Fighting HIV in Thessaloniki

Inside Positive Voice with Amalia Manolopoulou Amalia Manolopoulou is the Office Coordinator of  the association Positive Voice for the city of Thessaloniki (on Egnatia street). She led me through the history of Positive Voice, and the activities that volunteers and associates organise to raise awareness about HIV positivity and safe sexual practices. Positive Voice is […]

Working with Young Asylum Seekers

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
Working with Young Asylum Seekers
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Episode 14: Do you know what is the difference among the definitions of “refugee”, “migrant” and “asylum seeker”? Do you know what happens when a child arrives in Europe? For our final episode, we invited to discuss this topic two guests, Ilaria and Giusy. They are young and very promising in their fields, respectively, Migration […]

People, not Stereotypes

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
People, not Stereotypes
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It’s a fact: as human beings, we tend to categorise all that happens in our life. This includes objects, experiences, and people. For this reason, a series of questions arises: why do we tend to generalise? Why stereotypes play such a huge role in shaping a community? And why it takes so much time to go get rid of them?
In this episode, you will hear the opinions and experiences of Laurynas, Livia, and Filippo, our colleague volunteers, while Ourania, as a social psychologist, will share with us some knowledge and parameters to understand better what stands behind a stereotype.
We are living a historical moment which is also a great opportunity to review the stereotypes we inherited with the hope of adopting a more inclusive and open attitude towards the other.

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Inside Eurovision

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
Inside Eurovision
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Take a dive with us into the most popular music event worldwide to find out all the secrets of the backstage.

Bringing together more than 40 countries from Europe and beyond, every year Eurovision unites millions of people through music and art. Representing their culture and history, each country performs a unique music show.

But Eurovision is not only about entertainment and glitter. Since the first competition it became a way for contestants to express political, social and cultural issues within their own countries and project the diplomatic relationships with the others.

Enjoy today’s talk with Alex Sanchez!

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When Freedom of Expression Becomes Hate Speech

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
When Freedom of Expression Becomes Hate Speech
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Freedom of expression is the principle that fosters democratic societies. It is very important to protect it because it allows pluralism of ideas and free communication. Interestingly enough, many Western societies rediscovered the importance of this principle after experiencing strong regimes and consequently included it in their Constitution.
However, the downside is represented by the concept of “hate speech”. This term covers any kind of hatred based on intolerance expressed online and offline against groups of people or individuals.
We talked about this with Ana Rodrigues Afonso, Psychologist and Human Rights Trainer for the Council of Europe. Together we discussed the impact of Hate speech on society and what can we all do in order to promote tolerance in any kind of public and private debate.

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How to Save a Life?

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
How to Save a Life?
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We are back once again with our dear guest Mario D’Avino, but this time to share his medical knowledge with us. Mario works in a blood transfusion centre in Italy and today we will discuss with him all things related to blood and bone marrow donation.
Why donating is so important? Who can become a donor? Which are the benefits and how can we overcome fear?
During our chat we tried to dispel the myths about donation and shed light on this topic that is still little known, especially among young people.
If you want to become a blood donor and give your contribution, contact the blood transfusion centre closest to you for more information.
Give blood, save a life.

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Choosing Art as a Career

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
Choosing Art as a Career
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Here’s a challenge for you: keep track of how many times you hear someone encouraging a child to embrace Art as a future career. When it comes to Arts, in fact, there’s always a lot of social pressure on people willing to pursue it as a career. Italians, for instance, have a saying that goes like: “impara l’arte e mettila da parte” (lit. “learn art and put it aside”), and this isn’t very motivating… Our guest today is Mario D’Avino, doctor, psychotherapist, and theatre director. He’s the living proof that we can embrace more than one passion at a time and make a career out of it. With him, we discussed Art in school, the benefits of artistic self-expression, and how COVID-19 affected artists.

Christmas in Time of Coronavirus

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
Christmas in Time of Coronavirus
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When it comes to how we celebrate Christmas, more than ever before the gap between past and present is very clear. As Christmas is the celebration par excellence associated with extended family reunions, this year we are all called to review our priorities… For this special episode we invited Hélène, aka the Mère Noël of the Volunteer’s House: she managed to bring our families close to us in Thessaloniki and she will tell you how!

Listen to our chat in which we share our family traditions, recall our best memories from childhood to the last Christmas and discuss our plans for the incoming one!

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Social Media & Us: A Filter on Our Lives?

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
Social Media & Us: A Filter on Our Lives?
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Today is the day to take stock of the development of Social Media and the effects that their enhancements bring in our lives. Can we still consider Social Media only as entertaining platforms? Indeed, we can use them to connect with people, from a direct friend request to dating or applying for a job, but what Facebook, Instagram & co. are showing us is that virtual connections hide the same dangers as real life.
Join Sara and Chiara in this extensive discussion on the topic!

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To Believe Or Not To Believe? Horoscope Edition

Balkan Hotspot Radio
Balkan Hotspot Radio
To Believe Or Not To Believe? Horoscope Edition
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Under the starry sky we had last night, we recorded this episode with a special guest and friend: Silvana from Portugal. We discussed the reasons that stand behind the horoscope and what makes many of us still believe in the zodiac signs.

Reading the horoscope is something that many people still do: is this just superstition or we are fascinated by what the stars have to say to us?
Click on play to know more!

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