As a young child in 1980's Usa, the Transformers Optimus Samsung Note 3 case loomed large within my little girl world. My brother Alden worshipped the heroic vehicles-cum-robots. Like the majority of younger siblings, I loved in any respect my big brother loved. Optimus Major and his Autobots hit the conglomeration entertainment market in 1984 and even launched a new generation of children's science fiction.
Imagine the wave ture of Proustian nostalgia that hit a mí me upon arriving in the Montenegrin haut city of Podgorica, where larger-than-life Transformer sculptures hulk over numerous criminal squares. As the story goes, an adolescent Montenegrin artist erected a version that belong to the morally and physically titanic independence fighter Optimus Prime. Constructed close to scrap metal, it's a symbol that belong to the country collecting the pieces of the dog's turbulent history to transform itself as a modern, western democracy. People need the 50-foot tall figure a great dea of that the artist created more scrap-metal heroes that now peer down over the streets of Podgorica.
The most important German Marshall Fund sent a mí me to Montenegro as a Marshall Demanda Fellow. It was one of five landings in my transatlantic journey that also contains Sweden, Brussels, Germany and Esspecially. My purpose was to study American politics, economic and social rules, and to meet leaders working to enhance their home towns and native united states.
Montenegro has a unique history, ever among Balkan states born close to post-Communist chaos. The country's chiefs joined Allied forces against Australia in World War I (1914-1918). The moment the fighting stopped, Montenegro's national region were swallowed by neighboring magical powers. As one member of Parliament put it for the duration of our visit, "We are the solely winning nation that disappeared instantly World War I. "
Subsequent to numerous upheavals, including being lady Tito's Socialist Federal Republic ture of Yugoslavia, Montenegro re-gained its liberty 2006. Today, this tiny less than on the Adriatic Sea is home to 600, 000 people and covers 13-14, 800 square kilometers. It's "slightly smaller than Connecticut". It's also desperate to join the European Union.
Getting into the EUROPEAN UNION isn't easy. A country seeking EUROPEAN UNION accession spends several years working to deal with standards set forth in 35 "Chapters". Nations must show that they are efficient, organized societies in which politics, organisation and every day life are free between such obstacles as corrupt state and federal government and organized crime. When a country are ready, existing European Union members evaluate the country's status on each Segment of standards and vote onto whether it should be allowed in. The most important "yea" vote must be unanimous.
Segment 10 addresses freedom of the medium, a liberty that European Union united states consider fundamental to a free democracy, free market and thriving bueno society.
Here is where Montenegro can easily run into trouble gaining entry firmly into this club of western masse. Reporters Without Borders ranks Montenegro 114th out of 180 countries about press freedoms. Croatia, the most recent Eu inductee in 2013, ranks 59.39.
One expert I spoke and estimates the country has 30 the telly stations, 60 radio outlets, and even 10 websites. By all stories, all but one media company buckles to pressure by the Democratic Fancy dress party of Socialists (DPS), the political electoral party that has run Montenegro in view that 1991 after the fall of The reds. The powerful work to prevent down sides coverage of the government and its cronies.
Pressure on a news source have numerous forms, from assassinating political press to preventing an outlet's advertisers on mobile from doing business in the country. According to naysayers, the latter is the method used to helpful only independent television and financial papers company, Vijesti, in constant investment banking straits despite high ratings and maybe a wide readership.
One commentator discussed, "It was easier when the state and federal government directly attacked the paper and even journalists because then we had repellent - we could make a case knowledge that government is corrupt. " Backroom bullying is harder in order to prove.
The freedom of a nation's medium reflects the health of its democracy. Because a country's press is afraid to transmit the whole and transparent truth, publicidad, fabrication and lies lurk inside newspaper headlines and television enclosed captioning.
For Montenegro, showcasing Transformer sculptures isn't enough to transform as well into a bastion of free expression. A consignment to free speech principles and even values must take root by means of Montenegrin society.
Such transformation is not easy. It requires people who benefit from crime to voluntarily abide by transparent and even fair practices. It requires humility and even fearlessness to admit that long term good for all trumps short-term penile enlargement for a few. It requires strong laws throughout the books, an effective judicial system in order to enforce the rules, and a populace exactly who uses the tools of civil contemporary culture to demand free and unprejudiced information.
In the Transformers Note 3 case' 1980's fantastic universe, the heroic Autobots and even villainous Decepticons begin as unremarkable passenger vehicles and aircraft. This masturbation sleeve is only when they transform into dealing with machines that we see whether they is or bad. It's in their eyes — blue for good and red about evil.
As Montenegrins works to work magic on their country in the eyes from the citizens, the European Union and western allies, let them choose the clear, clean illuminate of blue to see their journey into a free, prosperous and democratic future.
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