Dynamite comes in small packages and Stéphane Hessel’s book Time for Outrage! is a testament to this, delivering an exceptionally powerful political punch in just 37 pages.
The metaphor of explosions are extremely fitting here as the author survived world war two as a resistance fighter in France amongst other things blowing up Nazi railways and trains. As well as that he is also Jewish and with the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s these two points did obviously not put him in good stead with the occupiers. The Gestapo did …

Thirty two Smith Square, in the heart of London was the home of the Conservative party until 2004. Now it houses one of the Thatcher era’s biggest enemies, the European Commission. Representing Europe is no easy task says 63-year-old Jonathan Scheele especially in the middle of the current economic crisis.
The most difficult task he faces every day is explaining Europe to UK citizens and politicians yet, “despite everything, people in quite large numbers are more interested in learning about the EU than you can necessarily glean from reading some of …

Julien Rath, a second year journalism student with a personal passion for everything Europe, has given Synchronicity an insight into the financial pinch Germany currently finds itself in.
Born in Duisburg, Germany, Julien moved to America when he was five and returned to his native country as a teenager. After spending his youth in Germany, always being known as “The American” or “The French”, from his mother’s side, he set eyes on an education in his main language English. Not being able to secure a loan or funding, the States were …

When We Walk on Ice start playing their captivating tight sound, it is hard to believe that only two souls are creating it.
Their unique Indie sound reminds me of at least two bands that I love: Cocteau Twins and Mazzy Star.  We Walk on Ice have a similar ethereal feel to their songs which is then punctuated by experimental jagged guitar riffs that pull you back into this plane.
It was a hot 29-degree Sunday night and I went to watch their gig at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen.  I walked into a …

Since the recession of 2008 there seems to be more than just financial issues at stake. The disillusionment with traditional politics has resulted in hung parliaments in Britain and in some countries in Europe.
The knock on effect of this lack of support has seen voters trying to find solutions. Some have even turned to the extreme right as the economic woes of countries are blamed on scapegoats through xenophobia and Islamiphobia.
Right wing democratic governments in Germany, Britain and France have spoken about the failures of the multicultural ‘experiments’ in their …

Plans to cut EU funding to a network of 14 ‘European Schools’ have been condemned by a parents’ association leader.
Synchronicity Magazine has learned that the schools, which encourage children of different European nationalities to study together, are facing budget cuts of €7m (£6.17m) out of their total €164m EU budget from next September.
It is the first major budget cut the schools, which are based in seven different EU states, have faced in their 58-year-history. The UK’s European School is based in Culham, Oxfordshire. Students, parents and teaching staff have demonstrated …

Forty years after a group of hippie squatters stormed and took over an ex-army base in Copenhagen for a permanent home, they now face the biggest challenge in their extraordinary history. The city’s new right wing government has asked the 1,000 members of the Christiania commune – the largest and longest living ‘squat’ in the world – to raise £18m in order to buy the part of the city they have run as unique self governing commune since the early 1970’s. While the members of Christiana admit they face a struggle …

“Spain’s economic problems are down to depending on European subsidies for too long,” says a leading Spanish journalist.
Synchronicity Magazine spoke to London-based correspondent for Catalyuna Radio, Oriol Serra, about the crisis: “Money is gone now and Spain has turned from beneficiary into payer.” He added that a lack of planning was also at fault, with the construction of unnecessary properties along the coast leaving “high unemployment and a completely frustrated generation walking in anger.”
“It has taken at least two years for the Spanish Prime Minister to recognise that there is …

 
An exhibition about life in a Communist-era  town in the former East Germany is highlighting what its organisers claim is the real nature of the Prime Minister’s much vaunted ‘Big Society.’
The exhibition at the Red Gallery in Shoreditch displays the changing nature of the murals that once adorned the walls of a factory in the small town of Schwedt. During the Communist-era they portrayed image of  hope and community – but after re-unification that optimism faded and the town went into economic decline.
On show are copies of the murals, as …

Finland’s growing nationalist party, the True Finns, have been put in the spotlight by their bid to block the European Union’s €78bn bailout of Portugal. While they were unsuccessful in stopping their country from backing the rescue package, they did succeed in grabbing the headlines all around Europe, many of which were concerned about their far right policies.
The ‘True Finns’ charismatic leader, Timo Soini, is broadly against Europe and seems opposed to immigration. Their manifesto at the last election carried a broadly anti-immigration tone, saying that “basic Finnish immigration policy …

Nicolas Sarkozy, the least popular president of recent history, will struggle hard to win a second term at the Elysee Palace. Meanwhile, the opposition party – the ‘Parti Socialiste’ (PS) – is yet undergoing another leadership crisis, with the arrest of one of their leading figures, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had been the pollsters’ favourite for the next elections. But the race might be rocked by a strongly performing outsider: Marine Le Pen, the newly appointed leader of the far-right ‘Front National’ (FN).
Synchronicity Magazine spoke to John Lichfield, The Independent’s long …