Another constitution-inspired petition

Earlier I have posted on two citizens' initiatives, Oneseat and Nuclear Power No Thanks, inspired by article 47 of the proposed European Constitution.

Now a new one has seen the light of the day. The 112 petition encourages the European Commission to ensure better aid to Europeans who dial 112. The web page explains:

In the EU, 15 to 30 % of the emergency calls get an inappropriate or even no answer at all!

The European Commission’s own figures show that every year 5,000 more lives as well as EUR 5,000,000,000 could be saved.

Therefore, I request the European Commission to ensure an efficient 112 service all over the EU to my family and me for the 50th anniversary of the United Europe in 2007.
Some of the testimonies on the web page is also quite thought-provoking:

Kristina called 112 in Belgium. The operator did not understand French or English. The ambulance arrived only one and a half hour later...

Oliver lives at the border between Germany and Austria. Once he had to call an emergency number in Austria but he did not know which one to call...

Manuel called the 112 in Spain and finally had to carry his father to the hospital emergency unit on his own because of the poor and slow 112 service...

The European Emergency Number Association is behind the petition.

PS: If some of you did not know 112 is the emergency number that you can use in all EU member states.

No, we do not have genitalia

Vagina!

Hush. Apparently you are not suppose to say that.

From News for Greens:

"A public high school has suspended three students who disobeyed officials by saying the word “vagina” during a reading from a well-known feminist play.
The honour students, Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson, included the word during their reading of “The Vagina Monologues” because “it wasn’t crude and it wasn’t inappropriate and it was very real and very pure,” Reback said.

Their defiant stand is being applauded by the play’s author, who said Tuesday that the school should be celebrating, rather than punishing, the three juniors.

“Don’t we want our children to resist authority when it’s not appropriate and wise?” said Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues.”"

It is also interesting to consider that this story (according to News for Greens) were more prominently covered in Canada than in the US where it took place.

Democrats win

This is the results of my earlier poll. It seems the US would have a democratic president if readers of Scratching the Surface were to decide. Perhaps not an extremely surprising result since many of my readers are European.

Thanks for your participation. If nothing else this poll made me aware how hard it is to 'measure' the political opinions of people living in different political systems. It is really difficult to find political categories everyone can relate to without, at the same time, making them so 'broad' that the poll will, more or less, say nothing at all.

New design

Pink-ish and raw - I know! However, I feel it sends out that feminist vibe. Thanks to Feministiskt Initiativ for inspiration to the colour. Enjoy!

Scratching the Surface expands business

I am now officially back in Brussels and have begun writing my masters thesis. For anyone curious about what I will spent the next half year on I cordially invite you to visit mymediathesis.blogspot.com. I will do my best to update frequently! Deadline is 1st of August.

PS: The name of the blog is the title I have been proposed by my thesis adviser. Does not really say a lot, I know.

A new Berlin wall?

I really hope this will not big business.

Again, sorry for non-Danish readers.

Scandi-joke

Recently, with International Women's Day as the occasion, I received this curiosity (PDF); an except from a fifties textbook on how to be a good wife. The absurdity of its advice becomes even more apparent if you reverse the gender roles (PDF).

My apologies to readers whom are not acquainted with Scandinavian languages.

Tell me about you!

If you read Danish I hope you will find the time to fill in a short questionnaire about my blog:

Gå til spørgeskema

The questionnaire is from Blog Tjek 07; a group of Danish bloggers investigating blog readers.

Radio with a European twist

News media that cross borders is a rare phenomenon - at least if we consider their popularity. Most people get their news from national media where events are interpreted and presented in a national context. This is not surprising considering most news media are produced nationally: Danish television news are produced by Danes within the borders of Denmark.

The radio programme Network Europe is an interesting experiment with respect to this. It is a cooperation between ten radio stations from all over Europe - from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe. Together they assemble a current affairs programme with stories from many corners of the continent.

Without doubt the programme has many flaws. It is a bit monotonous, the topics tend to be very 'heavy', and the sound quality is varying. Still, I like the idea about crossborder cooperation and the fact that the programmes offer stories that national media usually filters out.

Listen to the programmes in English or German.

Here in Hamburg some of my class mates are currently conducting a survey among people who have listened to the programme. If you have ten minutes they would be very happy if you would answer their online questionnaire.

The witch is back

Multitasking like crazy. While desperately browsing the web for accomodation in Brussels and typing in an assignment about the Danish media landscape my ears have devoted their full attention to this new album - a tribute to Yoko Ono.

As the Danish broadcaster DR write in their review the album is "colourful and messy". Still, I like it. Especially Peaches, Blow Up and Le Tigre make great performances as their music is mixed with the voice of the witch herself - Ono.

As a statement the tribute is interesting as well. As Rasmus Junge from DR puts it:

"Exactly the negative, public image of Yoko Ono as a cynical and calculating pop-avantgardist is the focal point for the tribute album 'Yes, I'm a Witch', that sttempts to add some nuances to this otherwise black-and-white representation, and at the same time advocates her importance as a gender-conscious, female artist." (my translation from Danish)

Former Pulp-protagonist fights back

I guess, Jarvis Cocker got a bit upset with New Labour after the '97 British elections.

Earlier I have expressed my disappointment in brit pop and the political involvement of brit pop bands. Still, I am pretty impressed with this new song by the former lead singer in Pulp.

Well did you hear, there’s a natural order.
Those most deserving will end up with the most.
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say: Shit floats.
If you thought things had changed,
Friend you’d better think again,
Bluntly put in the fewest of words,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.

Now the working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to societies needs,
So let ‘em all kill each other,
And get it made overseas.
That’s the word don’t you know,
From the guys thats running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.

Oh feed your children on Cray fish and Lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory I respect your right to exist,
I will kill ya if you move in next to me,
Ah it stinks, it sucks, it’s anthropologically unjust,
But the takings are up by a third,
Oh So Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.

Your free market is perfectly natural,
Or do you think that I’m some kind of dummy,
It’s the ideal way to order the world,
Fuck the morals, does it make any money?
And if you don’t like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your rights but don’t imagine that it’s heard, Oh no no,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.

This will be interesting

"I'm in. And I'm in to win. Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president," states a press release from Hillary Clinton, Senator from New York.

Out of Iraq, energy independence, social security and affordable healthcare are causes on the agenda of the possible first woman to enter the White House as president.

Check out the video in which Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy.

During recent years several scholars have looked into the way media covered Hillary Clinton during her time as First Lady. One of the most interesting articles I have come across is that of Charlotte Templin which evaluates cartoon images of America's most famous female politician. This is an extract from the abstract:

"The cartoon images of Hillary Clinton suggest a backlash against the professional woman, as evidenced by the obsession with Hillary among cartoonists, the continual use of cliches and stereotypes, and the overt sexism in the images and symbols used to depict her. Cartoonists see Hillary violating gender norms. Cartoon images fall into the following categories: gender reversals, Hillary as radical feminist and emasculator, domestic imagery, woman as body, the public woman, cherchez la femme, and the wife the husband wants to get rid of. "

I will keep my fingers crossed for more fair media coverage this time.

Operation Red Dragon

It is not an easy task to communicate EU politics. The structures and decision-making processes of the European institutions are rather complex and the same goes for many of the causes and issues raised at the European level.

So how do you make high-level politics more accessible and appealing to European citizens? ALDE, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, has a suggestion; a cartoon. In 'Operation Red Dragon' you are invited to follow Elisa Correr, a member of the European Parliament, as she gets embroiled in a risky adventure taking place in Brussels and the fictitious country of Fang Dong. Every week new pages are made available on ALDE's web page.

If you prefer learning about the EU in a more traditional format I recommend the EU-published booklet 'How the European Union works - a citizen’s guide to the EU institutions'. It is 52 pages long but very easy to read - or just browse through.

The Western world scratches the surface

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Famous feminist #6

"We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned; we are really talking about humanism."

Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) is an American feminist icon, journalist, and women's rights advocate. She is the founder and original publisher of Ms. Magazine.

Steinem entered Smith College on scholarship in 1952, majoring in government studies and becoming politically active in Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign. After graduation she studied in India for two years, after which she returned to America, where she believed that she had difficulty finding a journalism position because males had hiring preference.

Steinem eventually got a political assignment covering George McGovern's presidential campaign, which led to a position in a New York magazine. She became politically active in the feminist movement, and the media seemed to appoint Steinem as a feminist leader of sorts. Steinem brought other notable feminists to the fore and toured the country with lawyer Florynce Rae ("Flo") Kennedy, and in 1971, cofounded the National Women's Political Caucus as well as the Women's Action Alliance. In 1972, she helped start the feminist Ms. Magazine and wrote for the magazine until it was sold in 1987. The magazine was bought by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2001, and Steinem remains on the masthead as one of six founding editors and serves on the advisory board. Steinem cofounded the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, and participated in the National Conference of Women in Houston, Texas in 1977. She became Ms. magazine's consulting editor when it was revived in 1991, and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Source: Wikipedia.org

More than the little mermaid

"In the Danish sense security is to have a bottle opener tied to your rocking chair"

- Benny Andersen, Danish author

The cartoon crisis fuelled a big debate on what it means to be Danish - not just locally in Denmark but internationally as well. What those Danes are about really puzzled media world-wide; among these the famous current affairs programme 60 Minutes and Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

To me, born and raised in Denmark, the descriptions that capture the best what it means to be Danish are those of writer Benny Andersen. His poem collection 'Cosmopolitan in Denmark and other poems about the Danes' is a great reader for anyone who wishes to understand the illusive concept of 'Danish-ness' a little better.

Reading Andersen's poems is also a great way of escaping the stereotypes that are often applied to Denmark and its citizens; a fairy tale nation, the home country of Hans Christian Andersen, a cornucopia of pastries, butter cookies and hot-dogs. No wonder, people were so surprised when the cartoon crisis broke out. How could this cute, prosperous miniature country suddenly become object of the anger of millions? Andersen gives insight into a Danish identity that is a lot more complex and ambiguous than the glossy picture often painted by mass media.

Milking the cow

This fall tuition fees have been introduced in many of the German federal states, among those Hamburg where I live. To me free education is not only about equal opportunities for all members of society but also at the core of the progress of the information society. All the neoliberal talk about increasing the level of education is rather paradoxal considering yet another European country introduces tuition fees.

"500 Euro should still be in there" it says on this postcard from the association of socialdemocratic students at the University of Hamburg. 500 Euro is the amount that students will have to pay pro semester to attend university in the federal state of Hamburg.

Overcoming the gender gap

"Girls are incalculateable. Well, now I think of it, guys are too"

- Paul, 23, computer science student

Reader for 2007

I have been wanting to read 'Stiffed' ever since I bought it - together with Faludi's thought-provoking book 'Backlash' - in an American bookshop in Amsterdam. Hopefully I will find time in the new year.

The slow Rwanda

In Rwanda 1,000,000 people were slaughtered by extremist Hutu militia groups - making it one of the world's largest genocides. The Rwandan genocide is outstanding - not only because of its dimension, but also due to the international community's poor response to the atrocities. During the mass murder the UN was paralyzed; unable to reach an agreement on how to react. The consequence being a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus lost their lives during only 100 days in the spring of 1994.

In spite more than 10 years have passed since the genocide in Rwanda brutal war still haunts Africa. The gallery of Danish photographer Jan Grarup makes it evident; war is not over. We Westerners are just good at ignoring it.

At this moment another serious conflict takes place in Africa; the Darfur province in Sudan. According to an estimate by the UN more than 400,000 people have died and around 2 million more have lost their homes since the conflict began in 2003 (source: wikipedia.org). A genocide that, according to many experts, is orchestrated by the Sudanese government. In spite having had three years to come up with a response the international community has again failed to intervene - hereby allowing the Darfur conflict to turn into a 'slow Rwanda'.

Relief aid is by many regarded as useless, even as something that supports the conflict, since corruption directs the stream of money from the West into the pockets of the Sudanese government. According to the Danish, independent campaign 'Save Darfur' up to 95 percent of the emergency aid from the Danish government has ended in the hands of war-makers.

For sure, war is not over.