Babelblogs: Macedonia, cloning and praying in Berlin
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jean-sébastien lefebvre
Translation by:
Susannah Readett-BayleyEurope is often seen as boring and bureaucratic - not the case with cafebabel.com’s community blogs. European debate is in full swing, bloggers are up in arms and words are flying
Anti an ‘old-boys’ Europe
Ever loyal to the cause, Eurobeauf, who props up ‘the bar of Europe’ (le Zinc de l’Europe) blog, pursues his campaign against an unsexy, bureaucratic and hypocritical Europe. His latest victim? The European Union publications on display at the International Book Fair in Paris which ended on 19 March. Why? The eternal boredom these books ensue. Nothing in their contents would inspire readers towards building a new Europe. According to the author, Europe remains a monopoly of the ‘the old fashioned suited and booted’
Macedonia ‘Greek’ style
Cafebabel.com's local team in Athens don’t mince their words either in their article Enough with the name of Macedonia!. It talks about the current negotiations taking place between Greece and Skopje's government for the use of the ‘Macedonia’ name which is not accepted by the Greeks. This age-old debate has given rise to hundreds of comments in just a few days! It becomes evident when reading carefully that the arguments from both sides are deep and subtle and sometimes go back as far as the time of Alexander the Great
Mind your mouth
Neighbours of Greece but not yet a member of the EU, Istanbul’s blog reflects on an existential question that comes up when you live in a foreign country. What can be said in Turkey? – or, what is acceptable in a society and culture different to our own. Some think that anything goes, not the case for the Bosphorus. Dorte is German and part of the Turkish cafébabel.com team. She talks from first hand experience: taboos and clichés are order of the day
Pupils’ prayer
Also written by the Germans, the blog from the editorial team in Berlin asks ‘what’s rocking the city?’ more precisely it explores local news. The big topic of the moment? Prayer in schools. The dilemma facing Berlin is whether or not to allow Muslims to pray at school. The debate has begun: how to install suitable prayer rooms and a well established organisation to be able to express this individual freedom? Freedom which doesn’t necessarily sit with schools’ neutrality
Rare or medium rare?
Another highly sensitive topic: cloning. Not necessarily human but animal cloning. Would you be willing to eat cloned meat? In the United States, the food and drugs administration has just authorised the commercial distribution of cloned meat. What will be the European commission's stand in this new social debate? Answers in the Strasbourg zone of the babelian blogosphere
New arrivals always welcome
Two new bloggers have made their debut in our community. The women’s Europe blog is lead by the 'CHOISIR' association. Their aim, to defend women’s rights.
For something altogether different, sunny and light-hearted, have a look at the Elsurdelsur blog, dedicated to South America and especially Uruguay. The author shares information and his experiences discovering the country
Photos: homepage (ukemi_42/ Flickr), (Ange urbain/ Flickr), Turkey (angeurbain/ Flickr), cloning (ben jacob/ Flickr)
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Translated from Les blogs lancent la polémique