Excursions and guests

3/4 - 10/4: YEN Easter Seminar

Arranged by YEN; the German minority in Denmark; and the Danish minority in Germany.

In your second week at the Minority Changemaker Programme, we will kick things off with your participation in the annual Easter seminar. In 2020, the event is held at Knivsbjerg in Denmark, only 50 km. north of Jaruplund Højskole.

Each year, YEN and a hosting organisation arrange the seminar for about 100 young people from all over Europe. The week is a mix of workshops - you will choose one of three which you will follow the entire week - and informal activities at night as well as excursions and other events.

At the seminar, you will be housed with your Minority Changemaker classmates and take full part in the program. The week finishes off with a party on Thursday night, before you return to Jaruplund on Friday morning.

The full program will be online here: http://easterseminar2020.dk/en/front-page/

22/4 - Guest lecture: "Necessary provocations?"

By Michell Smedegaard Boysen

Did you ever see a photograph on display at a museum and think: How can that be art? Is this image exploitation of its subject?

And, did you ever see a photograph in a newspaper or magazine and thought; how can they publish that? Do we really need to see this?

Where do we draw the line between art and news - between the necessity to show the world as it is without filter and the respect of other human beings? Why do some photographs affect us while others don't? How do we tell stories of ordinary lives and extraordinary events in an elegant way?

A talk and debate about when, and how, to use photographs in art and news-stories. And also - surprisingly - some older american blues and folk-music performed live! Trust us, it all makes sense.

Michell Smedegaard Boysen is an academy educated professor of music and multi-musician. He is also an experienced photographer who experiments with new and old techniques; his works are often used as illustrations in books and magazines. He lives with his wife and daughter in Denmark.

In this lecture, he will bring examples of both photography and music. Be advised that there are many pictures with very graphical content.

29/4 - guest lecture: "Man and the machine"

By Tim Wille-Jørgensen

It used to be simple. It just isn't anymore. The universe - the machine - is bigger, more complicated, incomprehensible, inaccessible, and more awe-inspiring than ever before. This guest lecture is the story of how we humans discovered the universe and what it is like to be human in such a machine. It is the thought history of science. It is facts and figures, science and myth. It asks fundamental and scientific questions about who we are and where we are. It is both beautiful, fun, and thought provoking.

Tim Wille-Jørgensen is a Master of Science in math and physics and a professor at Denmark's largest gymnasium, where he constantly receives "teacher of the year"-awards. He plays all sorts of instruments, speaks multiple languages, and is generally a fun guy. Recipient of the most important national award for outstanding classroom teaching.

13/5 - lecture: "What you can and cannot do. And why"

By Jens Horstmann

Your life is regulated by rules. Some are major ethical guidelines designed to remind you of being a good citizens, others are small rules that regulate minor details in your every day life - and others again are symbols and politics. But how do we perceive the rules? Why do we obey some rules, while there are others we ignore? Would you kill if it was allowed? Would you pay your taxes if it wasn't required? Not to mention all the rules that actually don't even make sense if you think about it.

Even if a rule is (literrally) written in stone, it is not necessarily something you choose to respect. So what is actually not allowed - and why? 

Other than being the project manager for the Minority Changemaker Programme - and a teacher at the course - Jens is also a very experienced freelance lecturer. He is a Master of Law and have taught classes at most levels in the education system. From 2010 to 2015, he was external professor in media law at the University in Aarhus and at the Danish School of Journalism. Also , he tells lame jokes.

27/5 - guest lecture: "Wind of Change of 1989 and the Establishment of the European Legal Framework for the Protection of National Minorities"

By Dr. Ljubica Đorđević-Vidojković

This lecture provides an insight in the development of the European hard and soft law relevant for the protection of national minorities in the aftermath of the historic events of 1989.

The 1990s are the period of flourish for the Europeanisation of national minority issues. Everything started with the OSCE final document of the Copenhagen meeting of 1990, the benchmark document with the extensive chapter on the protection of minorities. In 1992, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was negotiated and open for signatures. The 1992 also marks the creation of the High Commissioner on National Minorities under the auspices of the OSCE. The new breakthrough came 1995 when the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the only international legal document solely devoted to the protection of national minorities, was open for signatures. In 1998, these two milestones of the European legal framework on national minorities came into force.

The role of the EU is also not to ignore: with including respect for and protection of minorities among the political criteria in the 1993 Copenhagen Criteria, the EU has significantly contributed to the quality of minority protection throughout Europe.

This lecture will explain the main features of these milestones of the European legal framework (covering both hard and soft law) for the protection of national minorities through the prism of highly interesting dynamics of the 1990s.   

Ljubica Đorđević-Vidojković is a Senior Research Associate at ECMI, Flensburg. She holds a PhD and a LL.M. Eur. Integration both from the Faculty of Law, TU Dresden (Germany), and a LL.B. from the Faculty of Law, University in Niš (Serbia). Her main research interests focus on European legal framework on national minority rights, in general, and on language rights, participation of national minorities in public affairs, justiciability of national minority rights, and anti-discrimination, in particular.       

28/5 - 29/5: guest lecture and workshop: "Let's go federal"

By the EURAC institute, Bolzano, Italy

Federalism - a catchword on everyone’s lips. A concept that nowadays has become extremely popular, not only at national but also at European and at global level. But let’s be honest: who could right off the bat properly explain what federalism means? 

In 2012 the researchers of the Institute for Comparative Federalism developed a set of simulation games in which the participants embody the role of experts and develop different models of federations before agreeing on a common federal system. 

The idea at the basis is to create a federation in a step by step process: the simulation game consists of several modules that focus on different components and profiles of multisphere-structures of government and governance. At present three of them have been outlined: a first module on decision making processes in federal countries, a second one on the division of legislative and administrative competences among the different tiers of government and a third one on financial relations and allocation of powers in fiscal and financial issues. The participants experience in first person which relations exist between the government levels and what consequences derive from every single decision in different policy fields. 

5/6 - 14/6: Study trip to Poland and "Folkemødet"

From the 5.-14th of June, the entire group goes on a study trip to the eastern parts of Germany and Poland. The study trip is an intense look into different topics - expect long days, meetings with different minorities, interviews and intimate sit-down sessions with politicians and influencers, excursions to cultural sights and attractions, looong days and short nights, and a new way to look at Europe.

The general purpose of the trip is to question your own echo chamber - hopefully when the trip is over, you fall a sleep wondering what the hell happened and asking yourself if your previous views on the world are still correct.

The trip will highlight three fundamental questions of importance to all Europeans: What is the relationship between Europe and the national state? How do we navigate between conservative and progressive? And how do we respect the individual, traditional culture and history of the states and areas while becoming more and more global?

We will meet both liberal, conservative, progressive, religious, and secular policy makers and thinkers - as well as participate in workshops and fun events.

The week will end with three days participating in "Folkemødet" on the island of Bornholm - one of the world's largest political festivals with more than 50.000 guests and 3000+ events.

Full program with dates and stops during spring 2020.

Roskilde Festival 2020

As a participant in the Minority Changemaker Programme, you are invited to join the Danish Border Association Youth at Roskilde Festival in the days after the completion of the programme in the end of June.

Roskilde is Northern Europes largest music festival with a crowd of upwards of 100.000 and a world class roster of bands. We will pay for your transport and entry ticket, but in return you must be a part of a project, you will be working on during the stay at Jaruplund.