May 2012
3 posts
Debate and Discussion is not dead
A new narrative - why a ‘Bosnian Spring’ is Bosnia’s only hope | TransConflict | Transform, Transcend, Translate - TransConflict SerbiaTransConflict is pleased to present a response to a recent article by Dusan Babic, entitled ‘The war of narratives’, which calls for a ne…Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share on LinkedinShare by...
A new media project for Bosnia
brazdablog | o nama sve najbolje.Home ” o nama sve najbolje. o nama sve najbolje. … U jednoj zemlji seljaka, na brdovitom Balkanu… Više ili manje mlada trinaestorka u…Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share on LinkedinShare by email79.170.44.970
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comments Disclosure: I have been assisting the “brazda” launch team as best I can. My first...
How Bosnian's view their recent past
The war of narratives - TransConflict Serbia3 days ago … You are here: TransConflict » News Archive » The war of narratives …. Jasenovac, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenova…Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share on LinkedinShare by emailTransconflict0
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comments To understand a little more about what flows through peoples minds please read...
April 2012
8 posts
Constitutional Change in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
ShareBosnia Vows Action on Human Rights Ruling :: Balkan InsightBosnian Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, said on April 25 in Strasbourg that he hoped the country would soon implement the 2009 Europ…BalkaninsightThis basic of Human Rights was NOT written into the post conflict constitution of BiH by the International Community. The politicians of all persuasions within...
Sponsor Bosnian-Herzegovinian Youth To Build Peace
ShareGlobal Coalition for Conflict Transformation (GCCT) | LinkedInFeb 20, 2012 … Sponsor Bosnian-Herzegovinian youth to build peace globalgiving.org. The Bosnian society is characterized by fear, dis…Linkedin16 years after conflict ended one would think that with all the International Community’s (IC) ”efforts” and funding this appeal really wouldn’t be...
A Micro Visit to NW Bosnia
ShareMark Piesing talks about his 48 hour visit to Banja Luka by dfbmbeSoundCloudYour comments are as always greatly appreciated.
Al Jazeera Balkans - doing more than reporting...
ShareAl Jazeera Balkans - an island of media professionalism …1 day ago … Al Jazeera Balkans is an island of media professionalism in the region; building bridges between peoples, fostering a spi…TransconflictAl Jazeera has had some tough criticism over the years particularly from the USA. In the Balkans, a region where state owned media is used to propagate ethnic intolerance...
Today's Youth and Bosnia and Herzegovina
ShareThe Stream - Will youth lead the way in Bosnia?aljazeeraenglishWed, Apr 04 2012 10:59:48Whatever your opinions are regarding Al Jazeera TV, they do make compelling programmes. This edition of “The Stream” gives a realistic and up to date view of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and what needs to be done to solve Bosnia’s problems. Your thoughts and comments...
Scraping the bottom of the barrel .......
Share“Mladic Legacy” Tour Sparks Controversy - IWPR Institute for War …4 days ago … A ten-day tour of Bosnia and Serbia which promises to explore the “legacy” of former Bosnian Serb army chief and war cri…IwprI just couldn’t believe what I was reading earlier this afternoon. I really couldn’t. Call me “over sensitive” but this ghoulishness...
20 years after the start of the Bosnian war -...
ShareBosnia’s Come a Long Way, Don’t Be Fooled by War Memories …13 hours ago … There’s been a rash of news coverage lately to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the siege of Sarajevo, an…BloombergSomeone writes with a positive attitude about the country I live in. It does give one some faith :)
Things aren't quite what they seem ....
ShareTwo decades from war, a new fight to save Bosnia - NewsWires …By Matt Robinson and Daria Sito-Sucic. SARAJEVO (Reuters) – The shooting began over the course of weeks, but if Bosnia’s war needs …EuronewsLiving here in the north west of the country I start to slowly appreciate the stupidity of some of the plans the International Community thought might help the future...
March 2012
2 posts
How you might be able to help in Bosnia
ShareMost Mira | Bridge of PeaceMost Mira – Bridge of Peace is a UK and Bosnian charity working to encourage understanding and tolerance between young people of all et…MostmiraprojectThere is still a need for assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iraq and latterly Afghanistan, took the world’s focus but the world still needs to be involved in this country. Things are still way too...
Bosnia's Heritage under Threat
ShareBBC News - Who can protect Bosnia-Hercegovina’s cultural heritage?Feb 22, 2012 … Some of the most important museums and cultural institutions in Bosnia- Hercegovina face imminent closure due to politi…BbcAnother heart wrenching issue in a country that’s so beautiful but also unable to reconcile even though its reasonably tolerant.
February 2012
2 posts
Education is a pillar of Civil Society?
ShareThreats Drive Bosnian Education Official To Resign, Flee Country3 days ago … The top education official in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Sarajevo Canton is driven out of the country by fierce criticism …RferlWe were talking in the car yesterday about what changes would benefit the civilised development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Was it infrastructure? Was it the economy and job...
Sometimes it's like giving up hope :(
ShareGood News: 60 Percent of Bosnia Against Mixed Marriages …Good News: 60 Percent of Bosnia Against Mixed Marriages. Posted on February 16, 2012 by Bosnian Genocide. Can Israel Survive without Je…Wordpress To understand Bosnia and Herzegovina today (or the entire former Jugoslavija to be honest), you need to either have lived through the conflict of the 1990’s first hand or...
January 2012
1 post
October 2011
1 post
Making Money out of Misery
Living in the Balkans is wonderful. Well most of the time.
As in every country across our world not everything is perfect in so many ways and I suppose that’s normal.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has more than its fair share of dysfunctionality and that is certainly a fact, combined with an amazing low standard of human rights, it can be depressing at times.
I find myself at times looking...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Balkan Acrobatics
Last week I spent a short, but enjoyable, amount of time in the village of Krupa na Vrbasu, some 25 kilometres south of Banja Luka, here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, watching a collection of International acrobats and circus skills performers conducting workshops with children from the locality.
Krupa na Vrbasu was the location chosen to host some 35 performers for a 7 day period, where...
3 tags
July 2011
11 posts
11 tags
Experimenting at Demofest
I really think it must be hard to be a rebel here in this part of the Balkans. I really do. The peer pressure that’s so evident stifles the will of most young people to want to do much in the way of progression (apart from run away to another country where they think the streets are “paved with gold”). They simply don’t want to see that it’s “Same Shit,...
9 tags
Missing Something can be SOOOO Painful
I had really planned to get to Social Innovation Camp, in Sarajevo, to see what was brewing and to meet some people I feel can stimulate me professionally.
Sadly it wasn’t to be BUT this video really makes the pain of not having been there worse (in a good way people)
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A Supersized Update?
Well the Sarajevo “Arches” has some 18,750 likes on their Facebook Fan Page as at 19 July, so the “Games afoot”.
Menu is: BigMac, Royal, Cheeseburger, Nuggets, Pomfrit, McSundae, McFlurry, Happy meal s poklon igračkom, McCafe sa izvanrednom ponudom različitih vrsta kafa i kolača
NO “Turbo-Mac” YET!
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Would you like that Supersized?
My holiday “read” this summer has been “The Dark Tourist” by Dom Joly. For me it was a book that showed the human, more personal life of Dom, who is famous for his off the wall and cutting comedy on TV. You can get the book and read it for yourself if you are weirdly interested in what a “Dark Tourist” does, but Dom said something that struck me in regards to...
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It's THAT word again!
A totally roasting weekend (eating, funnily enough, “roast lamb”) has had me considering whether or not to sacrifice all my current social media platforms and tools for a solitary presence using Google Plus, or Google+.
I am not sold on the argument that Google+ is another passing fad, as already I can see how more in control of my content I am. The idea of “circles”...
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Tourism, Tourists, Foreigners ....
Walking around my local town of Laktasi and the city of Banja Luka some 25kms away, in this glorious summer weather, there is, I feel, something missing that’s so evident in other countries across Europe and in fact, the world.
What’s missing?
Tourists.
Well there may well be the odd one or two, but as you walk around this beautiful country you very rarely hear a non Balkans...
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"Good" things that go "Bad" don't have to be...
The past few days have seen a catastrophe unfolding in the UK concerning unethical and I have to add, unlawful, practices by journalists especially surrounding the use of “phone hacking”.
Centring on the News of the World newspaper, it has transpired that as well as “snooping” on the lives of so called “celebrities”, the newspaper has also hacked into...
A good day for the Balkans I think
A good day for the Balkans I think (mp3)
9 tags
June 2011
5 posts
5 tags
7 tags
Changes Happen Slowly
I am now settling into my new, “slower”, lifestyle here in north west Bosnia. Living in a very rural environment does takes some time to get used to. Firstly, I am a city boy who was born in London and I have never sat comfortably with gardening and traditional ways of doing things and secondly, the pace of life for me has always been hectic to break point, maybe that’s why I...
6 tags
Weird Social Media Habits :(
You know, when you commit to writing about almost anything, there should be an element of research, cross checking content to see how factual and credible the information is and if the story is interesting. Some of the basics of “Journalism”.
I look at things differently. I am not a trained or even experienced journo, rather a broadcaster that’s fallen (on occasions) into a...
7 tags
Social Innovation for the Balkans?
Some times living in a country “in transition” can be very frustrating and hope can quickly get lost when “normality” (whatever that is) disappears from everyday life. It happens all too often, even 16 years after the terrible 90’s here in Bosnia.
So 2 weeks today I intend to be on my way to Sarajevo to attend a weekend of “Social Innovation (SI) Camp”.
...
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Please DON'T send things to Bosnia!
Back in late May 2010. I was in the admin phase of my departure from Kabul and had an amount of things to “take back home”. My employers (NATO/ISAF) gave a generous 50kg shipping allowance for personal effects, which I fell easily into BUT I had a small portable suitcase studio that I wanted to ship to Bosnia, rather than the UK where my personal effects would be delivered.
Off I went...