Sarajevo Queer Festival violently attacked over and over again
October 1, 2008
Some weeks ago, I got an invitation to join the “Queer Sarajevo Festivalu” on Facebook. On the page of the group, it said that the festival had the aim to make the festival symbolizing a free space based on principles of self-defining, self-identity, individuality, and freedom of choice. It should expose the connection between various forms of violence and discrimination, as well as the necessity and potential for a queer movement to prompt change and achieve respect of human rights for all. I immediately joined the group but sadly declined an invitation to the festival.
Continue reading on OhmyNews.
Paper cranes, okonomiyaki and peace
September 5, 2008
HIROSHIMA – The signs in English are pointing to the streetcar that goes to the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum.
Arriving as a tourist to Hiroshima, these are the most likely places to visit. You come to see the traces of the atomic bomb that detonated over the city in the early morning of Aug. 6, 1945.
Read the rest of the article in JoongAng Daily.
The article was publishied in JoongAng Daily on September 5, 2008.
Hiroshima remembers, calls for peace
August 11, 2008
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| Hiroshima Memorial Day 2008 |
The girl next to me is crying silently. Katsuko Kawamoto starts speaking slower and her voice starts to tremble. It is 63 years ago that the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima and Katsuko became hibakusha, a survivor.
Every year around Aug. 6, people from all over the world come to Hiroshima to join the peace memorial ceremony in remembrance of those who suffered the bomb but also to discuss about how to never let it happen again.
Read the full story on OhmyNews.
Hiroshima. August 8, 2008.
Tough G-8 Protests for Korean Activists
July 22, 2008
The G-8 protests in Japan were both a disappointment and a good experience for Korean activists Do Young and Cho Yak-gol. On Saturday afternoon, they spoke about their experiences at a screening held by the radical language exchange group Seoulidarity at Kuchu Camp in Hongdea, Seoul.
Read my article on OhmyNews.
Seoul. July 20, 2008.
Book review: Not even death can silence cult writer
July 5, 2008
Kurt Vonnegut is a person I would have liked to meet. His collected short stories mixed with small drawings in “Armageddon in Retrospect” make me imagine him as someone approaching even the hardest things in life with a joke. But, unfortunately, the book was published one year after his death on April 11, 2007.
Read my review published in JoongAng Daily.
Seoul. July 5, 2008.
Review: Looptroop Rockers – “Good Things”
July 5, 2008
Looptroop Rockers
“Good Things”
Label: Bad Taste Records
Genre: Hop-hop
I admit. I dance in elevators. at lease when I am alone and listening to Looptroop Rockers’ fourth album, “Good Things.” While the rhythms force me to dance, the lyrics of the Swedish hip-hop band make it hard to stay indifferent.
Looptroop Rockers are famous for their politics. They have compared Swedish immigration policy to the Berlin Wall. On this album, the lyrics are about trying to live a life outside the norm: to find your own way to build a family, to avoid busyness and keep being yourself. Sometimes there is little hope in the lyrics. “Blood & Urine” is about people and DNA: “Like an unwanted pregnancy / I fell they don’t wnt to see mroe people like you and me.”
On the other hadn, waht can be more empowering than: “Let me be who I wanna be / Let me be who I am / Let me be naive,” combined with compulisive rhythms? There is only one downside. I can’t stand “Living on a Prayer,” the only cover on the album. Apart from that, Looptroop Rockers is Swedish hip-hop at its best.
Seoul. June 30, 2008.
Published in JoongAng Daily
You can’t win over the people
July 3, 2008
There is a sentence I cannot get out of my head. For a week, it is the only thing that comes up when I read the news, talk with friends, or walk through downtown Seoul where the streets are filled with police buses and people protesting beef imports and government policies.
Read my opion article on OhmyNews.
Vegetarian in Korea
June 30, 2008
To be vegetarian in Korea is often perceived as being very difficult, but the food is actually very good for vegetarians. Together with Kim Sujeong from JoongAng Sunday I prepared an article about it.
New media and Korea’s protests
June 30, 2008
On June 27, OhmyNews held its fourth international citizen journalists’ forum with the title “Candle light 2008.” BJs, bloggers, journalists, and schoolars meet to discuss about how the media ownership has changed during the candle light vigils.
Read my articles:
Candlelight 2008: New Media and Korea’s Protests
Korean Bloggers and Journalists Should Learn from Each Other
Seoul. June 28, 2008.
Seoul Celebrates ‘Candle Night’
June 24, 2008
“Sometimes we have to stop and think,” said one of the organizers and started counting down. The audience followed, and on zero, the lights of Seoul Tower was shut down step by step. At other places in Seoul, Lotte Department Store, Dong-ah Daily, City Hall and Kia turned off their lights. Simultaneously, big buildings in Tokyo and Beijing were turning off their lights and in other time zones, about 20 countries participated in the event.
Read my article on Ohmynews.
Seoul. June 24, 2008.
Provoking memories and introducing new ones
June 19, 2008
RADIOHEAD
“The Best Of”
Label: Parlophone
I have mixed feelings about best-of albums. I tent to think of them as produced only to make money. Still, I own a couple and they belong among the albums I listen to most.
Listening to Radiohead’s “The Best Of,” a selection from Radiohead’s seven albums, makes me recall friends. In my hometown, we used to turn up the volume of “Creep” and sing alon gwith the words “what the hell am I doing here / I don’t belong here.” On a hot summer night somewhere in the Balkans, my friend Bojan aksed me to close my eyes and listen to the words of “Everthing in its Right Place.” As I did so, a sudden cool breeze came in from the balcony.
Listening to the album is like travelling through my own memories and Radiohead’s musical development. Maybe that’s the real purpose of best-of albums: to provoke memories and introduce us into new ones.
I play track 16 again. Listening to the words, I can just say: Bojan, you were right. Everything is in its right place.
Seoul. June 16, 2008.
Published in JoongAng Daily
A container wall dividing people
June 14, 2008
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| Protests on July 10th |
It started with the police buses. During the last month, I have been watching the number of buses with barred windows growing every day, parking around the governmental buildings in downtown Seoul. Then, the groups of policemen started to appear. I first ran into them at a street corner in the late evening. About 20 policemen, all in their early 20s, sat in a square position prepared with shields.
Since I came to Seoul two month ago, the discontent with the newly elected president Myung-bak Lee has been growing. On June 10, the anniversary of the protests in 1987 that took the military dictatorship down, the protests that have been going on daily reached their peak. Ten thousands of people took to the streets to speak up against the president.
Read my article on Ohmynews.
Seoul. June 12, 2008.
Donors Impose Ethical Thinking
June 13, 2008
For those who read Finish, an article I wrote last year, called “Donors Impose Ethical Thinking” on young people and donors in Srebrenica for a student magazine in Finland can be found on AuringOssa.
Book review: Listen to the words of ‘Jia’
June 6, 2008
The book review “Listen to the words of ‘Jia’” is published on Ohmynews.
Seoul. June 6, 2008.
