The World is Changing - Liceo Sesto Properzio

European Identityby Lea TIEDEMANN (1996), HPS Buxtehude/Germany“European Identity” is an expression which is hard to define. How you interpret European identity depends onhow you define identity and European.Identity usually means that the personality and the characteristics of something are the same or at least similar.But what does European mean? Is it just including politics and economy? Oralso culture? Is there actually a European identity?If you want to identify with Europe you have to get to know some Europeancountries and their cultures. The more countries you know the more you canunderstand what Europe is and how to identify with it. It is also helpful tospeak foreign languages because communication between our countries isthe basis of an identity. But there is also a problem according to this point.Not everybody has the chance to travel to other countries and not everybodyhas the opportunity to learn foreign languages. So you could say that forsome people it is difficult to understand what Europe is right at thebeginning. Another point to mention is our European history. Ancient Greeceand ancient Rome are of course fundamental for our Europe of today. The culture of the ancient world formedimportant characteristics of our identity, but you don’t associate all European countries with the typical historyof for example Julius Caesar or buildings from Renaissance. Additionally Christendom is very important for ourhistory and also the present. When you take a closer look at these points you can recognize that Europe isseparated into two parts: the western side with its culture most people call “European” and the easternside.According to the last point you should refer to the eastern European expansion of the EU which is a big stepforward when you talk about a European identity. A common identity is also good when it comes to democraticdecisions because it is easier to find a solution for a problem when every EU member can identify with theothers. In addition the European council appoints values which should be aspired to by every member state.Those values are for example human rights, democracy, constitutional legality and liberty. But there are just 27countries which are members of the EU and there are 45 countries in whole Europe, so you have to dealcarefully with this aspect.In general you have to be clear about your national identity before you can define aEuropean identity. So every state will maybe come to other results and this will make a common identity muchmore difficult.All in all you could say that there is no real common European identity because there are too many differentcultures, but the European Union is very important for our identity and takes the first step to create one. Finallyit may develop an identity which will represent nearly all of us.posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012Foto Challenge: German and European Identityby Lea TIEDEMANN (1996), HPS Buxtehude/GermanyIt’s true that Germany is a country where many people drink beer butwhat many people don’t know is that Germany also invented beer duringlenten season. It wasforbidden to drink wine whenlenten season began. For thatreason a religious orderdeveloped a new alcoholicdrink. The pope had to give hisagreement so they broughtsome beer to let him try it but the beer was already addled. The tastewas so bad that the pope gave his agreement and from this day on itwas allowed to drink beerduring lenten season. All in all,you could say that drinkingbeer is not just a German stereotype. It is actually really part of ourhistory and culture.The Warsaw Genuflection on December 7 in 1970 was an important datein the history of the relationship between Germany and Poland. Beforethe Treaty of Warsaw was signed Willy Brandt put down a wreath in frontof the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial. Instead of resting in an upright positionhe knelt down. Everybody was very surprised and most peopleunderstood this event as an apology for everything that happened inWorld War II. This picture shows that Germany was the country that was blamed for many terrible actions in thelast century. Germany was blamed for World War I and Germany was blamed for the death of millions of jews.n° 9/2013, page 26