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History Camp 2016: Backpacking Visegrád

»Backpacking Visegrád with Pen and Camera: Traces of Social Movements in Past and Present« Social movements have changed systems in Europe of the 20th century. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and the former Eastern Bloc was transformed into today’s Central Europe, accompanied by various civic movements fighting for independent national states: in 1956 the uprising in Budapest/Hungary, in 1968 the Prague Spring/Czechoslovakia and in the 1980s the Solidarność in Poland.

Today again people are flooding the streets of Europe protesting against the politics of their countries. While their objectives could not be more oppositional, they have their rigidity and commitment in common. In all of the movements media plays a key role either as their opponent or supporter. Reason enough to have a closer look on the relation between media and protest in the past and today.

The 2016 History Camp visited Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland; three of the so-called Visegrád countries that were in the center of political changes in the 20th century and are still today. The participants discussed about the role of the media in the protests of 1956, 1968 and the 1980s and how the media is reporting about civic movements today. The group met with representatives of the media, both state and independent, interview contemporary witnesses and visit places where protest and media met.

The participants learnt first-hand what it means to work as a journalist. They reported their experiences in blog posts and presented their findings in journalistic products, visual and written. The History Camp was accompanied by a journalist who prepared and trained the participants in journalistic writing before attending the seminar and helped them to edit their interviews, features and opinion pieces.

The Participants

Adelina, Bulgaria

Yavor, Bulgaria

Eva, Czech Republic

Karl-Martin, Estonia

Vida, Germany

Linn, Germany

Anastasija, Latvia

Shahar, Israel

Adam, Poland

Elena, Russia

Irina, Russia

Pavol, Slovakia

Ema, Slovenia

Irene, Spain

Elena, Spain

Isabel, Spain

Fedir, Ukraine

Yuriy, Ukraine

Elin, Wales

The Blog Posts

Living on the Edge? Independent Journalism in Hungary

The History Camp season starts again, this with the first ever camp that takes place in three different countries: Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. Budapest ...

On the Trace of Social Movements and People’s Uprisings

After two days in Prague our history “campers” felt the need to move again. This time they followed the traces of social movements and people’...

Budapest: A Beauty With a Dark Past

Vida from Germany takes us to Budapest to look at what kind of past hides the parliament in Budapest.

Organisers

Organised by EUSTORY

In cooperation with: European Solidarity Centre / PANT ecspant