Our weekly digest of articles about emerging Europe published elsewhere this week, all of which caught our eye and all of which are well worth your time. Listing them here, however, does not necessarily mean that we agree with every word, nor do they necessarily reflect Emerging Europe’s editorial policy.
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Universal lessons from the battles over Ukraine’s identity
A new collection of essays shows how Ukraine’s battles with trauma and division have lessons for us all.
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Depopulation is eastern Europe’s biggest problem
When western European political leaders meet their central and eastern European counterparts, all they want to discuss is the crisis of democracy and the erosion of the rule of law. The priority for the latter, however, is the demographic crisis and the depopulation of their countries.
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Montenegro’s corrupt Socialists are killing the country
Largely unnoticed, another crisis is brewing in the Balkans. In Montenegro, thousands of people have been protesting a new law passed by the Montenegrin parliament and signed into effect by the country’s longtime strongman, Milo Đukanović, which gives the government authority over properties that religious organisations in the country have been using for at least a century.
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Time for EPP to kick out Viktor Orbán
Europe’s conservatives can’t protect Hungarian ruling party and claim to also protect democracy.
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Old Glory: The Soviet spa town being ‘bought up’ by a Georgian billionaire
Georgia’s wealthiest man has promised to revive the crumbling sanatoriums of Tskaltubo, but not everyone trusts the deal.
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Broken icons: Abuse in Poland’s Catholic Church
Poland’s establishment is at last waking up to the scandal of abuse in the Catholic Church, thanks to a new film.
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‘No philosophy and everybody is welcome’: How Closer catalysed Ukrainian electronica
From small beginnings in 2012, the Kyiv club-cum-cultural centre has become an eastern European scene-leader.
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Romanian documentary challenges preconceptions about home and family
Romanian director Radu Ciorniciuc’s debut documentary, Acasă (My Home), shown in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival provides access to Europe’s biggest urban delta, the Văcăreşti Nature Park in Bucharest, as seen through the eyes of a Gypsy family living in a shack in the middle of the wetlands. Heart-breaking and relevant, the documentary challenges our preconceptions regarding the ideas of home, family and happiness.
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10 of the best budget spa holidays in eastern Europe
From the Czech Republic to the Ukraine, quality (and unusual) health treatments can be found at a fraction of western Europe prices.
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Let’s go to the lindy hop: A swing dancing holiday in Budapest
Ever since a 1998 Gap ad sparked a crazed revival for the lindy hop, the dance that evolved with jazz music in the Harlem ballrooms in the 1930s and 40s, swing dancers from Seoul to Sweden have gathered to learn flashy new moves and lose themselves in that swinging beat.
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