Mediterranean Media

The West’s interpretation of Human rights are far more liberal than countries in Asia. Asian leaders have been critical of the West’s interpretation of rights as they are too individualistic. They care more about individual rights than rights as a community and what is right for the greater good. Singapore is a great example. Rights are given and taken away to further specific goals within the country. With a successful economy and amazing infrastructure, citizens don’t care for what rights they may get taken away because if the country is doing good economically, everyone is successful. It is a win-win.

After World War II in 1948, Italy’s first constitution was put into effect. All the 

same rights given by the American Constitution were enshrined in the Italian Constitution. Freedom of speech, religion, privacy and so many more. After Mussolini’s dictatorship and after the holocaust, rights were made to protect everyone from tyranny. In addition, it created a parliamentary system of government. The Italian government delivered impactful results after the war was over.

 

Endangered cultures are cultures that are significantly threatened by the loss of cultural integrity, loss of habitat, and environmental quality. Wade Davis in his Ted Talk “Cultures at The Far Edge of The World” discusses endangered cultures. A point he makes is that cultural diversity is dying in the world, and an example of such is how there was once 6,000 languages spoken on this planet at one point, and now half of these 6,000 languages are gone. These dead languages represent how cultural diversity is dying, and therefore we must protect cultures that are endangered. Wade points out that when an endangered culture “dies”, the knowledge, the lessons, the stories, the wisdom, the diversity, the individuality, also dies. I agree with Wade that it is extremely important to protect endangered cultures, just like it is important to protect endangered species. I believe that cultural diversity helps the world and people in this world learn to further appreciate each other and the differences we all have with one another. Examples of endangered cultures are the five most endangered cultures in the world right now. They are the Tsaatan of Northern Mongolia, Kalash of Chitral, Pakistan, the Huaorani of Ecuador, the Drokpas of Ladakh, India, and the Loba of Mustang, Nepal.

As a result of climate change, Greece is being affected by endangered culture, due to Greek Culture Monuments being threatened by climate change. The threat of the destruction of cultural monuments in Greece come from all forms of climate change such as, wildfires, erosion, flooding, heat and humidity, and rainfall changes. One example of such endangered cultural monument was the site of Olympia, which is the home to first Olympic Games was threatened by a wildfire. Another example was the Lion Gate, which is an entrance to citadel of Mycenae was slightly damaged by a wildfire. Because of such important culture monuments being at risk to climate change, the Greek culture is also becoming endangered because much of the cultural history in Greece lays in these sacred monuments. The growing climate change also affects Greece’s loss of biodiversity.

Sources:

https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/373beb63-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/373beb63-en

https://greekreporter.com/2022/07/08/ancient-cultural-monuments-threatened-climate-change-greece/

http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/135023

https://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures

When it comes to human rights in Greece, there are many different rights that have emerged from the country. Such as, refugee and migrant rights, discrimination, freedom of assembly, and right to health.

Refugee and Migrant Rights

There have been many pushbacks about the abuse refugees and migrants face. The Greek authorities have denied said abuse and are the source of the pushbacks for stopping the abuse these refugees face. There have been many incidents were Greece’s policy of border management dealt with refugees in a rough manner and subjected them to detention and even occasionally torture.

Discrimination

In Greece there have been over 100 cases of violence due to race (2020). There have also been many hate crimes against different races, immigrants and students.

Freedom of Assembly

Greece has failed to abide by the human right of freedom of assembly. The government has unlawfully interfered and continue to interfere with their citizens’ rights to assemble.

Right To Health

To deal with the rise in Covid-19 cases, health worker unions advocated for more funding, the Greek government obliged and allowed for more funding to strengthen their weak Health System.

When Farish Noor discusses eurocentrism, he talks about going beyond eurocentrism. He defines eurocentrism as “the emerging perception within the European cultural, historical experience of European identity as good and all other forms as less good or less advanced”. What he means is that historically European culture is seen as superior and the “right” culture in the world. Noor explains how this view is limiting the world from growing and expanding with new cultures and ideas. He points out that going “beyond eurocentrism”, will squander the idea that European culture in the superior culture in the world and allow for more cultures to rise up and grow.

Eurocentrism is defined as the belief that Europe is the pinnacle view of culture, reasons, and value and that it is the model for the rest of the world to follow by. Ethnocentrism is thinking that one’s own region or group and their values, way of life, culture, etc., are superior to the rest of the world.

Greece has most definitely suffered from past and even present ethnocentric views. Greek culture is highly ethnocentric, because it considers itself and its culture to be the standard and example for the rest of the world to follow. These ethnocentric views have limited culture diversity in Greece and have created problems when it comes to human rights.

Sources:

https://anthro.rschram.org/ethnocentrism_and_cultural_relativism

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/europe-and-central-asia/greece/report-greece/

On the topic of human rights, I think it is also important to focus on personal rights within the country. One way to focus on this is by looking at the country’s drug policies. Italy decriminalized Cannabis in 1993 however in 2006 a law was passed that would heavily penalize cultivators and consumers with time in prison. Sentences would be tripled if caught. It disregarded previous decriminalization efforts. Last year alone groups were able to get 500,000 signatures on a referendum proposal to pressure the government to change its policies. The group in charge of the referendum argued that the substance being decriminalized makes it safer for people to use. There was no regulation over cannabis making it dangerous for the general public to use. In addition, the country could see 7.2 billion euros in profits in tax revenue and sales.

Italians can still be fined for the usage of Cannabis, the referendum benefits the sellers and cultivators. With other countries in the E.U., Italy’s more liberal policies towards cannabis can foreshadow the event that Italy will become the hotspot for marijuana. A decrease in people being in jail for small amounts of marijuana and more money generated as a country.

 

Besides Biodiversity let’s look at the cultural diversity within Italy. Italy was given beautiful landscapes, arts, and cuisine from the Roman Empire that have influenced life as it is today. It is a beautiful mix of ancient architecture with buildings from the renaissance and cathedrals in the gothic style. Each province/municipality has different cuisines and rich histories. Bologna is known for stuffed pasta like tortellini, Venice is known for seafood, and Rome is known for meat/meat dishes. The food diversity within this country is so big. Partially because before the unification of Italy, there were constant wars between regions because they were divided. There are of course still local fiascos but nothing like they once were. Italy is both culturally diverse and biodiverse. This peninsula has so much to offer to all visitors that come.

 

 

https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/en/archive/news-and-other-events/ispra-news/year-2015/may/biodiversity-in-italy

https://www.afoodieworld.com/heathergreen/8766-putting-italian-cuisine-on-the-map-photo

https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/library-document/tolerance-and-cultural-diversity-discourses-italy_en

https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/italy

https://savethewater.org/venice-historic-city-facing-modern-contamination/

Nationalism has always played a close role in Italian politics. We can see the impact Benito Mussolini’s nationalistic movement had on Modern-day Italy. The rise of fascism and isolationism from the world during WWII still has negatively impacted today’s political movements. With newly-elected PM Giorgia Meloni has moved farther right than any Prime Minister before. She has grown large support to go back to Christian/Catholic principles that they once came from. This excludes minority groups; Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists from political discourse in the country. Polarized by the media and political leaders, the expansion of rights for “all” could possibly be diminished. Nationalistic/Fascist governments will only further polarize anyone seen as different in such homogenous countries like Italy.

Before the unification of Italy, the country was broken up into provinces. Provinces clashed against one another in an effort to control territories. Italy’s struggle with nationalism can even be seen between these provinces. Different groups of people have established an identity differentiating from other parts of the group. People in Naples have a communal feeling of patriotism/nationalism making them not like people from Bologna. That is just one specific example. We can see Nationalism played out in this country. Patriotism also plays into the idea of nationalism too. It’s a collective feeling of pride in a specific region. Patriotism has served as a great tool to mislead the general public into thinking Populists know what’s best for the nation. Fighting for the underdogs’ to gain political support. Patriotism gives people a blind eye to issues.

 Nationalism, patriotism, and fascism all correlate with one another. The more Nationalist/patriotic a country leans, the higher likelihood it could be closer to an authoritative, centralized government with collective ideas to supposedly better the country. We will see what role Giorgia Meloni plays with the Nationalist movement “Fratelli di’talia” and its socioeconomic impact on the region.

 

Sources:

https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/italian-nationalism-explained.html

https://news.yahoo.com/a-century-after-mussolini-seized-power-giorgia-meloni-looks-to-steer-italy-back-toward-nationalism-183116834.html

The Politics of Difference: Italy’s Nationalist Turn and the Struggle between “New” and “Old” Italians

A migrant boat goes missing on the coast of Greece-which further fuels tension between historic enemies. 

There are no current wars within our assigned region; however there was been arising conflict between one of our chosen countries (Greece) and Turkey, regarding immigration in Greece.  Europe has faced fluctuations in migrants over recent years. Migrants have been coming from the Island of Antalya, an island off the Southern Coast of Turkey. The government has made it difficult for people to claim asylum and has denied entry to hundreds of thousands per year. This has become a growing issue because this isn’t the first occurrence of denied entry in the country but also going missing. In 2021 alone, 3,000 migrants were reported dead or missing according to Axios. Early morning Wednesday, a migrant boat sank and 12 people have been reported missing. Al Jazeera reported the boat was en route for Italy. There is no indication of who is responsible however with an ongoing issue in Greece regarding immigration, this wouldn’t be surprising.    

 

 

Pictured the right is Greek Prime Minister, Alex Tsipras (left) and Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

 

 

Turkish President Erdogan has stated Greece has committed crimes against humanity with the most recent disappearance of migrants. Erdogan threatened to invade Greece if this issue isn’t dealt with. However, Greece has also been fueled for a possible war when Turkey supported an energy deal, regarding illegal drilling over waters Greece also claims with a Libyan Administration that Turkey has since disputed. If these conflicts between Turkey and Greece continue to escalate the consequences could be severe. Global efforts will be made to end this conflict occurring within the region. The war between Greece and Turkey could have severe ramifications if not addressed because NATO would have to get involved. This would further divide these NATO allies who are trying to appear as a united front during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Sources Used: 

https://www.voanews.com/a/greece-warns-turkey-on-illegal-drilling-/6776832.html

https://www.voanews.com/a/turkey-greece-tensions-could-disrupt-nato-unity-experts-warn/6739413.html

https://www.axios.com/2022/08/11/migrant-search-greece-boat

https://www.reuters.com/article/greece-migrants-sinking/greece-searches-for-migrants-after-vessel-sinks-off-kythira-island-idUSKBN2R022R

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/29/more-than-3000-lost-in-sea-crossings-to-europe-in-2021-un

 

Hi there! We are the authors of Mediterranean Media, we cover information about the countries of Southern Europe, specifically Italy, Greece, and Portugal. We are super excited to give the public information about these countries through our blog!

                             

Carolyn Morales:

I’m Carolyn! I am a first-year at the University of Oregon and I’m a Psychology major. I’m excited to learn about globalization, because I find it so interesting how different countries and cultures are all intertwined and affect one another.

Nathan Hill:

I’m Nathan! I am also a first-year at the University of Oregon and I am a Political Science major. I have always had an interest in issues happening within the community and the world so I am optimistic this blog will help me engage in problems occurring throughout the world and our specific assigned region.

Ella Steiner-Smith:

I’m Ella! I’m a first year student at the University of Oregon as well and I’m a global studies major. Learning about different cultures around the world is something that has always intrigued me, and through this blog I’m excited to further learn the ways in which they all interact and influence one another.

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