Sandy’s Aftermath

The slow pace of restoration after the destruc-

tion caused by Hurricane Sandy that lashed the

East Coast of the United States on Monday night

has caused tempers to rise. The power and petrol

shortages caused by the largest Atlantic hurricane

on record has seen fights break out at petrol sta-

tions and power may not return to some affected

areas for another week.

Syrian Rebels Faced with War Crime Accusations

28 soldiers of the Syrian army were murdered

yesterday, 1st November, close to Saraqeb, in the

province of Idlib. The murders were recorded in a

video linked to militiamen that oppose the Syrian

regime and was spread by international television

networks.The footage shows gunmen beating and

shooting a group of prisoners who were cowering

on the floor. The killings were condemned by Am-

nesty International and Human Rights Watch.

US Elections Loom Large

The impact on next week’s US election of New

York Mayor Michael Bloomberg deciding to en-

dorse Barack Obama after Storm Sandy, citing

the President’s climate change policy and its re-

lation to the storm, as well as recent job figures

are unclear. With both Mitt Romney and Barack

Obama suspending campaigning during the storm

whilst neck and neck in the polls, Tuesday’s elec-

tion promises to be a close call. Whoever wins can

expect a tough challenge from the start with stag-

nant budget negotiations threatening to enforce

massive automatic spending cuts in January.

Trick-or-treaters Given Cocaine in Oldham, UK

In a most peculiar event, two people have been

arrested after bags with cocaine were handed to

children on Wednesday evening. The children dis-

covered bags containing the drug in their trick-or-

treat bags. It is understood that the cocaine was

bought for personal use and accidentially ended

up in sweets’ box.

THE ALPHA

ENDING THEENDING THE

Journal 1 - The Alpha

Oscar stenbOm and evanthia KasiOra sample the best Of the weeK’s news.

NEWS ROUNDUP

CRIS ISCR IS IS

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Dearest delegates,

You might have realised that what you are holding in your hands is different to the standard EYP maga-

zines or newspapers that you are used to form your National or Regional Session. And indeed, it is. In

addition to three bigger issues, the media team will prepare three journals each focusing on a different

aspect of our theme “Ending the Crisis”.

With these journals, we want to help you reach a better understanding of the crisis, capture how we,

the participants from all over Europe, are affected by it, comprehend how we got here, and finally in-

troduce and question possible solutions. Just like any other media team product, the journals will be

produced by the journalists; they will capture your opinions, answer your questions and sum-up your

discussions. We aim to create a platform for you to learn about and debate the current crisis.

In the first journal, which you are currently holding in your hands, the articles mainly focus on how the

crisis affected different European countries and you personally. Do we understand the difference be-

tween the banking and the financial crisis? How are different countries handling the crisis? Why should

we, the young people of Europe, care about it? The second journal will sum-up the debate about how

the crisis has affected us, while also introducing the new topic of trying to explain why Europe is in a

situation of crisis. We will be debating questions like, whose fault it is and if it could have been prevent-

ed. In the third journal we will then tackle concrete solutions for how to solve the current crisis. These

are all questions we cannot wait to debate with you during the upcoming days.

We, EYPers, pride ourselves for the diversity of our organisation, both in terms of culture and different

opinions. This is a unique opportunity to debate the probably most important topic of our times, and

take this debate one step further fully exploiting our different backgrounds and experiences. We are cer-

tain that with your help and ideas we will be able to capture and reflect the diversity of opinions about

the biggest challenge Europe is facing at the moment. So get ready to think deeply, question harshly,

comment passionately and share all of this with us!

Yours,

Amsterdam Media Team

End i ng the Cr i s i s

3

The Alpha

“Hands up, this is a robbery!” has become a

catch-phrase of Spanish rioters, underly-

ing the people’s perception that the government is

the robber and the citizens the victims. The gen-

eral feeling of the population is that they are in

the European spotlight for a crisis for which they

are not to blame. The situation continues to wors-

en, as the financial crisis pushes Catalonia, one of

the richest regions in Spain, to seek independence

with more eagerness than ever.

In Greece, reactions are comparably strong. Greek

people are outraged by their situation and the

feeling of helplessness is shared. Many Greeks see

the EU as the source of all hardship and suggest

that they would be better without it or the Euro.

Some others are willing to recognise that their

own political system is partly to blame. Politi-

cal scepticism is widespread in Greece. A Greek

EYPer recently posted on Facebook: “Democracy

was born in Greece. Then it grew up, left and went

to study in the West.”

Although Ireland is equally suffering financially,

protest has been rather rare. The Irish are prone

to be conservative when it comes to polit-

ical dissent. Protests and rioting are

frowned upon, and they seek a

more peaceful resolution. Many

would argue that the fact that

the public are so unwilling to protest has allowed

the government to take advantage of them. The

right to protest is one the Irish are unwilling to

exercise.

Other countries have a different perspective. Ger-

many is in one way removed from the financial

woes of Ireland, Greece and Spain. Yet it is also

tasked with rescuing their European neighbours,

evidently causing high. The southern European

countries feel that Germany is collaborating with

the EU in a programme of suffocating austerity.

This pragmatic approach is necessary in the Ger-

mans’ eyes, as they see no other way to overcome

the debt. For them it is a matter of balancing the

books as efficiently as possible. Those paying the

cost are more concerned with the burden it places

on the shoulders of ordinary citizens.

The perspectives are understandably varied; how-

ever, what is surprising is that even countries in

similar situations present a wide spectrum of re-

sponses. The culture and values of each state have

a significant impact on the public reaction to a

crisis. In the end what matters is how you move

forward from a crisis. In China, there is one word

for crisis and opportunity. This may be something

that European countries should seek to share, to

become stronger and move forward with hope.

COPING WITH A CRISISthe financial crisis has shaKen eurOpe tO the cOre. we are left tO picK up the pieces, but the questiOn remains: whO is tO blame? where respOnsibil-ity lies is a cOntested issue acrOss the eu. in explOring this, sílvia susach and rónán O’cOnnOr reflect On hOw the values Of each eurOpean cOuntry shape Our reactiOn tO the crisis.

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The lost generation. That was how we were re-

ferred to by many newspaper headlines during

the last year. However, for once it was not about

complaining about the de-politicisation of today’s

youth, nor was it a critical remarks on our social

media consumption. Instead they addressed Eu-

rope’s economic crisis and how it will most likely

affect the youth of today. So why is it that relevant

to us, and what’s more, why is it more relevant

than any other political issue?

Firstly, the crisis has led to a major increase in the

youth unemployment rates; currently stabilising

at just over 20% in the Eurozone. The numbers

are worrying, but its effects on everyday life even

more: think about how many young and well-edu-

cated people you know are struggling to find a job.

Do you think that you nonetheless have the same

chances of getting a job, as you did before 2008?

Will you decide on your major depending on your

interest, or on your chances of getting employed?

Can you confidently say that the education you are

receiving will distinguish you from others in the

job market? These are questions that many young

Europeans are currently asking themselves, often

in a situation in which their families are no longer

able to support them financially.

Many also claim that the crisis will probably not

be solved in a short period of time and is likely to

continue affecting our chances of getting a job and

our lifestyle in the long-term. Patrick Artus of the

French bank Natixis, says that “It is illusionary to

say that it will soon be over. The current system

will have to be reversed, and that takes possibly

up to 20 years”, according to Artus. This state-

ment implies that our adult lives, naturally affect-

ing our way of living and working, are likely to be

greatly affected but what is happening at this very

moment.

Needless to say that this problem is our problem,

and it matters very little where we are from, what

kind of education we have received and what our

social status is. Unless we realise this, and take

ownership of solving the crisis, we will indeed be

the lost generation of Europe.

January: Major Irish

banks nationalised due

to insolvency

April: Greece, Spain,

Ireland and France or-

dered to reduce their

budget deficit

December: Greece

admits to debt of

€330 billion

June: Euro

closes at lowest

against dollar

since 2006

July: EU “Stress Tests” on fi-

nancial institutions reveal 7 in-

stitutions are capital insolvent

2009 2010

LOST GENERATIONFor most of us it will be a while before we will seek employment and have to pay our own bills. Tuna Dökmeci thus asks why the youth – al-ready now – should care about the current crisis.

5

The Alpha

While we tend to see our own misery rather

than others’, taking a good look at what

is happening in other people’s lives is potential-

ly a means to put things into perspective. Have

you ever thought what Europe in crisis looks like

beyond your doorstep and your daily (national)

news? Let’s sneak peak at the crisis and its side

effects around Europe a little bit.

Bailing out the nearly bankrupt Euro counter-

parts is one of Berlin’s major problems, and at the

same time that the South is facing severe financial

cur-tails and tremendous changes in the citizens’

everyday reality. When was the last time that peo-

ple opted for jumping off their balconies due to a

non-viable life?

On the other hand, states historically experienc-

ing long periods of diverse crises do not notice the

Euro crisis as something new. Focusing on the life

in the ex-Yugoslavian countries, people see no dif-

ference in life before and after 2009. In fact, there

hardly is any. In other words, while Hellenes are

the Betrüger in der Euro-Familie, the de-ceivers in

the Euro family, for part of the German press, the

austere German is the omnipresent mean guard

for part of the Hellenic press and the one way or

another always badly affected Balkans continue

to awkwardly observe the tension. Little note; the

insolvency issues are still there, not all Greeks are

poor, lazy and miserable Euro cousins and the av-

erage mean German is virtually non-existent.

Indeed, it’s astounding how the same thing is

communicated in million differ-ent ways. Are we

just lacking a spherically informed European so-

ciety, is it only national Media conveying chaotic

messages for domestic use or different mentalities

lead to tremendously different approaches to the

same topic? Nothing and all of it together! We

cannot control it, whatever it is. Nonethe-less, we

can altogether – for all of us together – become

conscious, hope, act and get on.

November: EU &

IMF agree to €85

billion bailout pack-

age for Ireland

February: European Finance Ministers create

the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent

fund of €500 billion as a lender of last resort

May: Eurozone and

IMF approve €78 bil-

lion bailout package for

Portugal

July: Second

Greek bailout:

€109 billion pack-

age agreed

January: EU Fiscal

Pact is signed: UK and

Czech Republic abstain

2011 2012

THE PRESS IN CRISISOut Of bOunds Of the eurOzOne, the crisis is essentially affecting every-One. hOw differently is it affecting us and, mOre tangibly, hOw is the media repOrt-ing abOut it? panaghiOtis p. Kalaïdhopoulos and stefan Zoričić attempt tO reveal the… truth!

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FACTS & FIGURES

WOW

46 cottages in de Emdhof

Text text text text text text

during the last months

over 150 What’sApp messages per day

Time to bring breakfast to all cottages - 5 hours

Average amount of sleep per night - 5 hours

7 shopping carts full of e.g. 480 bottles of

water, 108 markers, 15 package of spaghetti,

high expectatiOns, high numbers. if yOu dO nOt KnOw hOw big the 71th internatiOnal sessiOn Of the eurO-pean yOuth parliament in amsterdam really is, taKe a lOOK at these impressive figures that maximilian Kiehn, dmitry vysKrebentsev and célia pOcelin cOmpiled fOr yOu.

7

The Alpha

AMSTERDAM 2012

WOW

220 Delegates

Organisers25

Journos

18 Chairs

16

can yOu imagine wOrKing On a prOject fOr Over twO years whilte studying Or wOrKing full tOme? can yOu imagine raising arOung 200,000€ and then spend it On Organ-ising an event fOr mOstly cOmplete strangers? can yOu imagine beling able tO fill several days, weeKs, mOnths in a rOw with nOthing but answering emails?

35 tennisballs, 20 rolls of tape, 6 hula hoop,

11250 post its, 5000 flip-charts

KERSTIN SOPHIE JOHAN

CAMILLE

MAX

SILVIA

CÉLIA

JONATHAN OSCAR

STEFAN

DIMITRY

KIERAN

PANOS

DUNJA

LAURA

RÓNÁN TUNA

EVANTHIA

Encouraging a conversation – that is the

goal of the Media Team of the Interna-

tional Session in Amsterdam. We have been

planning many ways to achieve this goal, to

get each and everyone of you interested in the

topic. Since every conversation needs encour-

agement we wanted to quickly introduce our-

selves and give you a tease of what lies ahead.

You have just read our first journal and there

are two more to come. This is an experiment

that has never been tried before in EYP and its

success – or failure – ultimately depends on

you. It is our dream that all our media output

will provide the basis for a great debate, either

in G.A. or elsewhere in the session. We have

thus come up with many more ways to bring

you content. There will not only be newspa-

pers and videos, but there will also be polls,

a website and endless opportunities for you to

share your opinions and ideas, so get excited!

Lastly, we have a final goal. Once Imagine

will have been sung and we all have left the

canals and flatlands of Amsterdam, we do

not want the conversation to stop. It would

make the session if we could see delegates

still debating, still forming opinions and still

questioning each other long after November

2012. Our advice is to look online, there is a

website, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed

to use. This is only a short overview of what

we have planned for you all. There are 18 of

us primed and ready to get this conversation

flowing, we can only hope that you are ready,

dear delegates.

Talk to you all later,

Amsterdam Media Team