Three cities of the Western Balkans that have in common an industrial past  and present.

Three cities that share the drama of high pollution and an incidence of tumors far above the average of the respective countries. Elbasan in Albania, Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally  Pančevo in Serbia: three feature stories and three photo galleries. A new dossier by OBC.

[2012] 1992-1993, years of war that made of Abkhazia a de facto independent territory. In spite of the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians that took place during the war, today's Abkhazia is still multi-ethnic. In this dossier, a feature story , an interview with a well known Abkhazian writer and with a representative of the local Armenian community . But also photos with the stories of those Georgians that twenty years ago were forced to leave their homes.

[2012] From the Lebanon to the Caucasus: Paolo Martino's journey on the tracks of the Armenian diaspora in 14 episodes

[2011] Often hidden behind the house walls, domestic violence, whose victims are mainly women, remains unspoken about in many cases. In this dossier, realised in partnership with Oneworld Platform for SEE , Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso presents data, extracts of interviews with experts, information on legal reforms and their implementation, etc.

Not scared of exerting yourself? No problems with vertigo? Do you feel fulfilled after a whole day hiking with a rucksack on your back? Virtual trips for the readers of our website, as real as ever for those who decide to leave

[2011] Still a niche production, but receiving more and more attention by the day. An OBC dossier on organic farming in the Western Balkans: policies, adjustments to European standards, statistics and country by country analyses

Their name is written in different ways and with different alphabets: bazar, čaršija, çarshija, çarşı …The meaning, however, is the same: meeting and exchange place, Balkan Ottoman heritage. A dossier produced in the context of the SeeNet II Programme to to find out where they are still alive, where they have been  deleted from town memories, where they still symbolize something more than mere tourist attractions

In the Caucasus, a new generation is growing with no direct memories of the USSR. Young people that are trying to build their own future, that look for a job and that more and more often play an active role in politics. They use the internet to stay in touch with each other and to organise social actions. In the northern Caucasus, the Russian government tries to fight unemployment and extremist movements supporting entrepreneurship and patriotism. In the South Caucasus, young people play an active role in the political life of their country, often struggling against those in power.

Read about dreams and daily life of youth in the Caucasus in this dossier by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso

Cities in the Caucasus are experiencing a period of great change. The construction boom, especially strongest in the region's capitals where growth is happening the fastest, is a clear sign of economic development. But the resulting urban revolutions risk changing the very essence of historic cities and are forcing people who have lived in city centres their whole lives to move uptown

Their identity is not based on the past, but on their commitment to a common project for the future. They are members of a yet-to-become Europe: the Europe of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. They consider the EU as a peace project, but they look beyond the borders of Brussels’ Europe. They seek a Europe where nobody is “more European” than the others; a democratic Europe where everyone has the same status, the same rights, the same opportunities.
 
Their Europe is yet to come: the “Europe of minorities”, the only one capable of restarting the EU project, leaving behind Westphalian states and granting sovereignty to the local communities and the supranational institutions.
 
Since its foundation in 2000, OBC paid growing attention to this idea of Europe. On our tenth anniversary, we again want to inquire into this vision of the “Old Continent”, analyse it and report to our readers. This year, we will travel in the collective mind of the Europeans, in an attempt to contribute to overcoming the fears that increasingly affect our societies. Or, at least, to try to understand them better.

[2009] Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. From the promise of re-unification to new national fragmentations, from the hope for lasting peace to new wars. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso analyses those days' hopes, nowadays' disenchantment, and twenty years of change through the voices, ideas and remembrances of some of the protagonists in the Caucasus and the Balkans. Where 1989 has not come to an end yet.

[July 2009] Ancient, multicolored, ever-changing, Balkan cities are in steady search of a balance between traditional models of urban development and the challenges of modernity. Recently interested by deep changes - often dramatic ones, and marked by violent competition between private and public interests, Balkan cities yet preserve their strong European spirit, often managing to elaborate original urbanistic solutions. Osservatorio sui Balcani e Caucaso takes you to a short trip between architecture, urban development, and socio-political debate

[November 2009] For the LGBT and queer population of South Eastern Europe, 2009 has been marked by several violent episodes (including attacks to Pride parades in Slovenia and Serbia and to the Queer Sarajevo festival), without intervention by the local authorities and the national states. On the other hand, supra-national pressure and aspirations to EU integration have led to the discussion and/or approval of progressive laws. Against this backdrop of contrasting trends, LGBT and queer individuals of the Balkans are confronted with the choice between visibility and invisibility, hostile domestic contexts and European hopes, formal progress and all too real fear. This dossier by OBC collects chronicles, interviews, and analyses devoted to this year's developments in the queer world, the relationship with domestic and international institutions, and the role of transnational cooperation

March 1999, NATO starts its offensive in Kosovo. Ten years has passed since then. Osservatorio Balcani and Caucaso remebers those days in this dossier: the refugees, the bombings, the generation born during the war