EUSTORY History Camp „Backpacking Visegrád“ has started!
One of this year’s History Camps will – literally – be on the move from 22 September! Under the title of »Backpacking Visegrád with Pen and Camera: Traces of Social Movements in Past and Present«, 20 young Europeans from 13 different countries will board trains to travel from Hungary via the Czech Republic to Poland. During their wayfaring study of social movements in Eastern Europe, they have the chance for numerous encounters with representatives of NGOs, the media and journalists and visit editorial offices, museums and archives.
Until 1 October 2016 the young EUSTORY prize winners will travel through the Visegrád states and follow the traces of the Hungarian Uprising 1956, the Prague Spring in 1968 and the Polish Solidarity movement 1980. They will investigate historic and current social movements and take a closer look at the media’s role as driving power of change, but also as instrument of state propaganda. They will be accompanied by educators as well as older EUSTORY alumni.
»With smart phones in our pockets we suddenly have the opportunity to transfer information fast from one person to another like never before. Nowadays, everyone can broadcast and publish their own content worldwide. I cannot wait to learn and trial forms of journalistic reporting«, says 18 years old Shahar, Israeli EUSTORY awardee.
In daily blogs and videos, the EUSTORY prize winners will capture their experiences and share their newly-won insights. Joined by a professional journalist, they will be provided with the requisite know-how during the entire trip.
In Budapest the young Europeans will get to meet journalists from the online magazines “Index” and have the opportunity to speak to activists of the NGO “The city is for all” who speak up against gentrification. When in Prague, a visit to “The Institute of the Study of Totalitarian Regimes” will give them further input before they arrive in their final destination, “The European Solidarity Centre” (ECS), to learn more about the anti-communist opposition from exhibitions and research in the Centre’s archives. Here they will also have the exclusive opportunity to speak to Basil Kerski, the Centre’s Director, as well as to young Russian and Polish journalists. The 10-days long programme is a cooperation with the Czech educational initative PANT, that also hosts the Czech EUSTORY History Competition, and the ECS.
»This road trip enables the young EUSTORIANS to make spontaneous encounters and gain new insights which can only happen outside the seminar classroom«, emphasises Katja Fausser, Managing Director of the EUSTORY Network. »Furthermore, the journey can serve as a reality check for the students’ own journalistic ambitions.«
Those curious about the young people’s work will have the opportunity to log on to EUSTORY’s Facebook page where a daily live video broadcast will be available between 23 and 30 September at 9 pm (CEST): www.facebook.com/eustory. You can also follow the daily blog on the History Campus.