Into its twenty fifth yr as a web based cultural journal, Eurozine can boast of a long life uncommon for an unbiased journalistic mission of its form. Based as a collective of small print periodicals all through Europe, Eurozine has at all times been conscious of how precarious this particular sector of journalism is.
However 25 years testifies not simply to longevity. Eurozine may declare consistency. Simply earlier than the Millennium, the Web was a method to additional cultural magazines’ central goal: to widen – if not overcome – the boundaries of mental and important debate in Europe. That is still Eurozine’s goal at this time, regardless of – or due to – every part we now know concerning the filter bubble.
If you’re excited about discovering out extra about Eurozine’s inception and founding ideas then check out the most recent episode of Eurozine’s speak present ‘Customary Time’. Speaking to Eurozine editor-in-chief Réka Kinga Papp, founding members of the community talk about the previous, current and way forward for the European public sphere from their views as skilled editors.
One element I’d wish to share right here: in 2000, Austria was the main target of intense worldwide scrutiny after the conservative Folks’s Celebration entered a coalition with Jörg Haider’s far-right. That yr, the annual community assembly came about in Vienna and Bratislava. The famend Croatian author Slavenka Drakulić gave the opening deal with. Entitled ‘Who’s afraid of Europe?’, the speak addressed why the far-right was gaining floor throughout the continent.
Drakulić’s reply: ‘Europe is afraid of itself!’ The far-right was efficiently exploiting folks’s worry of id loss, she argued, and liberal Europeans wanted to supply one thing optimistic. That one thing was the prospect of a number of identities and on the similar time belonging.
In 2024 – election yr within the EU and quite a few European nations – nothing has modified to make that message much less related. Quite the opposite. To search out Drakulić’s phrases within the Eurozine archive is reasssuring: we’ve been right here earlier than. That is the advantage of longevity. Or as Réka places it within the dialog: Eurozine is an anchor of sanity amidst the knowledge deluge.
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