<nettime> E/W

[Aleksandar Gubas <eurindie@sezampro.yu>]

-------Matt Smith wrote:
> probably the best place to start any interesting, _new_ discussion would
> be right there, at the definition of east & west.

* * * That's an excellent suggestion!

> prague being probably the most beautiful and atleast on the
> surface wealthiest and definetly the most cosmopolitan, vienna being the
> most comfortable and modern, and budapest being still like vienna 10 years
> ago.-)

* * * Prague may look the cleanest and wealthiest town in Europe, but
now it is being shaken by that TV affair which is one of the
consequences of the historical fact that Prague once upon the time was
'behind the Iron Curtain'. And if you scratch the surface of any former
communist country in Europe, you can find many specific controverses,
not familiar to the rest of the continent.
Some differences between E and W really disappear, but for some of them
11 years are not enough. Just visit any flea market in the Balkans.

> east&west distinction has to be overcome in its current sense to make any
> significant change in the discourse around alternatives to the Allied*
> Europe that has now, after the division of yugoslavia, been achieved.

* * * This distinction needs redefinition, not rejection.
Differences may disappear from the streets, but they remain in people's
minds. One of the interesting features of the E is its specific sense
for absurdity - and I think we could find more of them.
It's a challenging task...
Aleksandar Gubas

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