Under the shadows of pines and cypresses, between green and blue shades, you can see a massive, white memorial ossuary, dedicated to the fighters in a war for liberation. The park of heroes is dedicated to partisans in WWII.
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Industrial, antifascist & working-class city on Croatian coast… that you don’t really hear about
What Detroit was to the USA and the car industry, Rijeka was to Yugoslavia and the shipbuilding industry. Rijeka has a rougher appearance. Parts of it look like an Austro-Hungarian crack house with palms and sea. It has a certain mess that usually comes with harbor cities. Unlike medieval and ancient streets of southern Adriatic, streets of Rijeka are more urban.
Matija Gubec: Croatia’s beloved historic rebel, tortured & murdered on Zagreb square
Meet Matija Gubec, Croatian Spartacus who led the Peasant revolution in the 16th century. Partisan army battalions in WW2 fought under his name, kids learn about him early in school, bands sing songs about him and his village still has a very special memory of him that I’ll reveal to you at the end.
Guide through Plitvice lakes, Croatia – 15 facts about the garden in the land of wolves
What do wolves, Milka chocolate and president Tito have in common? They all found a place for themselves among crystal blue lakes and a hundred waterfalls of Croatian National Park – the Plitvice lakes. Here are 15 facts and guides through the most popular National park of Croatia
Croatia’s hidden gems: Rainforests & Yugoslav monuments – hiking through Peter’s mountain
Yugoslav monuments, socialist architecture, brutalist buildings, or Spomeniks (Serbo-Croatian word for the monument) have made a comeback. More and more people want to see these out-of-the-world, UFO-like pieces of art created by vanguard artists of their time. Hidden in nature, forgotten by the state and often devastated, these grandiose storytellers still resist the time with a defiant attitude.
Macabre walk: Zagreb’s forgotten mental asylum graveyard
If you ever find yourself in Zagreb, you’ll probably get a recommendation to visit the famous Mirogoj cemetery. What you probably won’t get is an offbeat tour through the forgotten asylum graveyard of a psychiatric hospital – although it’s as easy as the walk in the park. Because it literally is.
From caveman to the World Cup finale: History of Croatia for beginners in 5 stages
Don’t worry if you’re having a hard time figuring out Croatian – or even worse: BALKAN – history. This war, that war, one Yugoslavia, two Yugoslavias (What? There was one more?)… Balkans rocky history is so messed up sometimes even we don’t know what hit us, let alone someone coming from outside.
Postcard from Palestine #3: Children of the third path
Schools that we visited were the ”problematic ones” in critical zones where the Israeli army has control. That morning I went to a school on a border between the Palestinian and Israeli neighborhoods, which is why the streets around it were full of soldiers. Kids and teachers show their teeth from time to time, soldiers get even more pissed off, and the vicious circle never stops.
Postcard from Palestine #2: The scent of cardamom coffee
It was only 5 am and my Palestinian family was already awake, preparing to leave the house. The scent of cigarette and cardamom coffee from the kitchen gently overwhelmed the room. ”Yalla, Lidija, we go?”
Postcard from Palestine #1 : To the south, to Hebron
Palestinians from other cities think of it as gloomy and are often surprised to hear a foreigner went there. ”Why would anyone do that?”. Its residents (Khalilis) are of few words and even the sweetest ones are wrapped up in a rough peasant accent.
Between the Orient and the reality: Grand Bazaar
It opened up every morning with the sound of azan and shopping was something you did by casually negotiating over a cup of Turkish coffee or tea. This, however, changed once Western ideas came to the East. The bazaar look has changed forever.
Gypsy in Istanbul
The spectacular illusion hides the community divided between ‘us’ and ‘them’. No-go zones of the poor were suppressed by the no-go zones of the rich. All in the name of ”modern age”. And Roma, where are they today?
Sorry for the Kung-flu: Covid-19 & racism
Today’s smoldering anti-Asian sentiment is bred on distrust and disgust with so-called ”wet markets” and unhygienic conditions that life in China and the Far East is usually associated with but covered up by the mystic authoritarian communist government. Even though scientists are trying to find the exact cause of the problem, these attempts are covered with blankets of media’s created repulsion with Chinese ”culture”, supported by already mentioned videos and rumors.
Yellow vests and red bikinis: the hypocrisy of the Left when it comes to Pamela
As long as activism is a field to play for celebrities like Bono Vox, who are not fighting against capitalism, but its ”side effects”, and as long as they fit within the frames of anxious provincial taste (nice gestures, stylish clothes, civilized manners), the media will gladly accept and Emma Watson, Beyonce, Cynthia Nixon, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria, Alicia Keys… But, the same rules are not applied to Pamela, whose political views are immediately discredited by downplaying her persona as ”a bimbo”.
Bin Laughin: Muslims & humor in pop politics
In the current militaristic framework of „us vs. them“ and War On Terror that dominates the political discourse and media, humor is the main weapon that boosts the discourse in which Islam can’t tolerate our humor and satire, and therefore, can’t tolerate our freedom. On the other side, more and more Muslim (but also non-Muslim) comedians and public people use that same humor as a diverse strategy to expose stereotypes and make them visible and laughable.
Beirut, caramel and women
Caramel was directed by Nadine Labaki from Lebanon. She dedicated the movie to women and their everyday life in Beirut. The plot is presented through the lives and dreams of employees and customers of a local beauty salon. A movie about women, female friendship and warmth of human relationships below the chaos and clashes.