ProgressivA

🎙 New episode of our podcast.

🇪🇺 Romani people have been living in Europe for hundreds of years. In this episode, we discuss their rich history and the multitude of problems this community is facing, ranging from common ignorance about this long history to open and widespread Anti-Romani sentiment. Felix Schaumann (Climate science student) and Ana-maria Trăsnea (Secretary of State in Berlin, SPD) talk to Radoslav Ganev, founder of RomAnity e.V. and the Student Association of Sinti and Roma in Germany (SVSRD), about the situation of Romani people in Europe today and about ideas on how to move on from here - in the fight for a united Europe without racism.

⚓️ LINK ANCHOR: https://anchor.fm/arbury-road/episodes/Arbury-Road-Podcast---The-rich-history-of-Romani-people-in-Europe-e1c9sih

❓ What does culture mean in the European Union? And how does the creation of a European culture work?

🎙We were lucky enough to discuss this with Petra Kammerevert, coordinator of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament in the Culture Committee of the European Parliament, in this new episode of our #podcast!

🇩🇪 The podcast is in German, but with subs in other languages! Enjoy and do not forget that Arbury Road is a grassroots project! If you wish you can support with a donation ➡️ https://gofund.me/89fafb69

🔗 Anchor link!

Dear Arbury Road reader,

First of all, thanks for subscribing to our newsletter, and if you can help support us by becoming a paying subscriber or by inviting other people to subscribe to the newsletter that would be great. Arbury Road is a grassroots project that works thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, so a donation can really make a difference. Let’s start with the article of this week:

🇪🇺 Why we need a European minimum wage

✍️ In this article Katren Rogers, Editor-in-Chief of Arbury Road, reflects on minimum wage, a topic which has recently been at the centre of the EU parliamentary activity.

🇪🇺 At the plenary session on Thursday 25th November, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted to endorse the Employment and Social Affairs Committee recommendation for a European Directive on fair and adequate minimum wages. Proposed last year by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D Group), the directive would lay down a minimum requirement for wages of a ‘decent standard’ across the European Union, requiring Member States to assess and report on the level of their statutory wages, governed either by minimum wage legislation or collective bargaining agreements.

✊ Katren writes:

We welcome the action to promote a decent standard of living for all workers, but the current proposal does not go far enough. Much more is needed to reach the goal of fair and decent living standards throughout the European Union. In this article, I discuss why we need a minimum wage, what this new directive will achieve, and what else we need to realise the goal of fairer living standards across Europe.

➡️ We invite you to read the article to learn more. Now a piece of good news.

🇪🇬 Patrick Zaki has finally been released!

🇪🇬 After nearly 20 months in custody in #EGYPT #PatrickZaki has finally been released by the Egyptian court. The researcher had been arrested in Cairo in February 2020. While he is still on trial, this is a huge step towards justice. And great news for all those who are fighting to guarantee the respect of human rights in Egypt. A thought goes also to Giulio Regeni. In this moment, we feel he did not die in vain. We want to celebrate this with the picture of Zaki hugging his mum.

Homosexuality is banned at the 2022 FIFA World Cup just before HumanRightsDay 🇶🇦

🇶🇦 Remaining in the field of human rights we want to talk about a scandalous episode that happened last week in Qatar. LGBT+ people in Qatar have little choice but to hide their sexuality to fit into a society that widely regards homosexuality as a sin.

👎 After declaring the country a "gay-friendly" nation for the duration of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, the president of the organizing committee Asser Al-Khater added the caveat that the display of homosexuality will still not be allowed in the emirate, and that LGBT+ footballers "will be able to play, but they will have to respect our culture and that of neighbouring countries".

⚽️ UEFA and FIFA have long been corrupted, and here once again they are accepting the situation of hosting a World Cup in a country that does not respect human rights - for purely economic reasons.

🏳️‍🌈 Sexuality is not a matter of culture. It is a human right that has to be respected. And today, 10th of December, is also Human Rights Day. We will not invite people participating in the WorldCup to kiss each other because of Covid-19, but it is time to change these outdated institutions and bring them into the current century.

🎙 What's Left in the 21st century?

🎧 The last piece of content that we want to share with you this week is the new episode of our Arbury Road podcast. Arturo Bjørklund Winters, co-founder of Arbury Road and currently working at the European parliament, had a chat with Niels Fuglsang, Danish MEP of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and author of the popular podcast What's left?

They discussed: ✅ Where did the idea for Niels podcast What's left come from? ✅ How can the Socialist and Democrats alliance in Europe be revitalised? ✅ How do the delegations in the European Parliament work? ✅ What relationship should Europe have with China in the future?

➡️ We remind you that you can find our podcast on Spotify and on all the main podcast platforms using the anchor link: https://anchor.fm/arbury-road/episodes/Whats-Left-in-the-21st-century-e1bg7ts

Give the gift of Arbury Road

That’s all for this week. We want to remind you that for the festive period we have a 50% offer on our subscription and 72% off for students. See you next week!

🎙 In this new episode of our podcast we were lucky to have as a guest Niels Fuglsang, Danish MEP of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and author of the popular podcast What's left?

We discussed:

✅ Where did the idea of Niels podcast What's left come from?

✅ How can the Socialist and Democrats alliance in Europe be revitalised?

✅ How do the delegations in the European Parliament work?

✅ What relationship should Europe have with China in the future?

🔗 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/arbury-road/episodes/Whats-Left-in-the-21st-century-e1bg7ts

✊ If you wish you can support Arbury Road here:

Arbury Road is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

🎅 For this festive season we have a 50% discount on our subscription prices:

Dear Arbury Road reader,

First of all, thanks for subscribing to our newsletter, and if you can help support us by becoming a paying subscriber or by inviting other people to subscribe to the newsletter that would be great. Arbury Road is a grassroots project that works thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, so a donation can really make a difference. Let’s start with a few updates on European politics:

🚦The new Traffic Light Coalition (SPD, The Greens, Liberals) 🇩🇪🇪🇺

🇩🇪 In this video, Arturo Bjørklund Winters, a member of the German Social Democratic Party in Berlin and co-founder of Arbury Road, comments on the new German government.

🚦The so-called Traffic light coalition allowed the SPD and the Greens to form a government with the liberals. But what are the limits of this government? What parts of their programme did the SPD and Greens have to abandon to reach an agreement? And will they be able to reform Germany and Europe?

🇸🇪 Sweden's first female PM ⏳

🇸🇪 This week Sweden got its first female Prime Minister, the Social Democrats’ Magdalena Andersson.

⏳ Actually, she was first elected last Wednesday, but forced to resign just hours later when the Greens left the minority coalition that had governed since January 2019 after a record-long negotiation with supporting parties following the 2018 election.

Andersson becomes Prime Minister after the retirement of Stefan Löfven, who was returned as Prime Minister after losing a vote of no confidence in June.

We also published Simon Davidsson’s article on the June government crisis if you’d like to know more.

Europe is made by activists

This week’s article was written by Arturo Bjørklund Winters. Arturo is an activist and secretary of a local association of the German Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin. He is also a member of the Italian Social Democrats Partito Democratico.

🇪🇺 In this article Arturo tells us his experience in creating transnational connections between Italy and Germany, including difficulties in finding the time, and his motivation and passion to contribute to the creation of a real European identity. Europe in the end will be made by activists.

🎙 The Last 20 - con Odette Mbuyi

🇪🇺 Do you know what the last 20 is? The answer to the G20 ✊

➡️ The Last 20 are a committee that brings together the “L20s”, the twenty most “impoverished” countries of our planet, based on international statistics on the main socio-economic and environmental indicators. They are the countries that suffer most from the unequal distribution of resources, the impact of climate change, and internal wars, things that are often fuelled by the G20.

🎙We talked about it with Odette Mbuyi, a new member of Arbury Road who is also involved in the organisation as a member of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo! #last20

✊ Odette was also a candidate in the regional elections with Articolo Uno - Padova.

🇮🇹 The recording is in Italian but with subtitles on youtube! ➡️ https://thelast20.org/

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣, 𝟙𝕤𝕥. - 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝔸𝕀𝔻𝕊 𝔻𝕒𝕪

For World AIDS Day, we think that the priorities are:

1️⃣ End of the stigma. The disease should not say something about the person who has it. This stigma violates equality and makes HIV and AIDS a taboo.

2️⃣ Sex education and affective interventions. Education is the main resource to prevent contagion and the spread of STDs.

3️⃣ Prevention. Get tested to stop HIV and AIDS infections.

🏳️‍🌈 We want also to re-share with you the podcast on HIV testing week and LGBT phobia in Europe that we recorded last week with Alessandro Ceccarelli, affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge and member of the Steering Committee of Fast Track Cardiff and Vale, a Fast Track City initiative that is working to achieve the UNAIDS targets of zero new HIV transmissions and zero stigma associated with HIV.

Give the gift of Arbury Road

That’s all for this week. We want to remind you that for the festive period we have a 50% offer on our subscription, and 72% off for students. See you next week!

🇸🇪 This week Sweden got its first female Prime Minister, the Social Democrats’ Magdalena Andersson.

Actually, she was first elected last Wednesday, but forced to resign just hours later when the Greens left the minority coalition that had governed since January 2019 after a record long negotiation with supporting parties following the 2018 election.

Andersson becomes Prime Minister after the retirement of Stefan Löfven, who was returned as Prime Minister after losing a vote of no confidence in June.

We published Simon Davidsson’s article on the June government crisis if you’d like to know more.

An unusual week to end a tumultuous year in Swedish politics, reflecting growing uncertainty since the breakdown of bloc politics with the rise of the far-right Sweden Democrats.

The Sweden Democrats helped draft the new Budget passed by the parliament last week as an alternative to the red-green proposal.

Now leading a weak minority government, Andersson will have a tough time ahead of the election next September.

Anxious times for progressives!

💪 But we should still celebrate Sweden’s first female Prime Minister - long overdue in a country with such a good track record on gender equality!

Dear Arbury Road reader,

Thank you for being a subscriber to Arbury Road this year. As you all know, our work involves some costs and can’t be sustained only by ideas. That is why we would very much appreciate it if you considered giving the gift of a paid subscription to a friend, family member, or colleague that you think might enjoy it. 🎁

🧑‍🎄 For this festive season, you can become a paying subscriber for only 3.50 euro a month: The price of a coffee in a good cafe in northern Europe.

👩‍🎓 For students, we have an even cheaper option at 1.90 euro per month: The price of a coffee in central Europe 😉

As a reminder, paid subscribers to Arbury Road get access to subscriber-only content. And more importantly, you will support Arbury Road! A gift subscription is a unique and thoughtful way to share the writing you enjoy with someone close to you. Plus, it helps to support the ongoing work that goes into this publication.

🙏 As always, thank you for reading. — The Arbury Road team

🇪🇺 Do you know what the last 20 is? The answer to the G20 ✊

➡️ The Last 20 are a committee that brings together the “L20s”, the twenty most “impoverished” countries of our planet, based on international statistics on the main socio-economic and environmental indicators. They are the countries that suffer most from the unequal distribution of resources, the impact of climate change, internal wars, often fueled by the G20.

🎙We talked about it with Odette Mbuyi, a new member of Arbury Road who is also involved in the organisation as a member of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo! #last20

✊ Odette was also a candidate to the regional elections with Articolo Uno - Padova.

🇮🇹 The event is in Italian but with subtitles! ➡️ https://thelast20.org/

ITALIAN VERSION:

❓Sapete cosa sono the Last 20? ✊ La risposta al G20 ⬇️

➡️ The Last 20 sono un comitato che mette assieme gli “L20s”, i venti paesi più impoveriti del nostro pianeta sulla base delle statistiche sui principali indicatori socioeconomici e ambientali. Sono i paesi che soffrono maggiormente dalla inequa distribuzione di risorse, dall'impatto del cambiamento climatico, e per via di guerre interne spesso alimentate dai G20.

🎙 Ne parleremo con Odette Mbuyi, nuovo membro di Arbury Road, coinvolta nell'organizzazione dell'evento come membro della delegazione della Repubblica Democratica del Congo! #last20

✊ Odette era anche candidato alle elezioni regionali in Veneto con Articolo Uno - Padova. ➡️ https://thelast20.org/

First of all, thanks for subscribing to our newsletter, and if you can help support us by becoming a paying subscriber or by inviting other people to subscribe to the newsletter that would be great. Arbury Road is a grassroots project that works thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, so a donation can really make a difference. This was a really positive and busy week! First of all, the article that we published this week:

🇪🇺 Gender-based violence should become a Euro-crime

🌹 ℕ𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣, 𝟚𝟝

🇪🇺 For the International Day for the Elimination Of Violence Against Women, we are happy to share with you great news from European Union: MEPs adopted a very important resolution asking the European Commission to 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨-𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬!

📖 In this article, Giorgia Cazzola explains this resolution and what a Euro-crime is!

💪 European level action on this issue is really positive and, if successful, it would land a great blow against gender-based violence. Enjoy the reading!

🎙HIV testing week and LGBT-phobia in Europe

✊ This week was full of events and we had two different podcasts, both in English. The first talks about HIV prevention since this week was HIV testing week in Wales and Europe, and soon it will be the World AIDS day (1st of December). As a guest, we had Alessandro Ceccarelli, affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge and member of the Steering Committee of Fast Track Cardiff and Vale, a Fast Track City initiative that is working to achieve the UNAIDS targets of zero new HIV transmissions and zero stigma associated with HIV.

🏳️‍🌈 Together with Katren Rogers, our editor-in-chief they also discussed homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. This was one of my favourite podcasts so far and I learned a lot, so I really hope you enjoy it! 💪

🎙 Towards a European Minimum Wage 🇪🇺

🇪🇺💶 The topic of the second podcast was the minimum wage. And we have another really good piece of news! The European Parliament - with 443 votes in favour, 192 against and 58 abstentions - gave a strong mandate to its negotiators to strengthen social wellbeing in Europe. The idea is to introduce a directive enforcing minimum wage regulation and the expansion of collective bargaining all across the #EU. #minimumwage #fair #socualEurope

💪 To talk about minimum wage there were Katren Rogers, PhD in Politics at Lund University, Arturo Bjorklund Winters, Member of the SPD Berlin and currently working at the European parliament, and Paco Martino Ruzzante, PhD in economic history at the University of Cambridge. We discussed the European situation and the minimum wage as an instrument of labour market and welfare policy in different countries.

Topics:

✅ what is a minimum wage?

✅ What are the main critics of minimum wage as an instrument?

✅ What does the proposal approved in the European parliament entail?

✅What is the next step?

🇪🇺🚜 The reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy was approved 🌾

🎙 We also want to re-share this podcast on the Common Agricultural Policy reform. The first part of the prediction that Maria Noichl made in it came true! The parliament approved the reform of #CAP that she discussed with Arturo Bjørklund Winters. This reform has some good aspects, but it is not the radical change that we need in order to move toward sustainable and fair agriculture. 🌾 🚜 If you are curious to hear the details of the law you can check out the link:

✍️ The dolphins' massacre in the Faroe and Gandhi

✊ If you have not signed this petition on Avaaz to end the dolphin grind, we invite you to do that. Over 1,400 dolphins, including pregnant mothers and calves, were slaughtered in the Faroe Islands.

🧘🏾‍♀️ We believe in the message that Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the movement for Indian independence and commonly considered one of the most important thinkers and philosophers of the 20th Century, used to spread:

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

💪 And we think this should be true worldwide. You can find the link to the petition in the post 👇

🎙New episode of our Podcast on the occasion of the HIV testing week in Wales, and World AIDS day (1st of December). Katren Rogers, Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Arbury Road, talked about HIV prevention with Alessandro Ceccarelli, affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge and member of the Steering Committee of Fast Track Cardiff and Vale, a Fast Track City initiative that is working to achieve the UNAIDS targets of zero new HIV transmissions and zero stigma associated with HIV.

🏳️‍🌈 They also discussed homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

✊ If you wish you can support Arbury Road you can do it by sharing our content and subscribing here!

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