Friday, March 30, 2012

Zagreb vol. 2

It's been a while that I have not updated or posted anything new about the training I applied for. You remember, the LGBTQ seminar, organized in Zagreb that will be held between April 11 and 16. If you wish, click on the link and you can read back my first post about this (link here). 

According to their latest e-mail it is not at all sure that I am going to participate :((

Let's see: my application was accepted.

Later, the prep-team sent another e-mail that since I am not that exciting from the gender point of view I was put on a waiting list. OMG. I mean I understand that they want to create a gender balance but on the other hand it has a slight "discriminatory" effect: just because I'm a hetero girl? thanks... I think it would have been better if they found out something like "oh we selected the first applicants and you signed up later than others...", don't you?

All in all, I still hope I can go. If not, they already sent a "compensational" offer about the other two courses scheduled for this year. Until a receive the "final" e-mail, please keep your fingers crossed. Thanks.

And one more: I allowed donations because I needed money for this trip to Croatia. I already received some dollars, so thank you for that. I really appreciate... and I promise I am going to keep this amount on my PayPal until another opportunity in which I can actively take part comes. Thank you again.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Labels are for clothes

Labels are for clothes. Exactly my point.

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Monday, March 26, 2012

Flashlove flashmob in Budapest

DSC_0761It's spring and it's sunday. The weather is just perfect in Budapest for a stroll, moreover, for some love! What else? :)
Exactly from 4 p.m. in front of the church at Deák tér, there a flashmob organized by members of a certain facebook group took place (link here). As an anniversary, it was time to celebrate that a year has passed since the first same-sex kissing flashmob. Now the event was for EVERYONE who independently from sexual orientation or gender identity wanted to express solidarity. Propaganda? I don't think so. Just an action to show we can all love freely. 

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The "essence" of a flashmob is that all participants shall start moving at the same moment. This time the initial stroke was given by the guy in the center by opening the umbrella. (To the end of this blog entry I am going to paste my favorite picture I took today about him.) The whole hugging scene was about 2 minutes long, but these actions are always short. It was creative, cute and I liked the rainbow umbrella :P

Actually, I made the original post to another blog that I'm working on (link here), but since that site deals with the cultural persecutive of things, I thought it would be important to highlight the importance of such an event here. Tolerance, acceptance... expressions that came into my mind when thinking back of this flashmob. It is actually a pretty funny and eye-catching method of awareness campaigning: how to reduce homophobia in a non-agressive way. 

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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Advertise under the ground!

Here is a genius ad from London! :)

Here are two men.
One of them is gay.
Think you can tell which?

Stereotypes are the views of the small-minded.


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Saturday, March 24, 2012

NOM Declares War on Starbucks

Daily bullshit is out -- NOM declares war on Starbucks for being a LGBTQ-friendly place... NOM, the National Organization for Marriage is of course an antigay association that has just decided to fight against the company. It is boycotting Starbucks because they believe the coffee chain took sides in a culture war by supporting same-sex marriage in Washington. 

How they plan to do this? The organization launched a website called DumpStarbucks.com and said it intends to place advertisements throughout the U.S., the Middle East, and Southeast Asia that encourage people to stop patronizing Starbucks... all because the company is gay-friendly. And wow DumpStarbucks.com has 5800 pledges as of this morning... They are also asking people to call their local Starbucks and complain to the manager about the coffee purveyor’s gay marriage stance. Unbelievable... you can read more about this on advocate.com (link here)

There is one thing for sure: I love Starbucks and I think I love them more... and more... :) the space, the furniture, the smell and the beverage altogether attract me, love the place, love its management and love how they support the LGBTQ people. Go on like this!

I took this photo at a local Starbucks in Budapest during the winter. What I tried that time was a limited offer (toffee nut latte)

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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Celebrities for gender equality

After a post about George Clooney I am going to write one about Annie Lennox and a recently appeared singer. I like making comments on how famous starts deal with human rights issues -- you already know that I deeply care. So... who is Emeli Sandé? A simple pop singer or a rebellious celebrity? She has jumped onto the path which Jessie J or Ellie Goulding also follow... but, sometimes I just like forgetting all the hype, awards (Brits Critics Choice award), let the music speak and let them speak.

We celebrated the international women's day exactly two weeks ago. London - not surprisingly - beats Budapest in the celebration, except for our lovely cookie action! :) If you don't remember, you can read back my post (link here).

Now, let's see what happened in the UK: party party party -- but how? Annie Lennox was joined by Emeli Sande (and some others including Katy B and Jess Mills) for a night of live music to promote the fight for equality. Annie Lennox is the founder of  Equals, a coalition of over 30 organizations unified by a common cause – to promote gender equality. Love this project.

I have just read the interview held by Time Out (link here) and they started the article by demonstrating they overheard Lennox and Sandé discussing empowerment, sexism in the music industry and reclaiming the word ‘feminist’. I copied out the interview from the above linked article because it is just fascinating, love it!

Emeli Sandé: ‘Have women’s issues and gender equality always been important to you?’

Annie Lennox: ‘Women’s issues have always been a part of my life. My goal is to bring the word “feminism” back into the zeitgeist and reframe it. I would love to see young men and women embracing this word, and saying we want to see the empowerment of women.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘My dad is from Zambia and he always made me and my sister feel very capable, and that you should be able to do anything regardless of where you come from or what sex you are. But I did study medicine, and there was a distinct view that women should be GPs and guys should become surgeons, because women are going to have a family to look after. In the music industry I’ve found there’s rarely a woman who has her own music studio, or a room of her own. I’m a big fan of Virginia Woolf’s essays about how important it is to have a real space of your own. I’d like to see more women behind the scenes in publishing and management.’

Annie Lennox: ‘My issue with the state of women became incredibly stimulated when I was visiting developing countries and it became obvious that women bore the brunt of so many things in society. They haven’t got anywhere near the first rung of the ladder in terms of their own legislative empowerment or personal protection. You were studying to become a doctor and that would’ve been unheard of only a century ago. I want to see women having those opportunities globally.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘Creating some kind of identification between women in the west and in developing countries is important so we can see the similarities between us. On another note, nowadays there’s so much overt sexuality in music, especially regarding women. Do you feel like that’s progress, that they’re liberated or do you think it’s a step backwards?’

Annie Lennox: ‘When I see something innovative that doesn’t rely on a sexual cliché, it’s so refreshing. I’m not against sexuality and sensuality being expressed; Beyoncé is a really sexy, sexual woman, but she does it with such good grace.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘When people say, “We’re being brave by doing this” or, “We’re being ourselves”, the majority of the people being inspired by these artists are young girls. Young children buying the music are seeing that that’s how they’re successful. Also, I do feel it’s a shame that women seem to be in competition with each other. We don’t think that we’re more powerful together and if we just support one another, then we’ll have leverage.’

Annie Lennox: ‘I loved meeting the girls [last year]. What I got from them was their vivacity, enthusiasm and awareness of gender issues. And that feeling of being together under the same umbrella for an evening. No, we’re not competing with each other, we can benefit from having this camaraderie.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘I was quite surprised to see that Britain is only 16th in the list of gender equality. Why do you think we’re so low down?’

Annie Lennox: ‘I think people in Great Britain are a bit jaded sometimes. Women should be more engaged with the issue of gender and equality. It seems like it’s gone on to the back burner – we’ve come this far but there’s nothing left to do – but when you see some of these facts and numbers, you’re shocked. There’s so much more to be done. That’s why I think women’s magazines have got fantastic potential to influence young women’s minds in a healthy way and that really should be on the agenda.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘Which feminists from the past have inspired you?’

Annie Lennox: ‘The person who inspired me the most was a friend of mine, Anita Roddick. I know that Anita wasn’t known to be an ardent feminist but she truly was. She was all about women having power and supporting women. She was a businesswoman who was hugely successful and incredibly inspirational and vibrant and can-do – yes I can. Yes we can. And I loved that about her.’

Time Out: ‘Recently there’s been some discussion about how there’s a lack of protest music in popular culture these days. Is it important for you to write lyrics that go beyond pure escapism and address more pertinent issues?’

Annie Lennox: ‘When I look at the majority of my own songs they really came from my own sense of personal confusion or need to express some pain or beauty – they were coming from a universal and personal place. I would have loved to have been a more politically based writer but I didn’t feel I had that skill set. ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves’ [by the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin] is a very anthemic song and it’s self explanatory, but that’s a rarer song for me to write. There are some incredible songs like ‘Biko’ by Peter Gabriel which became the essence of what apartheid had brought and it was a personal story. Or when Sting wrote ‘They Dance Alone’ about the women who had lost their sons in Chile. When I heard those songs I felt very inspired, but those songs are few and far between. They’re so great that they’re challenging to write.’

Emeli Sandé: ‘Do you feel that music can open people’s eye across the world? We get caught up in our own bubble with what’s happening in the west and we don’t feel that connection with people around the world. Even though the world feels like it’s getting smaller it feels like we’re still very separate.’

Annie Lennox: ‘I think music is the most phenomenal platform for intellectual thought. It’s a language of it’s own. We can all speak in different languages and have different cultures but we hear music and it connects us together which is such gift for human kind.’

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Women's parts as urinals and sinks

I've always been in trouble with borders -- what is acceptable and what is not. What is the point when I say enough? I try to find a "balanced" boundary when talking about discrimination, homophobia, sexism and I do think I am more than tolerant about these issues.

But, this project actually makes me sick. Using women's parts as urinals and sinks is not acceptable, can not be acceptable. Deeply disappointing... what is wrong with you people?!

Check out the rest (link here).



Saturday, March 17, 2012

George Clooney under arrest?!

So, there is a site that I regularly check: mashable.com. They are giving helpful advices from a special point of view, that is social media. The first post I saw yesterday was entitled "Twitter Users Show Support for George Clooney After Arrest" (link here) and it was pretty shocking. Not just because mashable is not famous for celebrity news but also because I had no idea what happened...

Let's see the most important questions: who? what? when? where? why?

Who: Amnesty International (yeaaahh)
What: demonstration
When: yesterday
Where: Washington
Why: for human rights

There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. The Sudanese Armed Forces are conducting a campaign of indiscriminate bombing against civilians in both states. The resulting destruction of livelihoods combined with the blockade of humanitarian aid is putting hundred thousands of people on the brink of starvation.

Amnesty International called a protest against the escalating humanitarian crisis -- to bring awareness to the current situation in Sudan. The demonstration was aimed at the Sudanese leader, Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of “provoking a humanitarian crisis and blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains in the county’s border region with South Sudan.”

Sudan Protest DC

George Clooney participated in this event, he is known as an enthusiastic activist... he has been arrested for civil disobedience during this demonstration outside Sudan’s embassy. Well... Ok... how shall I put it?... So, I don't personally like him, not to mention his protest and arrest were orchestrated propaganda events... perhaps it is just my opinion.

You should not misunderstand me, I do appreciate when Hollywood stars deal with human rights issues, but in most cases these acts are just self-marketing tools. I do know that he made highly-publicized trips travelled to Sudan a lot of times... (now I think I am too sarcastic) but I honestly can not decide whether his activism is just part of his brand or he really cares.

Sudan Protest DC

Friday, March 16, 2012

March 15 - The National Protest Day


Since 2006, we know that whenever comes a national holiday in Hungary, demonstrations are to be held by then. Historia est magistra vitae... or, comes the Hungarian absurd: remembrance or re-experience?! -- rhetorical question since we never learn from our mistakes. One single post is definitely not enough to explain the chaos, but let's see what happened yesterday.

Same deficiencies, same demands for more than 150 years, isn't it grotesque?  

Here is the list: 12 points of the Milla (One Million for the Freedom of Press in Hungary Facebook group) -- or the national minimum any Hungarian political party must fulfill for our votes:

1. Free Press!

Modern media regulation based on self-regulatory principles, the restriction of the influence of party-oligarchies.
2. Freedom of Religion!

The parliament should not be the one to decide who gets ecclesiastical status, no more priviliged (’standard’) churches!
3. Popular representation!

Transparent party financing and a balanced electoral system!
4. Burden sharing!

Install a fair, progressive taxation system that helps the ones with a low income.
5. Responsible Social Politics!

Improve Health Care and Social Security instead of discriminating underprivileged groups and and enforcing a strict criminal law.
6. Independent judiciary!

Restore the prestige and independence of the judiciary system, the Constitutional Court and the ombudsman’s offices!
7. Democratic Lawmaking!

Ban rushed legislation, restrict the rules of preparing legislation!
8. Transparency!

Control the use of public funds, create a new lobby law, guarantee access to public information and publish the agent lists of the socialist regime!
9. A Correct World of Labor!

Strengthen worker’s rights and trade unions, restore the national level negotiations with trade unions and abolish the inequitable communal work!
10. Equal Opportunities!

Competitive public- and higher education and academic freedom based on the equality of opportunities, and the restoration of institutional autonomy!
11. Sustainable Development!

Conservation of natural resources for future generations, no exploitation of renewable resources in the economy!
12. A firm stand by the core values of the EU!

Foreign policies that serve our further European integration, calculable economic policies!

So what if we protest? What is the outcome? If there is any... Fight over the numbers -- the usual characteristics of these events. Since Milla exists, the local independent media tries to say less than realistic. However, press releases outside the country are authentic. Is this the world we live in? Definitely... Considering the consequences of turning against the federal systems that we are part of, the current situation is quite worrisome. Thus, not surprisingly, the country is all over the world news, everyone is writing about us... Yesterday, Krugman posted another blog entry (link here) about why Hungary matters: "we have a nation in the heart of Europe, a member of the EU, a nation that emerged from dictatorship, which is at the very least backsliding on democracy. This is terrible — and terribly important. If you can’t see this, there’s something very wrong with your priorities." Sometimes I think it is so disappointing that I have to follow the international media to get clear pieces of news.

So, going back to the main topic: It is 2012. Budapest was occupied by protesters from all over the world. 3 demonstrations within a radius of five kilometers... Let's see! I don't think I should write anything about the one organized by the nazys... so let's jump to the next: the leading political party paid for its Polish audience, nice. It is always good to see the useful investment from the taxpayer's money. It was even a pleasure to see that they want to have our beloved prime minister. Sounds a great deal, I think we would happily exchange him... actually I was thinking of Anna Grodzka, the transsexual women who has just taken her seat in the Polish parliament.



Lastly, besides thousands of worrying citizens, a group of foreign politicians also attended the Milla protest. During the whole event, I was chatting with the French representatives, candidates, members of the EU parliament. It was surprising (at least for me) that they knew exactly what is going on in Hungary -- I mean, they were even familiar with issues like Új Színház or Klubrádió... by the way, they are planning to organize a Roma Pride in Budapest some time in November (yes, I expressed my interest :)) and I already invited them to the next Milla protest (October 23rd).



Raise you voice in order to raise awareness. This is a fundamental tool used by the opposition at all times. Now comes the Hungarian nonsense methodology: you can not only withstand the system and protest against, but for the regime! ...just because it is a matter of popularity. What differs is the way how you plan to reach people. Though the Milla protests lack professionalism, thousands of people attend, donate money and trust the power of a civil society. The idea of civil control is a motivation in itself... engaged audience rocks, paid clappers suck. Sorry..

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

...to lawmakers in St. Petersburg

Just to continue the previous post... so, what is the point in protesting against this horrible bill? Ok, I mean what can be the result? Actually, the bill won't become law until it's signed by the Governor. 

 

So, here is a list of facts, based on the article on All Out (link here): 

No. 1: St. Petersburg is one of Russia's number one tourist destinations. True. That's why an international storm of bad publicity will force the Governor to think twice about the cost of signing this bill. Worth the risk? 

No. 2: Conservatives in St. Petersburg passed this "gay gag rule" despite condemnation from world leaders - and even the country's own international treaty obligations respecting freedom of expression. But at the same time, Russian leaders recently announced that they want to invest $11 billion dollars to build their international reputation and attract tourists from around the world. St. Petersburg, Russia's cosmopolitan "window to the west" is key to that strategy. 

Silencing everything connected to "gay" is not really a western thing... so, I can only show my support, go on with the protest!

As in case of last week, there was another solidarity protest in Budapest, right outside the Russian embassy. This time the demonstration was accompanied by a drum show, just to highlight how important it is to raise your voice. Though the video is pretty dark, the message is clear: "we cannot be censored, banned or silenced" -- in various languages. 



Monday, March 12, 2012

Against the Russian "propaganda law"

Let's start with clarification: this is not an action organized by me, I did not even join but I show my support. 

I do think it is important to say some words -- what is going on with this issue? It already became known that the governor of St. Petersburg (Georgiy Poltavchenko) signed the homophobic law (gay gag law) imposing administrative fines on the so-called "propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism" and paedophilia to minors. The lawmakers passed the notorious "propaganda" law to silence any reading, writing, speech or debate on anything "gay." The goal? To make LGBT people disappear. No question.

Having read the article (link here) posted onto ILGA-Europe's site, I can only quote it, because it perfectly summarizes what the problem is:

"In fact, this law has little to do with protecting minors. Today, neither homosexual people, nor human rights defenders, nor lawyers can answer the question of how this law is going to be applied in practice, due to its vague nature and non-legal terminology. To talk about existence of homosexuality, to publicly denounce homophobic violence, to develop sense of self-awareness and dignity in homosexual people, to promote tolerance – all of these acts can fall under the "propaganda" law. This law will serve directly to further isolate and marginalize the gay community and encourage hate towards a social group."

There was a banner-making afternoon nearly two weeks ago -- oh yeah, how to be creative but serious: spread your message and raise your voice.



There has already been a "sympathy" protest last week outside the Russian Embassy in Budapest and another demonstration is to be held tomorrow. What is the aim? To show rage against condemnation of this bill and also to pressure the governor to withdraw the law. In addition, it is an opportunity to show solidarity with the Russian LGBTQI community.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

sexual preference

Oh yes, this picture tells exactly what I think :)

often

Friday, March 9, 2012

Cookie action on Women's Day

So, happy international women's day for yesterday! I think I already told you something about our plans for this "holiday". If yes, I'm going to repeat myself -- sorry about that. If you remember, some days ago we "celebrated" the pay gap day, and based on the inequalities we had a compensational idea. "We" in this case means the Women's Group at the Amnesty International Hungary -- our team gets more and more excited when thinking about actions :) so, since men get more money for the same job than women, (in the EU, the difference is 17%), we wanted a reverse day -- and what can be more symbolic than women's day?!

We distributed free biscuits on Deák tér, which is a central place in Budapest, but the trick was that while women got a full portion, men received only a half... just to highlight the pay discrimination in a more creative way. We offered the sweets for free but we had an honesty box -- you can guess that only a few people donated some coins. It is not surprising, people usually don't pay much attention to these things. So, please if you can, support us, help! (donation option under the help tab).

Fortunately we met some really nice persons who were interested in our work, asked a lot of questions not just about the situation of women but also about the organization. And... imagine, a friendly old grandpa even brought us some flowers! Conclusion: we should continue what we do because there are people outside who trust us and thinks that we, "people" can change the world.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Our lecture during the United Nations Conference

WOOOOOOTTT! We rock. That is the conclusion of today. I already told you about the presentation our Women's group at the Amnesty International was supposed to do. The conference was held in Piliscsaba, at Pázmány Péter University -- the whole event started at 10. We arrived just in time so we could even hear the previous lecturer. 

 The topic - maternal death - was quite hard, we did a lot of research in the past week and when we put together the material we still needed to make a presentation out of that. I'm this creative-fancy-colorful design person so I happily undertook this task, not to mention that I'm in love with Prezi. I prefer Prezi to PowerPoint because I'm sure that our thinking is not linear (at least not mine), not focused and can not be structured like that. Prezi provides a surface for free association, you can arrange your thoughts "in space", thus the result is a more complex, spectacular presentation. If anyone is interested can check the material below (note that it is in Hungarian):


Approximately 40-50 people attended our lecture, but all of them paid attention, some made comments, asked questions -- I guess this is what I would call engaged audience. And this is what I usually lack in case of the Hungarian university systems but luckily this conference was an exception. The whole experience was fascinating. And we were also gifted a bottle of wine. Thank you, thank you!

Since the event was held today, I have not found any pictures about us taken during the presentation, but we posed with our strawberry wine outside :)



Friday, March 2, 2012

Close The Gender Pay Gap!


So what is this about? What's this gap? The gender pay gap is the average difference between men's and women's hourly earnings. This gap reflects ongoing discrimination and inequalities in the labor market which, in practice, mainly affect women. Getting 17% less than you deserve? Women in Europe experience this everyday... so this day, the "pay gap day" is another opportunity to highlight the problem.

In addition, our Women's Group at the Amnesty International organizes an event for women's day (March 8) that will also emphasize the inequalities. According to our plan, we will sell cookies and their prices will be in direct proportion with the average salaries women and men receive for the same job. Thus, men will have to pay more for the same portion. This is our compensation. But, I am going to write about this project in a later post -- I mentioned here only as an introduction. 



Thursday, March 1, 2012

Amnesty International - 50 years

This commercial or let's just say video was made last years for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Amnesty International. 50 years passed but "we still have a long way to go"... 

There is no concept why I post it now, perhaps just because I like the visual aspect of it.  




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