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The Welcome Issue of the official magazine of the International Forum on Integration in Wiesbaden, August-September 2011.
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Official Magazine of the International Forum on Integration in Wiesbaden, 2011.
Welcome Issue
In this Issue:Integration
Tourist Information
NGOs
Language Lessons
Official Insights
2.
Dear participants ofthe International Forum on Integration
in Wiesbaden,
Welcome. Welcome to a truly unique and exciting
experience. Welcome to Wiesbaden; welcome to new
people, new experiences, new challenges; welcome to a
Forum with a twist; welcome to the chance to make a
difference.
There really is a lot to look forward to at this point, and I
hope the articles of this Issue will have you most excited to
begin. However, first, I would like to thank each and every
one of you for being here – for coming from all over Europe,
giving up your week just to participate in this Forum.
Without that willingness, that risk taken on your parts, this
event would have no meaning. So, I thank you.
If I could hope for anything for you at this point, I would
hope that you truly open yourselves to what is possible here.
That you open yourselves to the strange Teambuilding
games, to the new people, to the debates, the problem-
solving, the fun, the difficulties and the rewards. Here, at the
outset, I challenge you to leave here next week without
regrets for tries you never made, for not standing to speak in
GA, for not experiencing all that is here laid out for you to
experience. This one's for you, guys.
Your Editor,
Eoin O'Leary.
Editorial
ContentPage 2,
Zeynep Ekinci says Welcome
Page 4,Leo Kaindl guides you
Beyond Topic Discussion
Page 5,Weronika Myck tours you through
the Wonders ofWiesbaden
Page 6,Gwen Pare has some Insider
Information on the Officials
Page 7,Philipp Magin outlines the Integral
Challenge at the heart of this Forum
3.
Irish uses ‘Tá fáilte romhat/
romhaibh' which is literally, in
modern Irish, 'There is (a)
welcome before you' but could
mean originally something like
'There is delight before you' or
'There is delight coming with you’.
Say WelcomeZeynep Ekinci delves into the origin ofthe term for'welcome' in each ofour native languages.
People come, people go. We all greet people with our warm smiles and
nice gestures as the first big step of our amazing hospitality and say
The word ‘welcome’ in English comes from
‘wilcuma’ in earlier Old English. Wilcuma
used to mean ‘welcome guest’ or ‘one whose
coming is in accord with another’s will.’ The
origin of the first part, ‘wil’ comes from ‘willa’
which used to mean ‘pleasure, desire’ and
‘cuma’ was related to ‘cuman’ which meant
‘guest’, having the same origin as the word
‘come’.
‘welcome’ in our own languages.
In German , which is probably the real root of many
different languages, it is said ‘Willkommen’. We can
find a bunch of other languages influenced by
German in which saying ‘Welcome’
is very close to ‘Willkommen.’ It is ‘Velkommen’ in
Danish, it is ‘Waikommen’ in Swedish while in
Luxembourgish it is ‘Wellkomm’.
As well as those above, many
other languages use the same basic
form with two words emphasising
‘well’ + ‘come’. In Serbian it
is ‘dobrodošli’ with ‘dobro’ meaning
‘well’ and ‘došli’ meaning ‘come’.
The same thing is also
right for Spanish ‘Bine
Venidos’ and Catalan ‘Ben
vinguts’French is one of the languages
which makes its ‘bienvenu’ special.
Bienvenu is also an
omen name given to a much wanted
child.
In Italian, the word ‘welcome’ is translated as
‘benvenuto’ or ‘ben venuto’. The etymology is
Latin, from ‘bene’, which means ‘well’ and
‘venuto’, which means ‘come’ or ‘arrived’.
‘Benvenuto’ is also a male's
name, which was used very
much during medieval times
but which is not very
commonly used today. It's
clearly a good luck wish for
the new born baby, as it
means ‘happily born’ and ‘been awaited for a
long time’. It comes from Israel, from a
name which meant ‘Bless who comes’.
As with Irish, the Turkish expression changes depending on
whether you welcome a singular or plural ‘you’; ‘Hoş geldin/ Hoşgeldiniz’, since it acts as a short sentence.
In Albanian, it is ‘mirëseerdhët’, in Finnish it
is ‘Tervetuloa’ , in Estonian it is ‘Tere tule-
mast’ and in Ukranian ‘ласкаво просимо’
(pronounced like laskavo prosymo).
Wherever you come from, I’m saying to all
of you a warm ‘welcome’, hopefully one un-
derstood by all of us.
In Polish, ‘witać’ is the word
for saying ‘welcome’. In Old
Polish, ‘witati’ meant ‘to live’
and ‘wit’ usedto mean ‘to
be’.
4.
Leo Kaindl tells us a littleabout what will make theWiesbaden Forum so special.
Here you are. Once again back at an
EYP session, probably neither your
first nor your last one. When you
signed up for the International
Forum in Wiesbaden, there were
perhaps many things just strolling
through your mind. You might
perhaps have asked yourself, would
Wiesbaden become a Summer
Session? You could have looked up
whether the date fits to your school
terms or university semesters,
perhaps looked into how you would
get here. You tried to find out which
friends would also come here, didn't
you? In short, you would have
thought about what makes this
Forum worth attending and if there
was anything about Wiesbaden that
would rightfully make you prefer it
to any other Session. And, by way
of even shorter answer, indeed there
is.
As you may already have read on
Facebook, in the Call for Delegates
or the info-sheet provided by the
organising team quite a long time
ago, you will experience more than
merely Teambuilding, Committee
Work and General Assembly here.
Apart from – of course – several
evenings reserved to party, you will
get the chance to really make a
difference. EYP in Wiesbaden offers
more than mere talks and endless
discussions of your common ideas
removed from reality. Here in
Wiesbaden, EYP will try to break
open its borders as a parliament.
When GA is done, your work will
be far from finished. You will get
the special opportunity to develop
your own projects with
representatives from several NGOs,
based on the analysis in your
resolutions and your understandings
of the core issues.
For example, having successfully
dealt in their resolution with
admittance processes in the
European Union and the resulting
violations of asylum seekers' and
immigrants' human rights, the
members of the Committee on
Human Rights will collaborate with
an employee of the city of
Wiesbaden's Department for
Immigration and Integration. As
experts in their field, endowed with
a sound understanding and well-
grounded concepts, DROI and their
collaborator will come up with a
project to improve integration in
Wiesbaden, the very same city in
which we are staying.
The Committee on Employment and
Social Affairs will work hard on the
problem of unemployment amongst
young immigrants and could hardly
be allocated a more fitting partner.
Their partner NGO is an
intercultural educational centre
called IKUBIZ, an organisation
offering young migrants assistance
in finding an apprenticeship training
position or a job, fighting for equal
educational opportunities of both
youngsters with and without a
migration background.
One last example for a unique
opportunity: The organizers
managed to create a partnership
with 'Balu und du e. V.', an NGO
that work for children of primary
school age. Every child gets a
student as godfather or godmother,
who takes them for excursions,
offering new and never seen
experience to children who would
otherwise have faced great difficulty
to properly grow into society to
learn outside of school and gain new
vitality. 'Balu und du' is an
exemplary sample for successful
mentoring, and how could the EYP
better cooperate with such an
organisation than with a committee
dealing with integration of youth
through education and, more
precisely, non-formal learning?
CULT II, I am sure you know that it
is you that I am addressing.
Seriously, I am convinced you are
already excited how this new feature
of an EYP session will turn out. Our
project partners will introduce you
to the circumstances and
requirements of their work, and I
am more than a bit curious how you
will tailor a perfectly fitting project
proposal. We are excited to watch
how you push the borders of EYP
Destination: Wiesbaden
BeyondMere Talking
5.
Weronika Myck introducesour host city.
Welcome to the lovely city of
Wiesbaden!
You may well be wondering what is
actually so special and lovely about
it. Allow me to explain it all to you.
To begin with, Wiesbaden is located
in south-west Germany – but you
have probably noticed that already
while planning your travels to here!
I can also tell you that it has about
275,400 inhabitants and, together
with the cities of Frankfurt am
Main and Mainz, is part of
the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region,
a metropolitan area with a combined
population of about 5.8 million
people. But enough of statistics,
Wiesbaden has far more interesting
qualities.
Like a typical old city, The Hessian
State Capital presents a variety of
monuments. Some were built to
commemorate historic events, for
example the Oranien Monument at
the Square Luisenplatz. Famous
people have left such traces on the
city as the Goethe Monument
or The Kaiser Friedrich Monument
located on the Kaiser Friedrich
Square. It is also full of picturesque
buildings that give the city an
imperial flair. Probably most worth
mentioning is the Neo-Gothic City
Palace where our Parliamentary
Assembly will be held. It is located
in the city centre and has served as
Landtag (parliamentary building)
for the federal state of Hesse since
1945. Other buildings of exceptional
worth to see are most definitely the
Kurhaus, or ‘spa house’ – famous for
its casino – and the Town Hall.
There are obviously many, many
other places to see in town, each
adding to Wiesbaden’s worth as the
chosen venue for this Forum, which
you will probably get a chance to
see during the cultural programme
of the Session.
However not many of you would
know Wiesbaden is one of the
oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name
may be literally translated as
‘meadow baths’. Why is this
information interesting? Obviously,
a few hot springs do not really have
any special relevance to EYP.
However, what really caught my
attention was that, at one time,
Wiesbaden boasted 27 of these hot
springs. 27 – Do you recognise the
number? Was that some kind of a
sign forecasting the situating of an
EU relevant event here? Who
knows?
Good luck to all of you! I wish you
all a pleasant stay in Wiesbaden and
fruitful debates during the Forum.
Destination: Wiesbaden
6.
The Problem is the 'We'The Chairs Team
Presented by Gwen Pare.
The Chairs Team comprises the
Chair of each Committee and the
President. The Chairs act as facilit-
ators and leaders of each Commit-
tee.
The President of a Session makes
him- or herself responsible for the
academic quality of the Session and
is therefore always a very experi-
enced or the most experienced of
the Chairs.
Beyond this, he or she makes sure
that the team of Chairs as well as
the other teams of Officials are
comfortable and function well with
each other.
In the case of the International
Forum on Integration we have the
honour to be presided by Jari Marje-
lund.
The Press Team is made up of the
Journalists and the Editor. Each
Committee is assigned a journalist
who will focus particularly on them.
Aside from this, the Journalists do
their best to witness as much of the
Session as they can and to inform all
of the participants on the happen-
ings of the Session. Most import-
antly, by their work, they want to
make your experience of the Session
an unforgettable and unique one.
The Editor is generally responsible
for the content of the pa-
pers/magazines. This experienced
member of EYP sets the standards
for the articles produced by the
Journos, and also motivates them
and develops their skills extensively.
He is in charge of the creative and
professional laying-out of the Ses-
sion's publications. This session has
the amazing [Editors note: I do not
vouch for the validity of that de-
scription.] Editor: Eoin O'Leary.
The Organisers plan the session for
a lot longer than many of us witness
at the Session. Their work begins
many months before the Session
and includes the organisation and
coordination of, among other things,
all the venues, sponsors, schedules
and accommodation.
For the International Forum on In-
tegration the Organisers have also
organised the cooperation with the
Project-Partners – those representat-
ives of Non-Governmental Organ-
isations with whom we will work on
our Committee resolutions. For the
Wiesbaden Forum, the Organisers
are led by the most capable Pia
Spiesmacher.
The Organisers are always willing
and able to help if we have prob-
lems, need advice or seek informa-
tion.
Do turn to them for help!
Some Hands-on facts on some of our Officials:
The Press Team The Organising Team
According to himself, his self-irony
is Jari’s best attribute.
Richard dreams of dragons.
Whereas Kati dreams of empower-
ing youth.
Eoin dreams of photographing the
Northern Lights.
Weronicka is caring and loves cook-
ing.
Leo's calmness impresses us.
Pia likes reading.
Jonna dreams of world peace.
Lyn likes dancing.
Wiebke dreams of the noble prize.
Officially Introduced
7.
see during the cultural programme
of the Session.
However not many of you would
know Wiesbaden is one of the
oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name
may be literally translated as
‘meadow baths’. Why is this
information interesting? Obviously,
a few hot springs do not really have
any special relevance to EYP.
However, what really caught my
attention was that, at one time,
Wiesbaden boasted 27 of these hot
springs. 27 – Do you recognise the
number? Was that some kind of a
sign forecasting the situating of an
EU relevant event here? Who
knows?
Good luck to all of you! I wish you
all a pleasant stay in Wiesbaden and
fruitful debates during the Forum.
Philipp Magin discusses thechallenges of integration.
London, August 16th: British Prime
Minister Cameron gave a speech
summing up the past riots. He
admitted that failures in the social
and educational policy of the UK
contributed to the uprisings and
promised to make these issues top
priority, but also made a clear
distinction between the rioters and
the ordinary Britons and declared
that “those thugs we saw last week
do not represent us, nor do they
represent our young people”.
Madrid, August 21st: The pope’s
journey to the World Youth Day is
accompanied by demonstrations
expressing their opposition to the
spending connected with the visit,
but also with the point of view of
the catholic church on same sex
marriage, contraception and gender
equality.
Amsterdam, August 30th: Five
asylum-seekers in the age of 15-24
who are due to be expelled from the
Netherlands will compete in a Dutch
television quiz show this week for
their knowledge of all things Dutch.
The immigration regulations have
been made stricter recently
following an increase of Muslim
immigrants to the Netherlands.
Wiesbaden, August 31st: Last
preparations are made for the arrival
of the delegates of the International
Forum on Integration in Wiesbaden.
Integration
How does it affect us? That is, me,
you, the people next to you? Does it
work, and if yes, how? My best
example would be EYP
Teambuilding. You come to the
Session from all over Europe,
probably from very different cultural
backgrounds, knowing very little
about your fellow Committee
members; you do some fancy games
and then – zoom – somehow get
along surprisingly well. So well,
indeed, that in the end you should
ideally think in terms of “We, the
Committee” and together possibly
surprise everybody with your fresh
answers to these questions on
integration with which you are
faced.
So what can we, as EYPers, or
perhaps rather we, as Europeans, or
even we, as humans, do about the
pressing problems concerning
integration, acceptance and
openness? More specifically, what
can we contribute so that people
such as many of those who rioted in
the UK can find a place and a
perspective in a society with which
they can identify? What can we do
to achieve true gender equality while
keeping in mind different ethical,
cultural and religious backgrounds?
Can we improve the job situation of
immigrant youth, and how will
everybody accept this? How are we
going to welcome people willing or
forced to become a part of our
society? And what are we going to
do to integrate people opposing the
idea of integration?
The first step to solve these
problems would be to to make them
our problems. And having come to
the International Forum on
Integration in Wiesbaden, we may
thus congratulate ourselves on
having successfully begun our
journey towards Project Open
Society.
The Problem is the 'We'