For the next year, starting from December 2012, along with many of its partners, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC) is going to be the key protagonist of the European project Tell Europe to Europe. On the web, in cinemas, on the radio, in schools, universities and public events of four Countries. A year dedicated to the enlarged Europe, to the Europe of citizens, the Europe that responds to the crisis with a new and strong ability to plan in politics.
Tell Europe to Europe is a European project aimed at animating and widening the public debate on today’s Europe and on the Europe of the future. It is an ambitious challenge, where OBC is committed alongside 11 partners in Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Bulgaria. For a whole year, starting from December 2012, we are going to give life to a transnational area for analysis and debate. Through a wide number of diverse activities, this is to encourage media and the public opinion to gain a deeper knowledge of the Western Balkans and Turkey, as well as of their path to European integration.
By blending journalism, education, public opportunities for entertainment and exchanging of views, Tell Europe to Europe is going to be on www.balcanicauso.org daily. It is going to also live, however, outside the web.
We are going to be on the radio in Italy, Slovenia and Spain. The eight candidate and potential candidate Countries are protagonists on numerous episodes of “Passaggio a Sud-Est” on Radio Radicale; on Radio Capodistria on “Il vaso di Pandora”, a program specialized in international affairs and on three audio-reportages for the program Mapamundi, broadcast in Catalonian on Catalunya Radio.
Along with the Bulgarian section of the European Journalist Association, we are going to work so that many journalists will be able to follow the special reports published on the OBC portal and feel encouraged to talk about this Europe.
On the wings of cinema, we are going to be taken within the societies of these Countries. With the help of Lab80Film and the Federazione Italiana Cineforum, we are going to ask many film clubs in Italy to show filmographies that are not very popular but able, nonetheless, to release a wave of a collective captivation. In the spring, in Reggio Emilia the floor is going to be given to cinematographers and cinema experts, guests of three “Meet the Author” events promoted with the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
With Slowfood, we are going to discover the region’s best wine and food products, to tell stories on traditional food and cultures and the communities that defend them and to contribute to the 2013 edition of Terra Madre Balcani, to be held in Sofia in the fall.
We are going to dedicate specific proposals to schools and those who operate in International cooperation in the Balkans and Turkey, through an on-line didactic tool on enlargement and two seminars on the new Europe taking shape. One is going to be held in Trento with the Centro di Formazione alla solidarietà internazionale (Training Centre for International Cooperation) and the other one in Bergamo with the Fondazione Serughetti La Porta (Serughetti La Porta Foundation).
There are going to also be opportunities for hands-on events, which we want to encourage with two on-line debates and an international conference closing the working year and opening a discussion on the perspectives of enlargement after 2013.
Through all these activities, Tell Europe to Europe aims to range over 360 degrees. It accompanies the political analysis and the analysis of the progress of reforms with the grass-roots voices of Europe. This Europe is built by the citizens and civil society, committed to defending human rights, supporting the environment and a new model of sustainable development. It opens windows on the cultural and natural richness of these Countries and invites to extend the interest towards tourism based on enhancing local resources.
In 2013, the year when Croatia enters the European Union, and the European Year of Citizens, Tell Europe to Europe is our contribution to the debate on the future of our continent.
To really make this project successful, we need you too. You can contribute in many ways, posting comments, sharing contents on social networks, following the programs, sending us your travelogues, photographs or other material to be published, taking part in the on-line debates and doing word-of-mouth. We count on you too, to give voice to the Europe we hope for and believe in!
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page: Tell Europe to Europe.
