The DiplomaTJournal Of The United Nations Student Association Maastricht

Issue 4: January 2011www.myunsa.org

Right-wing populism on the Rise

Right is the new pink

www.courtensbikesports.nl

Calvariestraat 16, MAASTRICHT - CENTRUMT. 043-321 38 20, F. 043-321 64 52

RhetoRica is a new debating club in MaastRicht. it coveRs a wide Range of topics. Keep youRself updated and join ouR fiRst opening debate on the 9th of febRuaRy in café clinique! DATES:

Student Debates at Cafe Clinique (at 7.00 PM)9.02.2011-Immigration: A threat and burden ?16.02.2011-Where do we draw the line ?23.02.2011-Fit in or get out ?

Chaired Debate at the Turnzaal of FASoS (7.00 PM) 02.03.2011 - British Parliamentary Style Debate chaired by the Europea Council on Refugees and Exiles

DEAR READER,we’re proud to present you the brand new issue of The Diplomat, the journal of the United Nations Student Association Maastricht. Al-though The Diplomat has been published in previous years, too, it’s a complete restart: We took a few months break to develop a whole new concept and style for The Diplomat. The layout may have changed but the focus on current issues in international and European politics, global development and human rights has been maintained.

This issue’s headline ‘Right Is The New Pink’ relates to the lat-est political developments in Europe. In politics as in fashion, pub-lic opinion sways between trends, and something that has been “en vogue” in one season is already considered old fashioned the next. Some years ago, radical xenophobia or racism would only have been expressed on the quiet and did not generate such outspoken support by the broader public. Nowadays, politicians like Geert Wilders and Thilo Sarrazin are publicly praised for their anti-Muslim stances and criticism on their positions is regarded as an attack on the freedom of expression. Reason enough for us to take a closer look at the topic.

The journal has been divided into different sections to approach the main topic from various perspectives. While in THINK ABOUT people in Maastricht give their opinion on a certain question, SPOT-LIGHT is a collection of articles concerned with recent events and the FOCUS section provides for background information and in-depth analyses of the broader implications of current affairs, aimed at plac-ing events in the wider context of global politics. This issues FO-CUS looks at right-wing populism as a pan-European phenomenon and also sheds light on Hungary and its opinionated Government.

INSIDE UNSA keeps you on top of everything that is going on in UNSA, this time featuring an interview with UN Youth representative and UNSA-member Dirk Janssen. In WORLD EXPERIENCE, we talk about the other way of exploring the world, presenting writers who have gone to the most interesting places and met inspiring people. •

Enjoy reading!Alina & Svenja

Editor in ChiefSvenja Quitsch, Alina NiedergesassEditorial TeamJohanna Bögel Alisa Fluhrer Teresa Kern Constanze Litt Madjâr Navah Alina Niedergesaess Svenja Quitsch Angela Schollmeyer Dominik Sipiński Sarah Ventura Johanna Zöllner PhotosRalf PiersonLayoutRalf PiersonJennifer MunroAnn-Kathrin KühnerCover LayoutMalte AxlerRalf PiersonPrintGraphikzentrum DeutmannCirculation500Contactjournal@myunsa.org

IMPRES SUM

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AT F I R S T

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C O N T E N T

AT F I R S T

03 Right is the new pinkRight-wing populism on the rise

T H I N K A B O U T

06 What do you think about.. . ...a mosque at the Vrijthof?

S P O T L I G H T

07 What would Wi lders say?An interview with the right-wing populist Geert Wilders.

08 Cholera on the r ise?UN struggles to control outbreak of the disease in Haiti.

08 A scream for culture“They can’t take the culture away from us”

F O C U S

09 A better Hungary for whom?Analysis of the political situation after the elections last April

10 Rightwing-popul ism:A Pan-European PhenomenonThe spread of right-wing political parties across Europe.

I N S I D E U N S A

12 Erika LindholmInterview with UNSA’s head of public relations.

13 A different way of travel l ingVolunteer work at an orphanage in India.

14 The blue fork in Maastr icht Dirk Janssen about his campaign and vision.

16 Sucess is a science If you have the conditions, you get the result.

W O R L D E X P E R I E N C E

17 What is Israel?Hitchhiking from Spain to the Near East.

AT L A S T

19 The r ise of r ight-wing popul ism......Fear or Chance?

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T H I N K A B O U T

PATRICK V., 33, CARPENTER FROM MAASTRICHT Into a mosque? No, that’s impossible. That would change the world. First they change Holland and then the whole world. I know that this is a conspiracy.

LUKAS F., 21, STUDENT OF ARTS & CULTUREI don’t care, because I would consider myself an atheist. But wait, actually, I think it is a good idea, especially here in Maastricht, where Geert Wilders and his Party are such a big topic.

JANIKA B., 19, STUDENT OF EUROPEAN STUDIESI am against that, it would cause distur-bance. My sleep is a holy thing.

MARTINE G., TOURIST FROM BRUSSELS, COMPUTER SCIENTISTFor me it is a church and it has to stay a church. It is part of the Dutch culture and history, which the mosque is definitely not.

STÉFANO N., 19, STUDENT OF EUROPEAN LAWWhy not? We have something that is called freedom of religion, right? If there are many Muslims in Maastricht, they should have the possibility to pray.

RAMAZAM Y., 20, STUDENT OF EUROPEAN STUDIESPretty cool, I guess. We live in a multi-cultural society and Maastricht is a very international city. For me, as a practising Muslim, it would be advantageous of course.

...a mosque at the Vrijthof? WhaT Do you Think abouT...

MICHELLE VAN C., 26 That would be a pitty! If you put the entire rare interior in a museum, it wouldn’t be the same. It needs to stay in its original environment, where it fits to the historical architecture. FRANCIS S., 20, I think it has not the right shape. However, if they really want to try something new, I would be fine with that. PHILIPP S., 20 Why do we need a mosque, we already have the alla YURI VAN L., 19 I don’t think it will happen. If it will ever happen I wouldn’t really mind. MARA H., 20 Perfect. I am sure the coffee will become cheaper at the Vrijthof, if the muezzin sings all day long. Students would benefit from that. RAVI S., 22 Doesn’t bother me. DIANDRA L., 22 I don’t want to have any Turks here, especially no Dutch Turks. Deniz, it actually all refers to you... DENIZ D., 20 It is not a bad thing. Christians also have the possibility to practise their faith; and the percentage of Muslim people justifies such a decision, I guess.

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S P O T L I G H T

What would Wilders say?In Maastricht, the Party for Freedom (PVV) has reached good election results. The city has a very international student population with a noticeable amount of students com-ing from Islamic countries. Therefore, we spoke with the currently most famous politi-cian in the Netherlands and leader of the PVV about “Islamization,” the EU and his fears.

The Diplomat: Good morning Mr. Wilders. First of all, thank you very much for grant-ing us this interview. You have become very popular because of your provoking state-ments about the Islam. What was it that led you to your hatred against this religion?Wilders: Let me make something very clear Islam is NOT a religion as such. Islam is more of a totalitarian ideol-ogy that poses as a religion. It is comparable to other totalitarian ideologies like Communism and Nazism.

The Diplomat: You regard the EU as a “crazy lefty venture”…Wilders: I am in favor of an exit of Romania and Bulgaria of the European Union. And I am against an accession of Turkey to the EU. It’s an Islamic country. We would get even more immigration and that’s the last thing we need.

The Diplomat: What are your main concerns about the current development?Wilders: That creeping Islamization is what we have to fear most, because every mosque, every Islamic school, every burqa is regarded by many Muslims as a building block to-wards a larger goal, towards domination. In order to pre-

serve our freedom, our democratic society and our civil rights, it is vital that we stop the Islamization immediately.

The Diplomat: What will happen if this “Is-lamization” in Europe continues? Wilders: I believe Europe is a beautiful continent with strong countries, but unfortunately, because of the influx of the mass immigration and the Islamiza-tion of our societies, I’m afraid that at the end of the day it will cost us our freedom. Europe is weak. Euro-pean leaders are weak. We will face a Eurabia. There will be no freedom, no room for anything but Is-lam, no tolerance, and more sharia. It will be hell.

The Diplomat: Well, what is it then, you fear the most of the Middle East? Wilders: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt are me-dieval dictatorships. We have to stop the mass im-migration from Muslim countries simply because more Islam means less freedom. Furthermore we have to support the voluntary return of immigrants.

The Diplomat: Please complete the following sentence: If there would be elections in the Netherlands tomorrow…Wilders: … I could very well become the next Prime Minister.

The Diplomat: Do you have one good advice for Muslims?Wilders: You have to give up this stu-pid, fascist book – the Quran.

The Diplomat: Thank you Mr. Wilders for this very thoughtful interview.

Editor’s note: This interview has not taken place and the context is fic-tional. However, the answers of Mr. Wilders were really stated by him.

I N T E R V I E W

Teresa Kern1st year Euro-pean StudiesWonders what Wilders would think if he saw his own statements printed like this.

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S P O T L I G H T

Cholera on the riseUN struggles to control outbreak of the disease in Haiti

A scream for culture

SINCE the earthquake destroyed Haiti in January last year many agencies of the United Nations are

on the spot to help to retrieve the destroyed Caribbean State. They help to combat against the omnipresent poverty and increasing diseases, such as the cholera.

During the past months various agencies of the UN prepared for Hur-ricane Tomas. They called the interna-tional community to provide more ur-gently needed aid and Peacekeepers of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), have assisted local help-ers by transporting people from the country’s south to provisional shelters. Beside other organizations the Office for the Coordination of Humanitar-ian Affairs (OCHA) called for additional emergency supplies before Hurricane Tomas passed the Haiti on Saturday 6th November 2010. Even though prepara-tion took place early, the country is in a critical phase now. Heavy rains caused flooding in wide parts of the country, including the capital Port-au-Prince, and evacuations prove to be complicated.

A general fear of aid workers and inhabitants is that the cholera epidemic could spread more rapidly. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stressed that it will ensure the continu-ing of the Cholera Treatment Centre’s operations. “Extensive flooding and the deterioration of clean water and sani-tation supplies and circumstances can create the ideal conditions for spreading the cholera disease further, a risk that UNICEF and partners are addressing in their response plans”, said the agency. According to the Haitian Ministry of Health, 501 people died already and 7,359 Haitians still need medical attention.

Additional help by large ship-ments of supplies, including wa-ter purification tablets, medicines as well as tarpaulins and food for distri-bution are expected to arrive soon.

Nevertheless, UN helpers are thrown back in their work due to the onerous conditions after Hurricane Tomas, and the country suffers more than ever. •

ON November 20, Maastricht and the province of Limburg lit a big question mark, formed

by people with candles, in their “scream for the culture”. The sign, clearly visible both from the Town Hall and from the streets, was an expression of discontent with new government policies towards arts and culture funding. The mass pro-test, which attracted several hundred people to the Markt square, was a part of the country-wide action “Nederland schreeuwt om cultuur”. It is a response to plans of the Liberals and Christian-Democrats government which foresee a rise of value-added-tax on arts tickets from current 6% to 19%, as well as spend-ing cut of about 200 million Euros in the next year. In addition, most of the local councils are also cutting their arts-and-culture spending by an average of 9%.

The protest campaign united the opposition parties with most of the cul-tural institutions. In Maastricht among the attendees were: Limburg Sympho-ny Orchestra, Toneelacademie Maas-tricht (Academy of Dramatic Arts) and Landbouwbelang. At 5 pm the

protesters lit candles and symbolically expressed their question about what is going to happen with the independ-ent and non-mainstream cultural or-ganisations, some of which are depend-ent on public subsidies in up to 85%.

Accompanied by the burning ques-tion mark and artists, who performed fire-jugglery, played music and sang, some ferocious speeches were given. Those gathered on the Markt cheered Jacques Costongs and Odile Wolfs from the Labour Party - their questions whether culture should be only for the rich and whether it is not a right of every citizen loomed over the crowd. A loud roar confirmed the popular agreement to the words that “they can’t take the culture away from us”. Protesters were, however, the most moved by a deeply passionate speech by Guido Wevers from the Maastricht – European Capital of Culture 2018 committee. Gesticulating heavily and hoarse, he ended with a long, yet silent scream. Will it get through to The Hague? •

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ON 1st January 2011, Hungary took over the presidency of the EU Council. Howev-er, it’s not the Coun-

cil presidency that recently hit the headlines: A new press law sets up a national media and news agency that controls all media. These recent developments reflect the underly-ing objectives of the Fidesz party.

In April 2010 Hungary joined the ranks of countries with very strong right-wing political parties. Not-withstanding the landslide victory of the centre-right Fidesz party, many were worried by a surprisingly good performance of the neo-Fascist and extremely nationalistic Jobbik: The Movement for a Better Hungary party. But are the Hungarians truly attract-ed to the xenophobic politics, or is it just a vote of protest and discontent?

Established in 2002 as a conserv-ative-Christian youth movement, Jobbik had not succeeded in any elections until 2009, when it won 3 seats in the European Parliament. Although slowly emerging to the role of the third party (after the governing socialists from MSZP and Fidesz) in Hungarian politics, before the gener-

al election opinion polls seldom gave Jobbik more than 10% of support. It was the economical crisis of 2008-9, which struck powerfully in Hungary, that increased this party’s electorate.

Although somehow similar to other right-wing extremists, such as Party for Freedom in the Nether-lands or National Front in France, Jobbik went even further in capital-ising on the nationalistic sentiment. The party explicitly stressed that the country ought to be only for the eth-nic Hungarians, both within and out-side the country’s borders. With the main target of its hate politics being the significantly numerous Roma mi-nority, the party led by Gabor Vona also attacked Jews and homosexu-als. Noticeably, one of the chapters of Jobbik’s political manifesto is titled “Gypsy issues”. The party keeps ties to the banned neo-fascist organiza-tion, the Hungarian Guard. It also

called for establishment of an armed gendarmerie responsible solely for keeping order in the Roma neigh-bourhoods, similarly to what have been in place during the Nazi rule. On the European level Jobbik has ex-tended its nationalist stances - its al-liance with the British National Party in Brussels and odd will to renegoti-ate the Hungarian accession treaty from 2003 do not come as surprises.

Last year’s elections turned the Hungarian politics upside down. The new Prime Minister from Fidesz party, Viktor Orban, was glad to see his party winning the majority in all but three constituencies in the country, together almost 53% of the votes cast. It amounted to a gain of 99 to 263 seats (out of 386), a con-stitutional majority. However, not Mr Orban’s landslide victory came to the biggest surprise and worry for some. Jobbik, for the first time in the Parliament, with barely 12 seats less than the previously ruling MSZP and support exceeding 16%, emerged as a new, yet powerful player.

Many commentators agreed that the surprisingly good result of Job-bik was not so much an outcome of the party’s radical program, but rather a voice of protest against the left-wing government. Particularly the maladministration of the for-mer Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurc-sany, as well as his inability to cope with the economic crisis, evoked a widespread anger and resentment. “There is no question that the crisis that hits people unexpectedly ... gets them angry and they want to take it out on someone”, says Hungary-born American philanthropist George Soros. “[Jobbik] has played on the country’s sense of wounded pride to make Roma and Jews the scapegoats for everything that has gone wrong”, enunciates Pal Tamas, a sociologist at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Not only academics argue this way. “[Jobbik] won because they ap-peal to the general, sentimental feel-ing of a great Hungarian past. Many people shared this view without tak-ing the reality into account”, explains a Hungarian student in Maastricht. She also elaborates that Mr Vona’s party was the only one that proposed

Jobbik: A Better Hungary For Whom

“A voice of protest against the left-wing government”

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Dominik Sipiński2nd year Euro-pean StudiesTorn between making fun of and being scared by the rise of right-wing populism.

IN many European countries populist parties with a strong anti-Muslim tendency have even entered parliaments, for instance the “Free Party of

Austria” (FPÖ). Strong and still in-creasingly popular rightwing move-ments are emerging in vast numbers and, although they all have different motivations, there are similar un-derlying patterns. The Swiss ban on minarets is a classic example: In No-vember 2009 a petition against the construction of any further mina-rets has been forwarded by the Swiss People’s Party and it has been sup-ported by over 57% of the voters.

Also the Austrian FPÖ as well as Wilders party are in favor of an “anti-minaret-law”. The German move-ment “Pro-Cologne”, part of “Pro-Germany”, also tries to prevent the construction of a new mosque. On their youth-homepage Pro-Cologne

also asks questions like “Do you also think the old parties are wasting money, despite financial problems, on dubious multi- cultural-projects?”

The German discussion about the issue has mostly been dominated by the question of integration of immi-grants with Muslim religion. Thilo Sarrazin’s book “Germany Does Away With Itself ” played a major role in this debate, from which right-wing populist parties gain popularity. In matters of concrete politics, the more extreme viewpoints are rather unpopular. The “alliance for employ-ment, family, homeland”, which aims to base German citizenship on hav-ing German ancestors, for example, is not so much in the public focus. However, less racist but still oppos-ing Islam movements and parties like “The Freedom” are growing more popular. In Germany, the integration debate, economic crisis and the mere

In the last few years a growing number of anti-Islamic parties and movements managed to establish themselves as a common feature of the European political landscape. Among them are the known faces of politicians such as Geert Wil-ders, or Jean-Marie Le Pen. The existence of some rightwing par-ties and politicians certainly is not a very shocking remark anymore. However, in more than one mean-ing these movements have recently reached a European level. In this trans-national context it seems as if Wilders is rather a small fish in the vast, complex ocean of European rightwing-populism.

Rightwing-populism: A Pan-European Phenomenon

a radical solution to combat the growing affluence gap between the Hungarians and the Roma minor-ity. “The politicians only postponed the real decisions, afraid of losing votes but Jobbik arrived with “a so-lution” appealing to many. People are scared of the Gypsies - I am scared of Jobbik’s radicalism”, she concludes.

The claim of Jobbik being solely a protest party is strongly supported also, perhaps even more, by the re-sults of the regional elections which took place in early October. While Fidesz remains equally popular, Job-bik gained four times less votes than in April. The disappointed people, previously eager to cast their votes on radicals, now backed Mr Orban and independent candidates. Had radical positions of Jobbik appealed to the Hungarians in spring, the support would not have declined so rapidly.

After the eight years of socialists’ rule from 2002, associated with the

grave crisis, as well as with personal misconducts (such as falsification of the statistical data), Fidesz performs remarkably well. The economy is slowly, yet constantly recovering. The IMF has cautiously praised Mr Orban’s struggle to keep the budget deficit within limits. Furthermore, the ruling party has seemingly suc-ceeded in convincing the Hungarians that Jobbik undermines the interna-tional trust for their country, lead-ing to less foreign investment. Mr Vona’s party itself is unable to sustain their share of the political stage. In June, four of its MPs were removed from their seats in crucial parlia-mentary committees due to links with illegal neo-Fascist movements.

The point advocated by Laszlo Csaba, a proffesor at the Central European University in Budapest seems to be well grounded. “[Jobbik] is a protest movement. And with-out strong ideological or organiza-

tion glue, I think they’ll have trouble staying together”, he says. But even though the Movement for a (suppos-edly) Better Hungary may fall apart soon, it is nevertheless worrying that such an extreme movement can at-tract almost one-fifth of the Hungar-ians, even if only for a moment. This electoral surge is not unprecedented, as we witnessed similar occurrences throughout Europe. However trivial this claim may be, the best remedy against radicalism seems, as ever, to be sensible and non-exclusive poli-tics. •

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F O C U S

protest of people that are discontent with recent politics might, mixes with “one should be allowed to say that”-attitudes. In this way rightwing-rhetoric is protected by arguing with freedom of speech and the necessity of an open debate about integration.

While the French uproars con-centrate on the integration debate as well, they do not only focus on

people with Muslim faith, as illus-trated by the burqah-discussion, but also the focus lies on Sinti and Roma. In countries such as Belgium, Poland or Hungary, domestic con-flicts are also strongly influencing rightwing-populism movements.

The issues contributing to right-wing populism are just as manifold as the particularities within it: Rac-ist ideologies, anti-Semitism and hostility against homosexuals are no necessary attributes anymore, as they were during the 80s. In to-day’s parties, these topics rather be-long to the footnotes. The German “Freedom Party” still had a notion of being against homosexuals in the first version of their basic principles program, which was later deleted.

Another kind of populism among the European rightwing populism movements are the Eng- lish Defence League (EDL) and their French equiva-lent, the “Ligue

732”. The figure “732” refers to the year when a French emperor de-feated an expanding Muslim army. Officially they are only against Is-lamists and indeed the EDL has a popular Sikh member whom they use as evidence for their toler-ance. Still, they combine a frightful mixture of romantic nativism and forceful aggression. The EDL’s fre-quent streetmarshes, are joint by

thousands of participants, among them mainly football hooligans and right extremists. Not seldom these marshes end up in violence.

Despite all the differences, there are certain common patterns: These movements create the feeling of a major “threat”, coming from “non-integrated” people and are thus, in practice supporting an actual Islam-ophobia. Obviously, the debate about immigration and integration does not have any direct links to terror-ists from the Middle East. Neverthe-less, the threats of bombs via air mail and the increasing security threat will contribute to the general dread.

To the rightwing-populists, the borderline between opposing Jihad and opposing Islam in Europe seems fluent. Delegations from Austria, Denmark, Germany, France, Swit-zerland, the UK, Norway, Sweden

and the Italian

“League of the North” have met for the “Counter-Jihad” Conference in Zurich this year. The conference’s website supports books like “Defeat-ing Eurabia” and other xenophobic literature. The “Counter-Jihad” - conferences are one of many exam-ples for an emerging pan-European coordination and cooperation. The EDL is spreading not only in the UK, but also abroad, so that paralleling organizations emerge and are sup-ported by the EDL. At the same time, the movement “Stop Islamisation of Europe” (SIOE) – with their slogan: “Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense” - tries to provide a pan-European framework for a European rightwing-populism network. Glyn Ford, member of the European Parliaments’s Committee of Inquiry into the Growth of Racism and Fascism in Europe, has recently written a book about the issue. Ford believes that, since extreme right parties and neofascists are uniting, antifascistism groups have to work together on a European level as well.

The phenomenon Europe is fac-ing at the moment is not another, nearly traditional revival of neo-fascists of the old block. It is rather an entirely new block: The objectives of its supporters are different and in-ternational cooperation between the individual groups has reached a new level, giving them power and public-ity that was unknown to former pop-ulists. Or, how SIOE puts it: “We are going global!” •

“Racism is the lowest form of hu-man stupidity, but Islamophobia is

the height of common sense”

Johanna Bögel1st year Euro-pean StudiesLooks at the broader scheme of things.

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What is your favorite place in Maastricht?I love the view from the Sint-Pietersberg. It is really nice in the evening when the sun is going down and the hill turns red. It is my place of calmness and taking a break. And I love the Chocolate Company. They have all kinds of hot chocolate and I love to meet friends there. It is perfect for a Chocaholic like me.

You are having a special dinner and four chairs have to be filled. Who would you in-vite?I sail since I was eight, so the first at the table would be Jessica Watson. She is the 16-year-old girl who is sailing around the world by herself. The second person would be my grandfather, who got me sailing in the first place. It would be fun to hear Jessica and my grandfather ex-changing experiences. My grandpa helped me develop critical opinions in the many discussions we had, when I was younger. Two years ago, when the European Elec-tions came up, my grandfather asked me for my advise of who to vote for in the election. To add to the an-swers I gave him then, I would like to invite, as a third person Catherine Ashton (High Representative for For-eign Affairs and Security Policy of EU). I want to ask her about the development of the EU and its foreign relations. To keep the discussion going, I would invite

Montesquieu. Maybe he has some advise for Ashton.

You are invited to a motto-party: The future-You in ten years. What would you wear? To begin with, I would wear a bathing-suit underneath. I will be living on a boat in Mediterranean See and advise big companies of the shipping industry on their problems with piracy. I will do most of my work over the internet and take long swims in between skype conferences. Over that, I probably suit up, since there will be meetings I have to attend on screen or in person. But even then, I will wear bracelets instead of a watch to remind me of all the differ-ent places where I have visited my friends from Maastricht.

What is your opinion on right wing populism?I think it is scary how the ideas of right wing pop-ulism are spreading in Europe. Not just here, in the Netherlands but also in Scandinavia. There should be less discussion on differences between nationalities and religion and more on the similarities of people. I think, without a multicultural environment, we would see that Sweden and the rest of EU looses much of it’s great diversity. I love the campaign which started in Sweden right after the elections: We like different! •

ERIKA LINDHOLM, 2ND YEAR EUROPEAN LAW STUDENT, is in charge of Public Relations of the UNSA. When you read the weekly newsletter or check the Facebook page, you now know who is the person behind it. Erika is of Finnish nationality, but Swedish is her mother tongue, as she grew up on the small island Åland. Already in her first year in Maastricht, Erika joined UNSA because of its international character and the possibility to meet many new people.

I N T E R V I E W

“My grandpa helped me develop critical opinions”

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SHE left for India to “get to know the country by a dif-ferent way of travelling” – Laurie Fingerhut was one of the 17 volunteers who

went abroad with UNSA last sum-mer. Together with a friend from Maastricht the 20-year-old UCM stu-dent spent five weeks working at an orphanage near Mumbai. Laurie had already been to India before and had also worked as a volunteer in Costa Rica. When she found out about the projects of UNSA she did not hesitate to volunteer yet again. She says it was a really good experience and while she stayed in India last summer she especially enjoyed working with the kids. The orphan-age in Chembur is home to more than 90 children from the age of 0 to 14. 40 of them are old enough to go to school and thus spent their days outside the orphanage-compound while the younger kids stay there all the time. The orphan-age cooperated closely with a hos-pital which is the reason why many children are raised there from birth onwards. Yet, they are not supposed to stay forever and can be adopted by families who provide a new home for them. 20 of the children are handi-capped and will stay at the orphan-age as long as possible before they move to a different place where they are taken care of as adults. Only three professionals are currently working at the orphanage – a social worker, a psychologist and a principal, all of them women – while all other sup-port comes from women who do not have a special education. Their task is to feed, wash and change the children and they do not have much time and energy left to cover more than these basic needs. While Laurie and her

friend worked at Chembur as volun-teers they also lived at the orphanage, which meant they were available to the children “24/7 and were never alone”. “There were always children around you”, says Laurie thinking back to the weeks she spent at the orphanage. She also recalls that the start was difficult since none of the local staff-members gave them any instructions when they first arrived. So they had to rely on themselves to find their way in the new envi-ronment. One of the problems they encountered was, of course, the lan-guage. Even though English is one of the official languages in India the

children or the women helping at the orphanage would not know how to speak it. They also stayed restricted to the orphanage most of the time because it was during monsoon, the rain season, and the children did not have any shoes. Toys were almost unknown to the kids and when they were allowed in the toy room it was overwhelming for them. Naturally, the children did not have a sense for sharing as they simply did not have any possessions to share. “When there was a ball lying around, all kids ran for it, and the one who got it would never let go of it again.” Some-times during the weekends Laurie and her friend took some time off and went on excursions to Mumbai. After helping out at the orphanage for five weeks Laurie also wanted to see more of the country and the sur-rounding places. While she traveled

to Goa, Jaipur and Sri Lanka she met many other volunteers who made similar experiences. Laurie says it was “good to never be completely on your own” and also really interest-ing to share impressions with others. After spending two months abroad Laurie was happy to come home to Germany. But she says it was also dif-ficult to leave the children. “Nobody will hold them in their arm now.” For her it is good to know that at least some of them will be adopted and will not always stay at the orphanage. Doing volunteer work in a poor place like Chembur helped the 20-year-old appreciate the standards we have in

Europe and it also changed her per-spective. On the plane ride home Laurie wanted to put the leftover food in her bag so she could give it away to starving children some-time later – some-thing she had got-ten used to while

staying in India. She enjoyed being a support to the children in India but she also had to come to realize that you can only help to a certain extent. “You cannot just change the entire world.” Laurie says she would always do it again and also advises others to become volunteers as long as they are open for a different culture and see-ing the world from a different per-spective. •

A different way of travellingVolunteer work at an orphanage in India

Angela Schollmeyer2nd year Arts & Culture: Thinks that volunteering is one of many small yet great steps for young people to make a dif-ference to the world.

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Everyone has seen them at least at one point: The blue forks conquering Maastricht’s Student City; in form of posters hanging, flyers floating, Facebook Pictures Changing, T-Shirts mov-ing and even human-forks running. The man behind it: Dirk Janssen, a UCM student of Inter-national Relations and Economics and also a UNSA member. Maastricht followed his campaign with eager and now wants to know what being a Youth Representative to the UN means to him.

Dirk, what was your first thought when you heard that you had been elected the new Dutch Youth Representative to the UN?My first thought was how thankful I was for the great support I had of so many people. A big part of the team was even on the UN Me Festival in The Hague to support me until the last minute of the campaign, even though some of them had exams that same week. That feel-ing of thankfulness was immediately mended with a great happiness and a big smile when I saw my friends, fam-ily and campaign team run to me af-ter it was announced I got most votes.

How has your life changed since becoming UN Youth Rep-resentative?I think my life started to take a new road when I started to think, envisage and dream about what I could stand for and work for as a UN youth rep-resentative. Doing this was mostly triggered by my experiences in Ghana and Rwanda. Discussing with friends, teachers and experts about my plans gave me a great drive to go for it. Brainstorming about how to set up a huge and successful campaign created a boost and even more ener-gy and enthusiasm. Since the campaign started and after I got elected every day was busy, full, intense, inspirational and hectic. In short: from the minute I wake up until I go to bed I am working, but always with great enthusiasm!

What have you done so far?I just got back from my introductory visit to the UN in New York! There I met the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands, many UN bodies and several NGO’s. I focused on getting to know as many people and visiting as many organizations as possible, because in order to coop-

erate and achieve something concrete, the first step is to know the people you are working with. I also succeeded in contacting organizations that are will-ing to work together on getting more youth representatives from develop-ing countries. In addition, I was very happy to meet with an adviser to the Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict as it is perhaps pos-sible for me as a youth representative to lobby for the universal ratifica-tion on a Protocol about the involve-ment of Children in Armed Conflict, like child soldiers. This ratification is needed if we want governments to ac-knowledge the necessity and responsi-bility to take more action in this field.

A blue fork, standing for “food, water and education”, has been the key symbol of your spectacular campaign. Tell us something about how you tried to rise awareness for your election.I believe in people’s curiosity, engage-ment and the strength of real life inter-

action. These were my starting points. I wanted to reach out to people that I didn’t know myself using these princi-ples. The core of my campaign was therefore to firstly get as many people enthusiastic about my plans and my moti-vation, and secondly, to have a mysterious campaign that would create curiosity. I did the latter by organizing the spread of blue forks on posters, shirts, flyers, stickers, with drawing chalk and on the social media Facebook, Hyves and Twitter. The fun thing about it was that nobody was allowed to say anything about what this blue fork meant until the semi-final of my election started. Eventually, with the help of many people we were able to reach out to many people that were now open to listen to our story, who judged creative and who supported my message.

The blue fork has conquered Maastricht

I N T E R V I E W

DIRK JANSSEN, 22, UCM“I believe in people’s curiosity, engagement and the strength of real life interaction.“

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Who supported you in that? Again, only by the support of many people this campaign succeeded. So many people helped: sometimes just by wearing the shirt with the blue fork on it or by asking 1 or 2 friends. Others helped for hours and hours and hours, even though there were deadlines coming dangerously close. I could and can only be thankful for that and contin-ue to work hard and try my very best to achieve my goals and try to involve as many people as possible in my work.

Back to the roots: What made you decide to run for UN Youth Representative? My drive to become Un youth representative can largely be tracked back to my experiences in Rwanda and Ghana. I visited Rwanda as part of a school project I did with 20 fellow students from The Netherlands and 20 students from Rwanda when I was in my last year of high school. We initiated all sort of actions to raise funds, and in Rwanda we set up a school library, performed a theatre play, set up a student council and financially aided a sewing project from street girls. In Ghana I studied on the University of Ghana and worked in a Liberian UN refugee camp. There I met many young people just like us who were willing to work for a brighter future and wanted to develop them-selves. The challenges they faced – no access to clear drinking water, or not having enough food – gave me a great motivation to contribute to the situation youth worldwide is living in. Now as a youth representa-tive I want to put these issues higher on the agenda, especially for The Netherlands international policy.

In general, what are your tasks and du-ties as Youth Representative? As the Dutch youth representative to the UN I will form the bridge between youth and the UN. In simple words: I bring the UN closer to youth, and I bring youth closer to the UN. This means that for the upcoming year I will meet many young people from all around The Netherlands to speak about what they find important in international cooperation and for the situation of youth in developing countries. I will take this input to events and summits on youth issues, both nationally as internationally at for example the Gen-eral Assembly of the UN. In this way youth is also repre-sented and included in decision making. Very necessary, if you ask me, as older decision makers sometimes tend to forget about youth and the specific challenges they face!

How do you manage being an UCM student and Youth Representative at the same time? The day after my election I stopped being a UCM student by taking a leave of absence for a full year. In my opinion, in order to be a successful youth representative and if I want to achieve my goals, I need to work on this more-than-full-time. In fact, if I want to have for example 5 meetings a day in for example Rotterdam and Apeldoorn, I won’t

make it when I study as well or live in Maastricht. That’s also the reason why I will move to Utrecht very soon!

Tell us something about your plans for the upcoming two years.

As a UN youth representative I will be active on three levels: locally with the Dutch youth, nationally with the Dutch government and international development or-ganizations and internationally at the UN in New York. With the Dutch youth I do not only want to go into dialogue and discussion about international coopera-

tion and poverty issues, but I also want to encourage and make youth aware that there are many opportu-nities to do activities concerning the situations in de-veloping countries. For example participating in work-shops or events in The Netherlands or going with a project, internship or exchange to a developing country. On the national level, I want to contribute to the public debate on international cooperation and but water/sanitation, food security and agricul-ture – being the fundamental pillars for good

education – higher on the agenda.Internationally at the UN, I want to achieve that there will be more youth rep-resentatives from developing countries. Right now, there are heavily underrep-resented. I believe that instead of talking

about youth in developing countries, the youth of de-veloping countries should be represented themselves!

For more information on Dirk’s work as the Dutch UN youth representative, visit www.gajijvoor.nl (also in English). You could also follow Dirk on twitter @dirknaardevn . •

THE BLUE FORK“Nobody was allowed to say anything about what this blue fork meant until the semi-final of my election started.”

Alina Nied-ergesaess2nd year Euro-pean Law Is of the opinion-that blue forks are a great thing - once figured out what they stand for.

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Constanze Litt3rd year Euro-pean studiesHead of Delega-tions at UNSA and MUN-addict

THIS academic year, for the very first time, UNSA has a Perma-nent Delegation, which aims at successfully

representing UNSA and Maastricht University at Model United Nations all over the world. This special pro-gramme is organized by the UNSA Delegation Committee and adds an-other element of UNSA sponsored responsible student activity to Maas-tricht’s intellectual and social life. The Permanent Delegation consists of highly motivated students, which had to fulfil certain criteria in order to be accepted. After challenging the students in the application process, UNSA was happy to see that the in-terested students have different aca-demic backgrounds which provides the basis for a fruitful exchange of opinions. Moreover, the nineteen chosen members come from many different countries and are thus able to incorporate their various expe-riences and knowledge in the dis-

cussions. Basically, that is what it is all about; the exchange of ideas, a constructive critical approach to-wards world politics and UN ac-tivities and the ability to debate.

The honourable permanent del-egates currently take part in work-shops, which aim at providing them with the skills to capably participate in challenging MUNs all over the world. The workshops take place once every two weeks and touch upon a variety of topics. The main fo-cus, however, is on knowledge, theory and practice. A general understand-ing of UN structures is therefore just as important as position paper writ-ing, speaking and negotiation skills. The workshops are being held in the form of lectures, mock sessions or presentations, giving the delegates the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and abilities. Moreover, the programme provides a direct link to the real UN, offering trips to the UN campus in Bonn (Ger-

many) and organizing seminars with UN officials. In addition, the work-shops give the delegates the chance to get to know each other and ally as friends against prospective oppo-nents at other international MUNs.

Over the year, it will show wheth-er the Permanent Delegation can do justice to Oscar Wilde and itself and, thanks to careful preparation, get the results aimed for. UNSA provides the basis and the delegates take the chal-lenge. •

Oscar Wilde once said that success is a science. If you have the conditions, you get the result.

Success is a science

Migration is a highly disputed issue in current public debate.Are you interested in hearing various opinions from politicians and students representing different backgrounds and viewpoints? Are you interested in hearing possible explanations about how politicians such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands or Thilo Sarrazin have gained such support recently? Then join our Panel Debate on the 4th of February. The discussion will be held by prominent experts. Join and create your own opinion!What: Panel DebateWhen: 04.02.2010Where: Minderbroedersberg 4-6, MaastrichtWho: Rein de Wilde as Chair (Dean of FASoS, UM)Guests:• Roland E. Schneider (Representative of Leefbaar Rotterdam,

the Netherlands)• Hasret Karacuban (Representative of die Grüne, Germany)• Hans Schmeets (Professor for Statistics, UM)• Ozge Bilgili (Phd student)

Threat, Asset or Obstacle - Migration in Europe

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W O R L D E X P E R I E N C E

“It looked like a planned route to follow the traces of divided coun-

tries and fighting cultures.”

ISRAEL IS NOTHING. As with every other country an au-thor who tries to summarize his ex-periences made in this ambiguous, beautiful, hot country fails stupen-dously at the massive wall of impres-sions, visual and possibly phonetic. However, as for me it is the first time I was not able to paint a (more or less) prejudiced image prior to my jour-ney as there was none in my head, before entering the country. Howev-er, in the end I realized that even after two weeks in Israel this situation had not changed because too many im-ages had left traces in my mind that seemed impossible to connectable.

ISRAEL IS THE END. It was our last stop after almost two months hitchhiking through eleven European countries. We gained an amazing overview of the continent we live in and apart from the heat wave that followed us unshakably, no

culture was like the other, sometimes familiar but even more often as alien as the depth of the universe. Uncon-sciously or at least unintended, we picked several locations with a recent or historical presents of a conflict: Spain, Serbia, Turkey, Cyprus and Is-rael. Therefore, in the end, it looked almost like a planned route to follow the traces of divided countries, fight-ing cultures and defeated foes on both sides. We left Cyprus with a conscious mind and the visual of a city-dividing wall burnt into our memory. When we arrived in Israel, the land that is globally known as the last resort of a group that has been chased for thousand of years, we were tired but hopeful to have left a country which is home to two cultures that could not have been more different and to have entered a different approach.

ISRAEL IS THE BEGINNING.

Like no other country Israel is a place with so many religious arti-facts, walls, stones, whole cities and landscapes that I almost expected to be welcomed by some kind of super-natural energy. Instead we landed in a hot summer night, were shame-lessly interviewed by a bored airport employee and had to face the im-possibility of modernity on a Friday night in the holy land. In the next few days we got to know Tel Aviv which, in summary, is as western as no Eu-ropean city manages to be. Religion is rather found on products (see the rather free use of Jewish symbolism) than in the heads of their owners. The latter however, are mostly concerned with effectively making use of a never ending number of cafes and pubs and getting honey-brown skin and milk-white teeth at the Miami-like see-and-be-seen-beaches. Politics, by the way, seem as far away as a conscious for the national atrocities, which seems all the more unbelievable, as Is-

rael’s hub of superficiality is only one hour from the Gaza Strip and only twenty minutes from the West Bank.

ISRAEL IS A NEVER-END-ING SILENCE. Leaving Tel Aviv did not leave us sad-ly crushed but surprisingly hopeful to find more behind a plastic world that seemed so ignorantly placed in this overshadowed country, like a Disneyland in Afghanistan. The first thing that is obviously visible when entering Jerusalem is the sud-den mass of conservative religious believers, dressed in clothing that resembles rural 18th century fash-ion and radiating a natural I-belong-here-attitude. Indeed is it a big prob-lem for the Israeli government, told us a couchsurfer later, that a certain group of Jews spend their days rath-er studying the bible than working. Since the state is founded on the Jew-

What Is Israel?

A TravelReport

During the summer break, Sarah Ventu-ra hitchhiked from Spain to Israel. Here she writes about the experiences of her journey and tries to capture an image of a country divided by political, social and re-ligious discrepancies.

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W O R L D E X P E R I E N C E

ish religion those people are in their full rights and are even supported by the state, financially and by leav-ing out military duty. For the most part, therefore, Jerusalem belongs to the conservative, the believers, the spiritual soul-searchers. Jerusa-lem’s streets are silent and deliberate.

ISRAEL IS PALESTINE. IS ISRAEL. Even though at the beginning I though Israel’s government had man-aged what so many before had failed in, - de-”politicizing” their citizens, Jerusalem and the West Bank taught me differently. There are in fact peo-ple fighting the conservative Zionist-idea by demonstrating and by raising awareness about the other culture that had already been living in this area when the first Jews immigrated. A small Jersualem-apartment that is permanently occupied by ’political activists’ (term used by people that see it their life-profession to deal with this conflict) showed us that Israel’s political and military course (which is basically the same) is not accepted, ignored or even support-ed by every one of it’s inhabitants.

ISRAEL IS MANY. A very dominant image in the Tel

Aviv airport are the balloons that have been brought in, got lost in loud hello-rituals and now are glued to the ceiling until they lose enough air to fall down. When we had to say good-bye to Israel (after again being shamelessly interrogated) I realized that there is no “one” image of this

country. Even those I remembered, I am sure, have vanished, transformed or still oppose each other today. My memory, however, is now filled with an Israel of long summer nights, per-fect beaches, thousands of different tastes, a sea that eats all sounds, three religions that could not be more similar but still only emphasize their differences, people with an un-polit-ical conscious, people with the most conscious political mind, toilets that have to be flushed with dirt; and dust, and balloons. •

Sarah Ventura2nd year Arts & CultureLikes to discover the world and shares her expe-riences with us.

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“Thousand of differend tastes and a sea that eats all sounds”

19The DiplomaT

AT L A S T

IT’S easy, it’s modern, it’s convincing – populism. Mainstream politics seem to be out of date when we look around the globe: Frenchmen riot on the streets to prevent a law that is bringing the country nearer to it’s European neighbours, Germans are demonstrating against a train-project which brings the whole

competition in trade in danger, Geert Wilders and his PVV are actually the ones who provide the foundation on which the new Dutch govern-ment is built, and the Tea-Party seams to catapult its candidates into the highest positions of American political institutions with non-sense rhetoric. In all these scenarios gaps in society are evolving or have al-ready evolved and hence, been filled with saviours who promise to have the solution to all the problems. Often we see the rise of (far) right par-ties connected to this phenomenon. It is not the first time in history we experience such a thing – and I am not talking about the 1930s. Just one or two decades ago right wing populism was on the rise in Europe with Pim Fortuyn and Jean-Marie Le Pen. There seems to be a correlation between economic non-well being and an increase in demand for pop-ulist parties. Especially the financial crisis, which started in 2008 aided those parties in gaining a larger share of voters and the entry into the re-gional and national parliaments as faced in Sweden or the Netherlands.

Somehow, this phenomenon is similar to what we have experienced in the 1970s with the rise of green parties. Back then, no major par-ty had a clearly structured clause on environmental protection in its party programme. Thirty years later, we would not even consider vot-ing for a party, with no regard for environmental preservation. What seemed to be radical and abnormal has evolved to natural and rational thought in a short time. The difference to the rise of right wing pop-ulism today is that xenophobia towards immigrants and especially Muslims is emphasised without any empiric back-up. However, leav-ing the sometimes radical language aside, their stances on immigra-tion policies were successful in colouring other parties’ programmes.

In the end, democracy means that every person who actively uses the democratic system in order to represent the opinion of its followers and who is not aiming at the destruction of the prevalent system, shall have the right to raise his or her voice. It is not up to us to “stop” pop-ulism, but rather to engage in politics and promote the values we think are beneficial to society. If populist parties are able to mobilise support-ers in a short time, why shouldn’t already established parties who are still backed up by a broad majority of the citizenry be able to do so? I suggest not to meet populism with turning-away and demonization but with the art of direct confrontation and conversation. Just think about the following: Geert Wilders depicts the European reality as being con-quered by Islam – but why has nobody told him yet that the percent-age of Muslims living in the European Union is actually declining for more than a decade now? Populism is not an illness, but there are many treatments available to us to fight it. Besides, it is a unique chance for old-style parties to regain strength and adapt to the modern realities as we find it in the heads of voters. •

The rise of right

wing pop-

ulismin

Europe

Fear or Chance?

Madjâr Navah 3rd year Euro-pean StudiesBorn to Persian parents and grown up in Germany, he believes in poltical activism - but not populism.