European Expression

The European Expression journal participating on the debate on The Future of Europe is probing all European citizens to reflect on this topic and provide their brief personal “European Quote” (a maximum of 280 characters as an analogy to Twitter messages).
Our aim is to create opportunities for public dialogue, stimulate participation of European citizens in the forthcoming elections and to understand the issues and challenges that Europe faces from the point of view of its citizens.

We are now welcoming European quotes that reply to the question:
Which are the major existential threats for Europe in the 21st century?

Replies could address any of the following subjects, among others:
1) The economic, financial and productive decline compared to the rest of the world
2) The dilemma between one federal Europe versus a series of European unions or even return to the “medieval fiefdoms” era
3) The European demographic deficit due to an aging and stagnant population
4) The rise of European political extremism and populism
5) The global menace of climate change
6) Europe’s energy dependence from third countries
7) Security threats to European citizens from poor immigration management, armed conflicts and/or terrorism
8) Europe’s exclusion from the avant-garde of technological revolutions either due to brain drain or to lack of vision

A selection of these European quotes would be published in future European Expression issues.

http://ekfrasi.gr/html/page.asp?PageID=130&Lang=1

Ευρωπαϊκή Έκφραση The ‘f” world is now less horrifying and less marginalized. For some it’s more attractive and promising, at least in Europe. But still, since it represents a revolution it is not yet mainstream. We live in an era of revolution of devolution. Power today is shifting more rapidly than ever, from the s...

When Kathrine Switzer first ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, a race official tried to physically remove her from the route after he discovered that she was female. Today, 50 years later, the now 70-year-old Switzer has successfully completed the marathon once again -- this time running it in 4 hours, 44 minutes at the head of a team of over 100 women! Switzer was a 20-year-old college student at Syracuse University in 1967 when she registered for the race using her initials, K.V. Switzer. Not realizing that she was a woman, who were barred from participating in the Boston Marathon for over 70 years, race officials issued her an entry number.

During the race, marathon official Jock Semple ran up to her yelling "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!" When he grabbed Switzer and attempted to rip off her race number, other runners, including Switzer’s coach Arnie Briggs and her boyfriend Tom Miller, blocked Semple and she was able to complete the marathon. Dramatic photographs of the incident and the story of Switzer’s participation in the marathon made global headlines. Switzer's record-setting run as the Boston Marathon’s first registered female runner came one year after the historic run of Bobbi Gibb, who disguised herself and snuck in to run the marathon in 1966.

After the marathon, Switzer became deeply engaged in efforts to increase girls’ and women’s access to sports and she and other women runners finally convinced the Boston Athletic Association to drop their discriminatory policies and allow women to participate in 1972. Today, nearly half of Boston Marathon entrants are female. Switzer also helped lead the drive for the inclusion of a women’s marathon in the Olympic Games -- a victory which was achieved at long last with the first women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Today, on the 50th anniversary of her historic run, Switzer ran with a team from her nonprofit organization, 261 Fearless, named for her original bib number. As part of the team commitment, today's participants aimed to raise $1 million for the nonprofit to fund non-competitive running clubs, train coaches, and provide a communications platform for women runners in the U.S. and across the globe. Reflecting on the tremendous progress in women's running over the past five decades -- women now participate in more running events than men in the U.S., with women making up 57% of finishers in U.S. races last year -- Switzer says, “If young women today take for granted the fact that they can compete like men in the sport of running, that’s fantastic. That’s what we wanted when we began working for acceptance."

To learn more about Kathrine Switzer's running organization for women, 261 Fearless, visit http://www.261fearless.org/

For an excellent book about her inspiring story, we highly recommend her autobiography, "Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports," which you can find at http://amzn.to/1o1607x

For a fascinating book about 22 pioneering women runners, including Switzer, check out “First Ladies of Running: 22 Inspiring Profiles of the Rebels, Rule Breakers, and Visionaries Who Changed the Sport Forever,” at http://amzn.to/1Vbcljj

For a fun doll & book set to spark young girls' interest in running, check out the "Runner Girl Ella Set" for ages 3 to 8 at http://www.amightygirl.com/ella-runner-girl

For several Mighty Girl stories that celebrate the joy of running, we recommend "The Quickest Kid in Clarksville" for ages 4 to 8 (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-quickest-kid-in-clarksville) and “The Running Dream” for ages 12 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-running-dream).

To introduce children and teens to trailblazing women role models in all fields from sports to science to the arts, visit A Mighty Girl's "Role Model" book section at http://amgrl.co/1I0x0ld

And, for a fantastic t-shirt that speaks to the fact that strength has nothing to do with gender, check out the “I'm not strong for a girl. I'm just strong.” t-shirt for both kids and adults at http://www.amightygirl.com/strong-t-shirt

The cover page of the Gender Equality & Mainstreaming issue of European Expression, entitled "Stilte". (c) 2016 by Afifa Aleiby.

25 Great Romanian women who changed the world There are many Romanian women who made history and made our lives better, either by making discoveries, by writing stories, by participating in politics or fighting for people’s rights. Here is a l…

Stories that could figure in our Gender Equality and Mainstreaming issue.

Inspiring Fifty: Europe 2017 - Inspiring fifty Inspiring Fifty: Europe 2017 The 50 most inspiring female influencers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and policy makers from across Europe. The best and brightest women in technology in 2017 in alphabetical order. Because they are all true role models.

On International Women's Day, the Commission published its annual report on gender equality in the European Union and European Expression has produced a Gender Equality and Mainstreaming issue by guest editor Divina Alexiou

The European Union ( ) is preoccupied with a number of new challenges crucial for its further continuity, from a crisis of political deadlock to economic decline, and to an increasingly sharp ideological divide. The outcome of the ongoing crisis in the euro zone has some impacts on strategy, complicating further the all process by increasing skepticism of both the political leadership and public opinion across the . Even in the current circumstances, the European Commission has managed to maintain the process open for the Western Balkans ( ) a region where open bilateral issues continue to hamper regional stability. In the Special Edition of EU Policy Hub and European Expression Pierre Mirel, Honorary DG of the European Commission, suggests the adoption of a five points pragmatic agenda that could transform the candidate countries. countries should not be left alone because according to him:

The possibility that foreign fighters might recruit potential executors of criminal acts, who are feared to be hiding among the refugees crossing the EU borders was one of the issues touched by the in the Special Edition of EU Policy Hub and European Expression. Vladimir Koturovic, Jovana Poznan and Suzana Boskovic deal with the issue of foreign fighters as a disguised danger in the background of the . They argue that:

In the Special Edition of EU Policy Hub and European Expression are very concerned about the future of . They are asking from EU leadership to remain faithful to Union’s core democratic values, maintaining an area of freedom, equality and justice. In that perspective, they argue that the policy of building or fences adopted by many European countries is not in the appropriate direction. Stevan Tatalovic from the Univerzitet u Beogradu writes:

Far-right parties are on the march in the political domain. They're populists, supporters of ethnic nationalism and they oppose immigration. In the Special Edition of EU Policy Hub and European Expression, Xristiana Eneda Seitaj Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, unravelled the relation between and . In her paper she argues: