The End of the Quest

Yes indeed. It's the last EuroQuest ever!!!

You can listen to the last program here.

Well, it's been a great run with the show playing on hundreds of stations around the world for the better part of a decade and covering literally thousands of subjects. I basically learned how to make proper radio producing this program and so I leave it with some regret.

We are moving onto bigger and better things here at Radio Netherlands Worldwide and so stay tuned for a program called "The State We're In" looking at state of humanity each and every Saturday starting in May.

To those of you who listened radio program each week, I thank you for listening and promise even better things soon. I hope you enjoyed the programs and we'll see you in the new year.

Just in case you're wondering, this blog will no longer be updated.

Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Jonathan

Christmas Pleasures and an Important Announcement

Before I get into the nitty gritty details of this week's show, a special announcement:

At the end of this year EuroQuest, and this blog, will cease to be. After around 600 shows 3000 items 300 hours of radio, EuroQuest is coming to an end. Next week, a great show looking at 11 years of the quest entitled, what else: The End of the Quest. More on that next week.

Now, to get back to the task at hand....

Segment 1 - Belgian Wine
Jonathan Groubert and Brussels correspondent Vanessa Mock discuss the northerly high quality wines of Belgium and the attempts by the European Union to make the wine industry more competetive.

Segment 2 - The King of Tavolara
Dany Mitzman interviews Tonino, King of the island of Tavolara, just off the Sardinian Coast.

Segment 3 - Irish Pub Smoking Ban One Year On
Lars Bevanger looks at the success of the total ban on public smoking in Ireland back in 2004.

Segment 4 - Santa Lives in Sweden...or was it Finland?
As you lick the envelope to send your gift wish list off to Santa, remember, he does not live at the North Pole, he lives in Finland; or was it Sweden? No wait...it’s Norway! Or was it? Radio Sweden looks into where Santa can be located on his downtime.

Download this week's program as an mp3

Art: new and renewed

This week: a different look at the arts.

Stay tuned in the coming days for some important news about EuroQuest.


Segment 1 - The Study of Sound
Berlin’s University of the Arts has just opened up a new degree course in Sound Studies. Sound Studies is a very appealing idea to us radio makers and so Berlin resident independent producer Cinnamon Nippard went for a look, I mean, a listen.

Segment 2 - The Rise of the Lithuanian Film Industry (not in Newshole Edition)
Lithuania is a highly skilled and inexpensive alternative to filming in London or Los Angeles. Now they’re filming a new movie about the life of Pope John Paul II and Sabina Casagrande was there.

Segment 3 - Treating Gaming Addiction
Smith and Jones is an Amsterdam clinic that has opened Europe’s first treatment center for gaming addicts. The clinic’s director told Fiona Campbell that about 1 million youngsters are susceptible to getting seriously hooked in Holland alone.

Segment 4 - Greatest Yeats Exhibition Opens in Dublin
A major exhibition just opened in Dublin where you can learn about Yeats’ life, loves, his surprisingly active interest in the occult and yes, there’s even some poetry. Louise Williams drew inspiration in Dublin.

Click here to download the program as an mp3

Trafficked!

This program is a repeat from last February

Human trafficking is on the rise in Europe and throughout
the world. This week's EuroQuest looks at the problem and what's being done to combat its spread.

To the right is Anna Ziverte. As she is the star witness in a number of has cases the Dutch government has pending against human traffickers, she has understandably turned her back to the camera.
Click here for a full article about her ordeal as well as an interview in both Real and Windows Media formats.

Segment 1 - Turkey Fights Sex Slavery
The UN’s Organization for Migration has set up an emergency telephone line for trafficked women. Fifty-two women have been saved this way since its launch last year. Dorian Jones has more from Istanbul.

Segment 2 - Anne Ziverte Tells Her Story
After Anna Ziverte was freed from forced sex slavery in Holland, she went to the police. And then, as she told Sarah Johnson, another nightmare began.

Segment 3 - OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking
Jonathan asks Helga Konrad, the OSCEs Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, her reaction to our stories from Turkey and the sad tale of Anna Ziverte?
Click here for more information on the OSCE's efforts.

Segment 4 - France Clamps Down on False Marriages
France is clamping down on fraudulent marriages that some immigrants are using to obtain citizenship. As John Laurenson reports from Paris, illegal unions are becoming big business in parts of France.

Download the program as a high quality mp3

SEX....and consequences

A very sexy EuroQuest this week, but not without something to think about! Read on....

Segment 1 - Red Light District Still Black (content advisory)
RNs Dutch Affairs Editor Saskia van Reenen looks at the reality of legalized prostitution in the Netherlands. The assumption was that legalization would benefit the prostitutes get them better, safer working conditions.
But according to prostitutes organization The Red Thread, shady, semi-legal "escort bureaus" are now taking the place of the legalized brothels, and sex workers are no better off than they were before.

Segment 2 - Forced Prostitution in Germany
At the time of the world cup there were fears that as many as 40,000 sex slaves would be trafficked to Germany to take advantage of the event. Mike Mühlberger reports that the International Organization found it was impossible to put an exact figure on trafficking.

Segment 3 - Feminist Porn in Berlin (content advisory)
Some feminists argue that women actually like porn, that is why some female industry insiders are getting behind the camera - to reclaim their positions in front of it.Cinnamon Nippard reports from the first Porn Film Festival held in Berlin.

Segment 4 - The Emotional Consequences of Terminating an Abnormal Fetus
A Dutch report concludes that parents who decide to terminate their pregnancy because of a serious birth defect of the fetus often experience serious feelings of doubt, failure and guilt. Barry Thorne investigates the trauma of the medical abortion of a much-wanted child.

Download this program as an mp3

Back to Belsen Part 2

This week, Berthe Meijer and 70 other Dutch Bergen Belsen survivors return to the remains of the camp to inaugaurate a memorial plaque that some feel comes decades too late. Plus, a mini integration theme with a look at Dublin's ever increasing Polish population and a story of how Italy is integrating its Chinese community.


Segment 1 - Back to Belsen Part 2
Berthe Meijer is a holocaust survivor. Last week she told us how, in 1943, in Nazi occupied Holland, she, her sister, mother and father were rounded up by the Nazi’s and sent to Camp Westerbork in the Netherlands and then on to Bergen Belsen in Germany where she would spend the rest of the war. Last month, 61 years later, she and 69 other Dutch survivors returned to the site of the camp to inaugurate a new Dutch memorial. Today Berthe is going back to Belsen.

Segment 2 - Warsaw on the Liffey: Polish Immigrants in Ireland
When the EU took in ten new members in 2004, Ireland was one of only three countries to open its borders right away to workers from these states. Since then, about a quarter of a million immigrants flooded into an Irish population of only about four million. Perro de Jong tried to find out what has become of the newest Irish residents.

Segment 3 - Chinese Integrate to Italy
Dany Mitzman saw first hand how an organization based in the small town of Carpi, near Modena, has been running a project for contacting and legalizing Chinese businesses.

Click here to download the program as a high quality mp3

Back to Belsen Part 1

Something different this week. Most of the program is devoted to a woman named Berthe Meijer. Berte is a holocaust survivor. In 1943, in Nazi occupied Holland, she, her sister, mother and father were rounded up by the Nazi’s and sent to Camp Westerbork in the Netherlands and then onto Bergen Belsen in Germany where she would spend the rest of the war. When the Russian Army freed her in 1945, she was just 7 years old. Berte tells her story. It is the story of the horrors of the holocaust, told through the eyes of child. Next week Berte, along with 70 other survivors, return to Belsen for the first time in 61 years, to inaugurate a new Dutch memorial.

Segment 2 - Lithuanian School of Yiddish
The University of Vilnius’s Yiddish Institute was the first Yiddish center of higher learning to be established in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe. It is working to preserve and further the East European Jewish language and culture. Sabina Casagrande went for a visit.

Listen to this week's program as a high quality mp3