Užupis is one of the strangest places in Europe. This city district has its own Constitution, president, ministry of foreign affairs, currency, anthem, and more than five hundred ambassadors around the world. All of this is not entirely serious—it's a game, an art performance, a collective joke that has become part of the city’s identity. But it’s not just a joke, either.

#theartists #Vilnius #lifeinEurope #art #JonasMekas #Lithuania #reportage #republic #freedom #sentimentaltravel #Užupis #philosophy #artists

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The general public often treats postmodernist practices with a certain lack of seriousness—since historical religious dogmas can be ironically and bizarrely combined with thoroughly cynical modern «business pragmatism.» However, the growing number of victims of these postmodernist wars is all too real.    

#war #EuropeanUnion #Iran #China #conservativesvsliberals #world #Restructuring #aftertheUSSR #satisfactionoftheclaimant #rightandleft #Putin #Russia #USA #Trump #Ukraine #philosophy #essay

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According to Mamardashvili, a human being is merely the potential to become a person. Preserving the person within the human requires constant effort. The same goes for Europe: to remain European, one must make an effort and cannot relax. A year after Mamardashvili’s passing, American philosopher Francis Fukuyama would declare the end of history, and Europe would relax. But history will return.

#internalemigration #Georgia #europe #intelligentsia #JosephBrodsky #endofstory #counterculture #MerabMamardashvili #aftertheUSSR #freedom #philosophy #FrancisFukuyama #essay

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