced to empty Coca Cola bottles and McDonald's packaging.

Erik Redli attended this year's Charlemagne Prize, and is bringing us a series of posts bringing out the key issues of the forum.

"Berlin is becoming a melting point of Europe." These were the words of John Holten, an Irish writer and translator living in Germany, at the European Karlspreis Forum 2014 in Aachen, Germany. For a few days, the whole of Europe focusses on Germany whilst Aachen hosts the traditional Charlemagne Prize ceremony. It rewards personalities that have fostered the process of ‘Europeanization' and this year's laureate was Herman van Rompuy, the president of the European Council.

Where is Europe heading and what can the young people expect from the Europe of tomorrow? Today's European election has become the forum for parties dissatisfied with their national politics and a presidential campaign for the Europhiles. Who will be the new 'Father of Europe' - bearer of the legacy of Charles the Great? Now, his successor must save Europe from the commercialism, Asian growth and Russian hegemony. Apart from that, there are many problems on the inside. Instead of closer European integration, some parts of the member countries pursue further fission - view the situation in Ukraine. These are some of the opinions that I collected on various social networks and magazines.

But the truth is, that decision, and thereby the future, lies in our hands. Obviously, there are big differences in opinion between the particular generations. The Baby Boomers are loyal to the traditional values and rules, and still hold the majority of the senior offices. The following Generation X are rather resourceful individualists who create their own rules and opportunities. Of course that they will find central control from the EU more restrictive. Finally, there is the Generation Y majority, of who are young people and students whom I want to address.

Last week we asked you who you thought was the Person of the Year in 2013. ForeignStudents.com writer Erik created a shortlist of eight names and we asked you to vote. The response was great and there were two clear frontrunners from the very beginning. On the very final day of voting, Angela Merkel was just pipped to the post by our winner... Malala Yousafzai.

Here Erik Redli takes a look at the very worthy winner.

Malala Yousafzai: Person of the Year 2013

Most kids would probably prefer it if the government banned school and some wouldn't even mind too much if the buildings exploded. Last year, a 15-years old student in Tennessee even set his teacher on fire. Most pupils don't recognize the value of compulsory, free education. Actually, school should not teach, but show how to learn.