BABEL IN VILNIUS - Community affairs

Higher spirits in Lithuanian cinema

Erika — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:44:00 +02:00

How much time is needed to review 80000 pictures? This visual pleasure lasts just 15 minutes. It is absolutely true, the creators of the first and only Lithuanian photo movie, assured. They presented the result of a unique audiovisual project - a short photo film - to the public. The script was born when the 24 year old director, Jūratė Samulionytė was watching people busying themselves with everyday things and become bleary eyed, monotonous and bitter. The title of this film, declares a break from the ordinary - NOROUTINE.

Liberation
The main character - Henrik, works at a very boring office job. The automatic repetition if the same actions can push one into an abyss of despair, especially when you are lonely. It's a good thing that Henrik has his "fun things", which help him get up with more energy and lead him toward self liberation. Due to these sincere efforts Henrik finds a mysterious ribbon. We can only guess whether it is made from bandage or toilet paper. The man begins his journey, incredibly intrigued himself and tries to figure out where the line could end. He starts collecting meter after meter of it, but it not only does not end, but floats around city streets, yards and various unexpected places. Finally, after following the waving line, Henrik finds a sunny surprise in his life and the next day is doubly happy for both him and his things.

NOROUTINE - trailer

Visual illusion of movement
The moving spirit of the film, Jūratė, was interested in the Czech surrealists Jan Švankmajer's and French directors Michel Gondry's moving objects. She, together with her creative team, started to develop the idea of the screenplay a few years ago. Eventual decision about the visualization of the idea was finally doomed by the circumstances. At first the team thought about the cocktail of the filming and stop-motion techniques, but they came to a conclusion, that in this way they will not taste the perfect taste of it, also knowing that a professional camera is a luxury for the young Lithuanian cinema makers. So in search of alternatives that would help transfer good emotions, the students chose the photo camera.

It was comic and very difficult to conform to technical miracles. The photo camera makes eight shots per second and after that, it records images to the memory card, during that time actors had to stay still like statues - not the tiniest step forward. It was especially hard for the main actor, Saulius Čėpla, who impersonated the main character Henrik. For hopping children, who could never stop fidgeting, it was strange to take part in this project - movies are filmed, not photographed. Tissue, flip-flop, tooth brush - animated things belong to Henrik, and to work with them was like a routine itself - a shot is captured, then a thing moved, then again shot and so on and so forth. It is similar to clay animation. On the top of it all 2 or 3 takes had to be taken - the project was a real challenge.

The whole photo session continued for 9 days and after it, 2 months of scrupulous team work - dubbing, animation, continuity. And at last NOROUTINE gladdened all with a very deep heartiness and bright colors.

The appreciation of experimental smiles
Traditionally, film makers invite special guests to the unveiling before the grand opening. That night the church of Saint Catherine was overcrowded. The cosy whispering hushed when young, warm and sincere people, just like their film, showed up on a stage. After it travelled the international film festivals in Munich, Prague, Hong Kong, Belgrade, this unique project waits for appreciation in Lithuanian cinema and the television cinema awards "The silver crane".

The spring in the screens
For the first time NOROUTINE shone on the big screens at the international film festival "Cinema spring". This festival, organized for the thirteenth year already, revitalises the young first-timers, actors, movie directors, producers, cameramen and all lovers of alternative cinema. Pupils skipped their lessons, romantically swinging pairs and even working people, who took a special cinema vacation, could enjoy the rich program of the festival this year. This year, the festival, which was born in the legendary cinema "Lietuva", already said it's adieu to the lovers of non commercial cinema in Vilnius, but in Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai you can still catch the screenings of selected movies.

International film festival CINEMA SPRING 08 trailer

NOROUTINE producer - LINA DRIŽYTĖ - interview
NOROUTINE director - JŪRATĖ SAMULIONYTĖ - interview

Erika Lastovskytė
Photos by Audrius Zelenis

P.S. More about the cinema LIETUVA case in English you can read and discuss it in Vilnius forum.

A wider way for bloggers

Erika — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:27:00 +02:00

How do Lithuanian writers of internet diaries live? A few weeks ago they met at the second Lithuanian bloggers conference BLOGin 2008 in Vilnius. The communication about the event was planned effectively - the tickets, worth a sell-out play, were all bought. Approximately 400 participants attended. This professionally organized meeting of webloggers reflected the current situation in the Lithuanian blogosphere.

The beginning of the beginning
I read many blogs in order to find the information about the BLOGin 2008 conference. Plenty of reviews and subjective opinions, but insights, trends and objective analyses were almost impossible to find. Many bloggers here perceive a blog as the sketchbook of their own minds, write for themselves and this is it. It is a diary, definitely, but here, in Lithuania, the opportunities of web log are not revealed yet. The importance of this tool is measured by the volume of readers, rss feeds, clicks, etc.? It is true, that it is important how many readers you have, how do they read your blog, who is you audience and how you can earn money by writing. Much attention was paid to the commercial side of web logs at this conference - advertising in the blog, a private held company blog etc. To my mind, those are the very important details, but without a strong background this is only an empty waste of time - writing not for the audience, writing just for the writing process.

High standing opinion leaders in the world use blogs for expedient communication. To form the opinion of the audience does mean a lot to them: to raise the demand of the readers for the quality of the content, to deal with topical issues, supply the news, to stimulate valuable discussion and international involvement. No less important are clear objectives when writing a blog - what, why and how you want to say to your readers, what is the result you expect.

In my oppinion, it is crucial for a weblogger to understand his important role in present day communications, to feel responsible, while informing his readers and creating the content together with them. At the very least, the objectives have to be noble. Currently the race for high ratings is more important than the shaping of opinions, directional and high-grade informing. I envisage the aspect of the winning recognition optimistically - it is only a beginning of the beginning.

New sounds of media makers
Vital communities - the brightest reflection of a socially responsible civic society. It is true to say, that the community of webloggers is active, we can see it manifest in the comments of blogs, informal meetings, it was seen at this conference as well. The organization, alliance, association of Lithuanian bloggers - sounds tasty. Presently, only few initiatives emerge to form a community of bloggers here. Organizational behavior and official status gives wider possibilities and conditions to generate a quality of the blog contents, solve problems, represent the interests of bloggers, better and faster. This is why it is so important to grow the conditions for a solid community to coordinate actions.

It was complicated to understand Vanessa's Witkowski (the secretary general at European youth press) presentation for the native audience, and the reviews in local blogs were quite controversial.

ore.lt
The European Youth Press representative outlined the project in a very general way without answering the direct questions of the moderator or other participants, e.g.: what is the precise model of your activities? Everything was hidden behind the slogans of multicultural and multinational Europe that might be interesting for statesmen. The audience did not understand the speaker, and she - what we wanted.

pbg
- a girl speaks na inastranam jazyke (from russian:in foreign tongues). Tells about what are the blogs and blog farms. impossibly boring.

nezinau.lt
European Youth Press, Cafe Babel, Transloo. European Union tries to lay the bridges between youth from different countries, but while they are still ripen away in their national space, international sites are still the subject of introduction in the conferences. It is true, there is an active Cafe Babel project with Lithuanians participating in it - it was also presented. In the same direction of ruining the language barriers was pointed the idea of Tadas about the text translation service Transloo.

kleiva.lt
Vanessa Witkowski from Belgium, European Youth Press, talks. Despite few trivialities, all the content of the presentation is really very good. She told, that this organization likes young bloggers. Me? :)

arvydas.net
It seems, that Vanessa Witkowski has hit a country that is a little too small... This lady calls to participate in civic media and to join the free European journalists. You see, there are a few problems to join the active groups:
    * We write only in Lithuanian, and there are very few writers in English.
    * We write for our own pleasure.
    * Most of us are not journalists and do not want to be. :)
    * We are Lithuanians and we do not care about anything beyond our borders. Unless a neighbors' roof is on fire...
    * There are too few of us...
I guess 5-10 years more are needed for us to wish to go to Europe with our blogs, solve European problems and change European political direction. Until then I will dwell on Lithuania. :)

Coda
Bloggers and journalists differ, but both perform a very important function for the society - first of all they inform. Feel responsible while writing for your own pleasure, talk in many languages, open your insights for a wider audience and remember, that our country is small, but the importance of it can be crucial. Therefore vilnius(at)cafebabel.com team is open for initiatives, questions, discussions, articles and translations.

Most of the official BLOGin pictures you can review here.

Erika Lastovskytė
Photographer Kęstutis Kurienius

Romuva: respect for live tradition in XXIst century

Indre — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:56:00 +01:00

They are reserved, but very sincere and frank people. They have swastikas on their necks and calm in their eyes. They belong to the community called Romuva.

The wheel of time has turned again. Very soon winter will meet spring and then we will all eagerly wait for the awakening, the new cycle of work and festivities. Midwinter is celebrated in January. Our elders still tell tales of how a beaver crawls out of his hole on that day and watches the air. If the day happens to be sunny the beaver gets scared of its shadow and runs back to his home. This means that the winter will be very long. If the day is overcast, the beaver goes for a stroll. After the walk he peacefully returns to his cave - this means that spring is just around the corner.

The month of January heralds the coming of spring. On January 26th 2008 the members of Romuva gathered to celebrate Midwinter. Romuva is a community of the old Lithuanian religion, continuing the traditions of ancient Baltic beliefs. The faith of the Balts honours nature, which is the home of the gods. The Gods are the highest essence. The relationship between man and nature is very strong. It is imperative to preserve the harmony between man and nature.

Baltic symbols are related to folk ornaments and archeology. Each of the people coming to the Midwinter celebration wore clothes in the style of ancient Balts or at least wore a traditional necklace with elements of the swastika, a piece of amber jewelery or a copper brooch. In all countries of the world the swastika is a sign of fire, light and happiness. In Baltic culture the meaning of the swastika depends on the direction of its spin – it may mean the fire of the sun, heavenly fire or the fire of the stars.

The gathered members of Romuva paid their respects to Gabija – the goddess of fire, remembered their ancestors and danced the dance of the serpent. All of this happened very simply: in the centre stood a table, covered with a linen tablecloth on top of it lay several pine branches and a burning candle. Everyone stood in a circle, performed religious rights and sung. The high priest (krivis) blessed each person and confirmed their participation in the ritual with a burning candle. Everyone was concentrated, quiet and participated with all their heart in the celebration. In this way the harmony with God, the gods, ancestors, nature and other participants is preserved.

As Jonas Trinkūnas the krivis himself recalls, the ancestors who practiced these beliefs never had any holy scriptures. The modern practitioners of the ancient beliefs turn to mythology, folklore and ethnological findings. Traditionally the members of Romuva do not blindly repeat the past – after all that is not the most important. The most important thing is the connection between the man, nature and god.

Slowly but surely Romuva became a school for those with interest in folklore and ethnography. The krivis mentioned that young people are the most active, especially the high school and university students. Around 200 young people participate in summer camps organized by Romuva. In these camps they familiarize themselves with Baltic beliefs, traditions, they visit ancient holy places and sing traditional folk songs. In a certain sense traditions are passed on. Today the fol ensemble “Kūlgrinda” has around 50 young singers. According to J. Trinkūnas, in “Kūlgrinda” they not only learn to sing, but also learn about the symbolism of the songs. This way the youths learn the things that have been unduly forgotten and swept away. They learn to respect their ancients. For a young member of “Romuva” such values as justice, industriousness, moderation and harmony, i.e. the ability to coexist with other people, are the most important. According to the krivis all these things are infused into and transferred over to the young members of Romuva.

To sum up I will cite the words of a middle aged man, who participated in such a celebration for the first time: “These are true and honorable people, who deserve attention and respect”. One of the principal benefits of this community is that they value the traditions of the past and do not let them be forgotten. This is why we should be thankful to them.

Asta Grigalavičiūtė

Photos: Donatas Babenskas Fotogalerija

Translation: Vytautas Povilas Jurgaitis

A Day without Catholic Chains

Indre — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:54:00 +01:00

The last pagans in Europe – Lithuanian people were Christianized in 1387. 620 years passed by and now 79% of Lithuanians say they are members of the Roman Catholic community. They prepare for Christmas, but more than this religious holiday Christmas Eve is welcome.

And they probably do not presume that the origins of all the traditions they keep on that day are pagan. There are only 1270 official believers, who care about ancient Baltic religion Romuva. Krivis Jonas Trinkūnas tells about the ancient Baltic traditions and explains the meaning of Christmas Eve (24th of December).

“The ancient Lithuanian culture and religion has a lot of chthonic elements - earth, nether world and mythology of the dead. In XIX century in the peasant traditions a commemoration of the dead was dominating in almost all calendar holidays.

Christmas Eve is exactly the day of a commemoration of the dead together with ritual regale. The dishes prepared on Christmas Eve are dedicated to the dead – no meat, no milk and eggs. The most important ingredient of these dishes is cereal. „Kūčia“- special ritual meal is made of them. Stew cereal, poppy seeds, nuts, honey, peas and more are also mixed together in it. Other meals – mushrooms (it is a chthonic meal of the dead), fish, various berries and fruits. The religious meal “Kūčiukai”, or “Šližikai” now is the most popular one. The number of dishes on the table usually is 9 or 12 and it is a must to taste them.

While the family sits together at the table, an empty plate is there for the recently dead family members. The owner goes around his house with the meal „Kūčia“ in his hands and knocks on the door. All people inside are asking: „Who is that? “, „This is me, God“, - he answers, because he represents the God of souls, or the God of all the spirits.

On that night of souls the frontiers between the dead and living disappear. Therefore, the spirits are present near the table. There are a lot of things you can learn from them, which are usually impossible to discover otherwise: what will happen in the next year? How big will the harvest be? When you will get married or die? On that night many things are settled by lot, which reveals secrets of life e.g. pull a straw from under the tablecloth (the longer the straw, the longer your life will be), wax is poured into the water etc. All wishes made on that night have great power – they come true.

It is important to visit all the animals in the evening and to feed them, visit garden trees and hug them. It is a universal feast. The meal for the souls is left on the table through the night.

Christmas and Christmas Eve – are like one long holiday for doing good deeds and sharing happiness and, of course witing for the beginning of the New Year.

The chronicler of the Pilaitė community dr. Angelė Šarlauskienė noticed that: "Kūčios, Christmas and New Year are similar celebrations for the modern Lithuanian, because at that time we turn back to the past and stand on the tips of our toes to see a glimpse of the future so that we can find the shortest and the most direct route leading to our goals".

According to her everybody prepares for the celebrations by cleaning inside the house and out as well as within themselves, everyone rushes to finish the last pieces of work left over for this year and to prepare to greet the coming year. Usually during the Christmas celebrations the less fortunate are remembered: aid is given to families with many children, the poor and orphans.

The celebrations are similar, but Lithuanians have different perception. Christmas brings joy, because of friends visits, and Christmas Eve is a very private evening full of traditions and rituals. No one should disturb the family during Kūčios.

So, despite centuries and professed religion, there is a strong element of ancient faith in Lithuanian lifestyle, neatly grown in one of the biggest Christian holidays – Christmas.

Translation: Erika Lastovskytė
Photos: Romuva community

Public opinion: European of the Year

Indre — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:55:00 +01:00

The President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus was elected European of the Year. The newspaper „European Voice“, which belongs to „The Economist“ group, awards the most distinguished people annually, since 2001.

The candidates are selected by leading European opinion leaders and the readers can decide, which one of them should get the title. There are a few categories of nominations: Commissioner of the Year, MEP of the Year, Statesman / Stateswoman of the Year, Diplomat of the Year, Journalist of the Year, Campaigner of the Year, Business Leader of the Year, Achiever of the Year and Non-EU Citizen of the Year. Then ten of the fifty candidates are selected (according to the number of votes received). The European of the Year is chosen from those ten candidates.

The Lithuanian President was nominated in the category of Statesman/Stateswoman of the Year for helping to broker a deal on the new EU treaty so as not to isolate Poland.

Nobody except diplomats really know what happened during the negotiations, but the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski said something interesting happened during the opening ceremony of the new embassy of Poland in Lithuania. He stated, that after these negotiations, when any of the EU leaders want to make a deal with him, the first call they make is not to him (Lech Kaczynski), but to the President of Lithuania.

Indrė Kumpikevičiūtė

Photos of Presidency of Lithuania

A local expression of the French pattern

Dionizas — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:35:00 +01:00

Around 4000 people from all over Lithuania gathered to protest in Vilnius last Saturday. They are not satisfied with minimum wages, quickly growing prices of vital food products, and the inconceivable increase of additional payments, which Parliament members get with their salary.

Minimum wage in Lithuania is 700 Lt (200 EUR) and the fifth of the population earns this amount of money in a month. Around 41 % of the population gets the part of the payment “under the table”, in other words unofficially. The middle wage in the country is 1 370 Lt (400 EUR). The members of the parliament, which are making 3 000 Lt (870 EUR), gets almost 5500 Lt (1600 EUR) a month for office supplies, and do not have to explain where they spend the money.

According to survey of Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, during 2006 food prices in Lithuania increased by 10,5 % calculating from August. Public utilities, transport are also getting more expensive.

Several trade unions and NGO‘s tried to persuade the government that their activities are insufficient and demanded to take measures, which would stop the growth of the prices in the country. They believe that such increase of prices is determined not only by the free market, but also by the unwillingness of the government to manage with the "big businessmen". Therefore, they organized the demonstration on Saturday.

“More than 4000 people took part in the peaceful protest and it is not too few, knowing how passive the people are. They are frustrated and convinced that it is not giving any results”, - claims the head of the Lithuanian Trade Union „Solidarumas“ Aldona Jašinskienė. However, the demonstration is the form of their expression.

The participants delivered the symbolic envelope with the requirements, which they have already presented before, to the head of the representative of the Lithuanian government. The envelope is the symbol of the bribe, or the „under table“payment in Lithuania for quite a while.

The trade unions are going to wait for the response from the government until the end of the December and then they wish to understand how the government will try to tackle the economic situation.

A year ago, the trade union protested against the proposal to create the ceiling of social insurance, presented by the government. It denoted that social insurance tax rate should not be applied for the part of the salary, which exceeds the level of 4 average wages. For the individual, who earns more than that, the tax would be computed only below the mentioned ceiling. According to the trade union, in this case the State Social Insurance fund board of Lithuania would feel the lack of the money already in few years. The trade unions are also worried with the reconsideration of this offer in the government.

The picture as seen by members of Parliament is also opposite to the one of workers. Last year they barely passed the law, which was indented to guarantee the life annuity for the former parliament members, not depending on their age. The members of Parliament are elected for the term of 4 years. The chair of the „Solidarumas“ thinks that this term should be legitimized with fixed-term employment agreements. Moreover, she is convinced that each member of the Parliament is trying to get the 19 000 Lt of severance payment in the end of his period.

Demonstration in Vilnius is the reflection of the events, which took place in France and Latvia. Furthermore, the message from the representative of The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Janina Malinovska arrived. She reported that members of The Estonian Transport & Road Workers' Trade Union organized the event next to the Lithuanian embassy in Tallinn and expressed their support.

According to A. Jašinskienė the fact that Lithuanian employees woke up and are trying to grasp the situation is so delightful. "The trade unions are the only organizations, where they can defend their interests. Since soviet times the conviction is dominating, implying that trade union was not designed to defend the rights, rather to give a flat, or a coupon for refrigerator. Only now this approach is changing."

She is looking to the future with optimism and wants us to trust Lithuanian trade unions are consolidating and shifting from conflicts to collaboration. If they would work together, they would be able to show more courage when claiming employee rights.

Indrė Kumpikevičiūtė

Translated by Dionizas Bajarūnas

Photos made by Jovita Meškauskienė

The bravery of the Pilaite citizens (video)

Indre — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:22:00 +01:00

One of the most actively expanding parts of Vilnius – Pilaitė might soon become one of the most popular parts of the city. It is evolving rapidly, attracting new inhabitants and gaining fame as a comfortable, safe and well developed neighborhood.

However this might not have happened. Only a few years ago the community of Pilaitė became famous when they stood up to the Vilnius city municipality that wanted to allow the "Žvėrynas golf club" to build golf courts in Pilaitė. These would not only have destroyed the only green oasis of the then newest part of Vilnius, but also separated Pilaitė from the rest of the city, because the fields would have been fenced off and impossible to cross.

Everything begun in 2002 when the inhabitants of Pilaitė were shocked by the news, received form the municipality, that 120 ha of forest would be felled in order to build a golf course. Everyone believed that the angry inhabitants of the district, opposed to the idea, would meet their defeat, as Lithuanian laws of tend to not work when faced with big money.

Thankfully, a part of the inhabitants of the district were not afraid to act. An official community of Pilaitė was established. Together with the Green movement, this community organized fourteen protests, concerts and other mass events in two years, which attracted thousands of Vilnius’ inhabitants. The people gathered then made it clear that they do not want or need the golf courses in Pilaitė.

However none of the events then or later changed the minds of the men in power. Thus, in fall 2002 judicial proceedings began. The group acting in public interest was victorious, after 1.5 years of trial the Supreme Court of Lithuania determined that the Vilnius city municipality had acted illegally in selling the Pilaitė forest to the privately owned Žvėrynas golf club. The decision of the court is final and can not be appealed.

This decision of the court was, in a small way, caused by the efforts of the community. Presently this community is aiding other communities and the inhabitants of other city districts (Žvėrynas, Šeškinė, Karoliniškės, Žirmūnai) to defend their rights. The battle they have won is a perfect example that it is possible to defend local interests through the efforts of decisive and caring citizens.

The fight for the forest has not been the only one for the inhabitants of Pilaitė. In 2004 – 2005 a battle was waged over the beaches of the Gilužis and Salotė lakes. There was a threat that these beaches would be privatized and fenced off due to the rapid expansion of the city. Thus the community requested that these beaches would be reserved in public interest. Unfortunately, the municipality has yet to buy enough of the territory of Gilužis, thus the beaches were privatized and fenced off. The Salotė lake has been restored to its pre-soviet owners as private property, even though this should not have been allowed, a facto confirmed by parliamentary supervisors. Thus the members of this community can not yet rest. At least not until influential and wealthy people loose the ability to use legal loopholes to take away public spaces from the locals.

The Pilaitė community is famous in Vilnius and Lithuania not only through its efforts to defend the public interest. They organize Shrove Tuesday and Spring Poetry festivals for the inhabitants of the district and the whole city. The festivities have taken place in the Pilaitė forest for the past five years. This year the festival was dedicated to the goddess of love – Milda and the famous Lithuanian actor Laimonas Noreika gladly performed for all participants.

Vilnius has been famous in Lithuania for its unique Verba’s (Easter bouquets made from dried flowers), but few know that they come from Pilaitė and its surrounding area. One of the villages in the Pilaitė district is even now famous for its Verba makers.

The community has been publishing books with writings by their members “Pilaitės giesmininkai” (“The Bards of Pilaitė”) – illustrated collections of prose and poetry, written by schoolchildren and adults in Russian and Lithuanian languages. Furthermore in 2003 the community published a book titled “Pilaitė. Past, Present, Future”. It was intended to inform the readers about what Pilaitė is, the history of the district, it’s claim to fame in the past and now, what objects are located there, etc.

The results of the survey regarding the prepared project for the golf course are also presented in the book. Here you may also find out that more than a half of the persons living in this district have resided here for 5-10 or more years. The newest residents are generally young persons. Most of the respondents state that they visit the Pilaitė forest at least once a month. Only a few percent are in favour of making a golf course.

Another book they published is full of advice on defending the public interest. This district can now enjoy the created and constantly expanding infrastructure: comfortable and quick transportation, supermarkets, branches of banks, a church, plenty of shops and services – such as a laundry, pharmacist’s stores and cafés. 92 % of the locals want the forest they so vehemently defended to be declared a forest park and all economic activities to be forbidden within its boundaries.

It is most likely that only then the members of the Pilaitė community will be able to rest, knowing that no one will be able to threaten their green oasis.

Aiste Jurcyte

Translation Vytautas Jurgaitis

Kalba Vilnius: news recycled (video)

Dionizas — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:00:00 +02:00

Undisclosed owners, hidden adverts, plenty of dubious information of the low quality – all these transparency problems can be observed in Lithuanian media. The journalists who gathered in the EOTG debate in the end of September shared different attitudes towards the problems.

At the end of September the Europe on the ground, - the journalistic experience inspired by cafebabel.com took place in Vilnius. In the debate organized by Babel Lietuva and moderated by the professional journalist Rimvydas Paleckis the question how the Lithuanian media could become more transparent was answered by three editors of weekly magazines and the advisor of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics.

Everyone in Lithuania already knows which media is not transparent. Everyone acknowledges, that the information it offers in many cases is not of a high quality. Nevertheless, even the journalists who participated in the debate did not agree who is responsible for the distorted perception of journalism in Lithuania.

Jurga Tvaskienė, the ex-editor of the weekly magazine „Panorama“, which was closed down by owners because of not bringing enough profit, passed the responsibility to the Institute of Journalism. She claimed that the publishers do not carry out the mission of informing the society anymore, but rather take advantage of the inexperience and idealism of the young journalists for making money. Therefore, the Institute should prepare students for the tainted media market.

The editor of the weekly business magazine Verslosavaite.lt Nerijus Budrys believes that businessmen prefer to buy commercials in the media, which deliver negative headlines, but not news. Accordingly, the owners of the media were named as the group, which conditions the decline in the quality of information, because using these headlines they are trying to get the fast profit. However, the advisor of the Inspector of Journalists Ethics Deividas Velkas stated that they are not as almighty as it may seem. He also added, that the newspaper published by the Institute of Journalism, or any other public institution would be the great alternative, which could bring more positive news to the active members of society.

By common assent, the editors and journalists were nominated as most powerful in striving for more transparent media in Lithuania. They can always resist to the pressure of the media owners. However, the chairperson of the Lithuanian Union of Journalist Dainius Radzevičius, who attended the debate, stated that at first, journalists should resist without taking the risk of their wellbeing.

Dionizas Bajarunas

The price of victory - bronze bananas

Indre — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:28:00 +02:00

Lithuania already has a ticket to Olympic Games in Peking. The basketball team won against the team from Greece in Eurobasket 2007 "little final" and came back with bronze medals. The game, which once was promoted by Lithuanians in America, still has the great number of fans at home.

Basketball is the second religion in Lithuania. It can be said that for somebody it's even the first. Lithuanians are really crazy about that game and winning medals for them is a point of honour.

The first medal, which, by the way, was golden, Lithuanians won in Eurobasket 1937, and waiting for another one didn't take long - they were the best in 1939 too. Unfortunately The Second World War and ocupations erased the name of Lithuania from the basketball map. It appeared there again only before the independence. In 2003 European gold was shining in the hands of Lithuanians.

Basketball is the most popular game in Lithuania, that is why everybody is waiting the maximum results and medals from players. In 2005 Lithuania was only the seventh in Europe and medals from this champion were needed as air.

Basketball and it's fans are two elements which can't simply exist without one another. And it was clear in Eurobasket 2007 - fans from Lithuania comprised the second largest group in arenas of Spain just after the Spaniards one. About 2 thousand Lithuanian fans were watching matches there.

After this Eurobasket the leader of Lithuanian fans Sekla ("Seed") became known not even in Lithuania. He appeared in a scolding with a Spanish policeman (the fans said that the police didn't want to let them inside because their national flag was too large as were their drums), the policeman cut his head open with truncheon (it is simply called "banana" in Lithuania). More than few papers of different countries payed attention to it.

So this is how artist-caricaturist Ramūnas Vaitkus imagines the story..

* we've got Spanish bananas and bronze

And these are the first moments after Lithuania won against Greece.

Indrė Kumpikevičiūtė

Vilnius' regatta 2007 (photos)

Indre — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:09:00 +02:00

By celebrating water festival Vilnius meets autumn. People are urged to go in for sports and to use rivers more positively for that reason.

Vilnius' regatta - it is a contest for bowmen - both professionals and amateurs. This festival is usually very popular among people living in capital and also in other places of Lithuania.

This year there were 264 contestants, who accepted a challenge of the river Neris. The youngest participant was only two years old. People were navigating canoes, sculls, catamarans, rafts and boats.

The organizers of this event want municipality and society to pay attention to such rivers as Neris and Vilnele and unused their possibilities for active recreation, sport and tourism.
They also want to motivate people and especially young ones to go in for sports more positively.

There's a hope that Vilnius' regatta will be the first water festival in a state, which will attract a lot of tourists, bowmen and other water sports' fans from abroad.

Mixed teams were competing...

... and alone

                                                    ... young captains

                       Someone measured deph of Neris and it's temperature...

                                   ...someone gave away all his power...

                        ...but good emotions was the most important of all!

                                  especially when your team is large...

                                         or you were navigating usuall boat

                        One of the organizers Gintautas Babravičius reached finish...

                                  ... young captain made it too.


                              All teams were working hand in hand...

                     ...and you could feel very friendly and jolly atmosphere.

                                        They were competing...
                                           ...and they won!

Indrė Kumpikevičiūtė
photos Erika Lastovskytė

Balsiai, the highly motivated ones

Indre — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:29:00 +02:00

Almost all communities of the old part of Vilnius are self organized because of the problems they have faced. Whereas the newly developing region Balsiai has the self organized community seeking to avoid the possible upcoming problems.

The increase of population in Vilnius causes the expanding of the city area – especially towards north-west, where Balsiai district is on the rise. Next to it there are the regional park of Verkiai and the Green Lakes. Balsiai – a locality, named after one of those lakes.

Former village changed at the soviet time due to the pursued policy whereby workers got flats or estates for building their own houses for free. Thus some of people moved to Balsiai. It is a specific place of Vilnius – the block of the own houses where mostly the third generation of Balsiai is growing up. This district is attractive for young families, therefore the average age of the population there is about 45 years, and about one third of the people are children. As a result, the majority of job places offered are for nannies.

The residents of Balsiai understand private space differently than the people living in the blocks of flats. According to Rimantas Micka, the chairman of this community, a house is built for the person himself and his grandchildren; therefore all investments to the infrastructure of the district are made for oneself, not for others. The municipality didn’t pay enough attention to the needs of the community, thus the community members initiated and raised half of the money, needed for building new roads, lighting of streets, guideposts, and street tablets.

Now their concern is the reduction of accident rate, building new cycle tracks, the legitimisation of the park, building a dog yard and most important – building a school. “There was not a single school built during the period of Lithuanian independence in Vilnius, - R.Micka states. A lot of people moved to Vilnius during that period, the city expanded to north, and education is still short of funds”. The leaders of the community are not trying to fight for the rights, but to establish conditions under which the council of the city could make necessary decisions. E.g. they have not only stated the fact that a school is missing in their locality, but even traveled to Finland and Estonia, where they got acquainted with the architecture of local schools, resources for learning and the educational principle itself. Now they are striving to build the most modern education establishment in Lithuania.

The nearest school for the children of Balsiai at the moment is 10 km away, but the capacity there is three times overfilled. All the pupils of Balsiai go to different schools, so they do not know each other so well.

Therefore, the community holiday is a perfect chance to find some friends in the neighbourhood, meet and communicate with the neighbours. Withal traditional Mardi Grass and Chistmass holidays, there is unique Balsiai community feast. The date is a week before the feast of St John. Though it is a one day feast, it lasts for 16 hours. About 2 thousand people – residents, their families and guests participate there. Street basketball, non-olympic games are played – dumbbell lifting, tug-of-war, hand bend – the champion of hand bend of Lithuania attends at this event. Moreover, singers come, children have an opportunity to ride horses or go for a spin in a carriage. Lot of families take part in 3.3 km footrace every year. The youngest participant is two years old. The people of Balsiai do not only partake, they reach for records. Recent one was a mass crawl record, which was registered by Lithuanian records registering agency “Factum”.

The community tests creativity of families – therefore they have Vocal Balsiai contest, the most beautiful yard elections.

The passport to success of Balsiai community is the initiative, employers of the local people, who become sponsors of the community, or the resident businessmen themselves. Several politicians live in Balsiai, but this fact does not help, even makes the situation worse. Due to the chairman of the community, even the smallest initiative of the politicians to develop and improve the living quality of Balsiai is called the private interest, and for politicians this is forbidden.

The chairman R.Micka is a fancier of changes and innovations, who uses different forms to round up the community: in the internet site of Balsiai a forum was created, on Christmas all the families were remembered kindly by sending post card for each.

Mr. Micka invokes a punishment – the publicity – for those community members who want Balsiai to be more beautiful not by their own attempts. There are names of families, who do not want to pay for the street asphalt works or other needs, written in the internet site. Publicity, according to R.Micka, helps for the majority to realise a lot of things. The villains of Balsiai are treated the same way. All the people of Balsiai are asked not to pass by, but to take pictures of those baddies caught in the act, and to place them in the internet.

Indrė Kumpikevičiūtė

translated Erika Lastovskytė

The Magic of Zverynas is not for Sale

Indre — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:26:00 +02:00

A small territory called Zverynas (Žvėrynas) has become a part of Vilnius only 100 years ago. The people of this cozy precinct, which years ago surprised with its still, are trying to save what has belonged to them for centuries at any cost.

From 16th century to the middle of 19th century instead of the present precinct of Vilnius grew pine forest which was owned by noblemen named Radvilos. In the area surrounded by thick wooden logs they set up a hunting reservation where they had European bisons, moose, hinds, and foxes. At that time only the owners and their noble guests had the right to hunt these animals. This place was named "the Zoo", or "Beast place" (Zverynas) after that.

In 1901, Vilnius bought Zverynas by the decision of the City Council (duma). The pine forests were thinned out, a lot of deluxe villas rose up, and the balance was kept by the shabby wooden houses, which today are valued for their uniqueness achieved by the hands of carpenters.

“Zverynas is the residence of the autochthons”, - claims
Liudvikas Ragauskis, the member of the community. Hence, the society living in Zverynas has vey old roots. However, the communal relations there, were legitimized only in 2002.

THE END OF THE BEGINNING

Bordered from the city centre by the curve of river Neris, the territory with no intense traffic, has an active community already for five years. Thoroughly carrying out their civil duties the members of the community disagree with the interests of the private business, which harms all the poeple living in Vilnius. They were trying to stop the construction of the biggest retail corporation not only in their neighborhood, but also outside the border. The activists of Zverynas community, including lawyers and specialists of cultural heritage, named the general plan, which was approved on 29th of February 2007 by the Council of Vilnius City, as legally incorrect.

Unfortunately, the city government is still suppressing the aspirations of Zverynas community using the interpretative judicial opinion. In Lithuania communities are able to protect their rights only in their own limited territory. Whereas the city plan is in public interest, the concerned community of Zverynas cannot be a claimant in the court. Although the members do not lack the necessary competence, sometimes they are referred to as brawlers and scandalists, because of the frequent attempts to go to court.

THE INTERIOR OF ACTIVISTS

The newspaper „Zverynas‘ courier“ was edited for one year. It was delivered for free by the social-minded seniors. Moreover, there was a possibility to explore Zverynas in the virtual space. The truth is, it is hard to preserve the social atmosphere in a precinct where every fourth resident is a pensioner. L. Ragauskis, the member of the community says that the end of this unique community phenomenon is already foreseen: “The community consists of around 120 members where 20 are active and 11 are working for the sake of the community”.

Danute Jakubeniene, the member of Zverynas community, notices that there is a lack of the public centre – a gathering place. The establishment of such centre was one of the issues in the strategic Vilnius' plan prepared some years ago. The funding was allocated, but the renovated place was occupied by the governmental representatives. There was no place left for the community. Though Zverynas society has always been tolerant for young and old people of all nationalities, new members do not contribute to the community for a long time now.”

Zverynas mill, which according to the resolution of the municipality is waiting for the reconstruction, could become the symbol of this city precinct. Its origins go back to the 16th century, times of Radvilos; nevertheless, the preservation works are postponed over and over. At the moment only the Kenesa built in the Muslim style by the Karaite commune, which is famous and respected in the whole world, is well kept.

THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE

Vilnius communities have tried to fill the gap between the citizens and the local government, but now the optimism is disappearing slowly. L. Ragauskis says that for the Lithuanian nation who lived in granges for a long time the sociability is still of little importance. Indeed, Lithuanians have few historical roots in Vilnius. After the II World War the Lithuanian population could have been defined as ethnic minority. Thus, only a few citizens are strongly dedicated to the city. Although for the majority of Vilnius communities the most important thing is to have fun, the hyperactivity of Zverynas community reflects not only in organizing feasts, social evenings and lunch. Those activists still participate in various public initiatives and citizen movements, or groups. They are actively communicating with Uzupis dwellers and Zverynas community in Krakow.

Furthermore, even Vilnius citizens who are usually indifferent to the historical and cultural monuments are discussing the fact that the communities in the city are not allowed to stand up for the public interest. The Vilnius communities are not represented in the municipality council, which takes decisions on all questions concerning the life of the citizens. Although the self-government in Vilnius is discussed with great enthusiasm for a log time now, the implementation of it is still in the hands of legislative power. So even legitimized communities in Vilnius are still up in the air.

Simona Štrimaitytė

Translation Asta Kraujalytė

EOTG 2007: Tolerance Celebrated

Dionizas — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:25:00 +02:00

The debate “KALBA VILNIUS” set on the eve of municipal elections activated the public discussion on tolerance among various Vilnius communities. The decision was made to dedicate more attention to the problematic media. (video)

The debate KALBA VILNIUS set on the eve of municipal elections activated the publicdiscussion on tolerance among Vilnius communities. Two local topics concerned with social integration and civil creativity were raised to the European level. However, arguments made by active citizens revealed the significance of the local integration of communities before demonstrating their civil creativity to Europe.

The participants named the intolerance as the general problem of Vilnius public sphere. Although the topic is rarely met in local media, with the help of cafebabel.com journalists the settlements important to local publishers and editors were made. “Talking Vilnius” promised to dedicate more attention to the problematic media propagating the intolerance among Vilnius citizenry.

After the debate the participants involved in the Europe on the Ground (EOTG VILNIUS) stated that activities inspired by European media might prosper in Lithuania. Babel Lietuva is genuinely greatful for the local and European wide help and the most important experience of cafebabel.com brought to Lithuania – the debate.

VIDEO REPORTAGE FROM THE DEBATE (3:45) ENGLISH SUBTITLES