|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Narrative
Project
Category: 6.
History of Foreign Relations
Project
Title http://www.statueofliberty.5u.com
URL
of School Web Site //virtualarad.net
Date
Project was 03/20/04
School:
Elena Ghiba Birta
Names of teachers/coaches and first names of students who participated:
Livia
Marinescu / Cristina Grosan/ Octavian Fedorovici
How
many students worked on this project?
2
Ages
of students who worked on this project: 16/
17
Project
Contact Email: lghbirta@yahoo.com
Description
of Our Team
The
project aims at offering a possible solution to a controversial issue, which has
caused a lot of popular unrest and has troubled the relations between two
European countries, Romania and Hungary.
It
is also an attempt to launch a “live” project on the history of the foreign
affairs of the two neighboring countries, hoping to contribute to the settling
of a dispute that has lasted too long.
The
idea of placing on Romanian soil of a statue which should commemorate the
execution of thirteen Hungarian generals seems similar to some extent to the
idea of placing the famous Statue of Liberty in the harbor of New York City in
1886.The French people donated the statue to the American people in order to
express their admiration and respect for those they had helped and encouraged
during their struggle for independence.
The
Statue of Liberty, which is to be placed into a central square of Arad, Romania,
was erected by the Hungarians in the 19th century, soon after the revolution of
1848.Thirteen Hungarian generals had been executed by the Austrian army in the
fortress of Arad.
Unfortunately,
after more than 150 years the statue is still a source of diplomatic dispute
between Romania and Hungary.
We
believe that we should not overlook the mistakes people and peoples have made
along the history of their nations, but, at the same time, we should not raise
more heated arguments over a past, which keeps separating two countries instead
of bringing them together.
We
need to build bridges for the present, as well as for the future, since the
destinies of the two neighboring countries cannot be but entwined.
The
project we are submitting relies on the idea that the web page we have created,
and the information it contains, are part of a solution and not part a the
problem which prevents both countries from identifying common grounds for a
common future.
The
members of the team working on the project are Cristina Grosan (16) and Octavian
Fedorovici(17), both students at “Elena Ghiba Birta“ National College ,from
Arad, Romania. They have been supervised by their teacher, Livia Marinescu, who
has also organized the project activities, following two directions:
a)
collection of data on the history of
the foreign affairs between Romania and Hungary plus translations of
documents into English ,Romanian and Hungarian-task assigned to Cristina;
b)
building
the information in an adequate way, so that it fits into a web page
especially designed to be interactive and easily available for general
view-task assigned to Octavian.
Summary
of Our Project
The
whole Project is an attempt to find a democratic solution in a dispute between
two countries, with a historical background. A piece of art that represents
Liberty but has been locked up for the last 70 years.
Having
in mind that “ what’s done is done” but not to forget the errors of
History, we have to build bridges to the future and always leave “doors”
open for solutions.
Generally,
all sections of the Project have just a brief summary and description, and for
more details, the pages are linked to the original source of information.
The
Project is divided in 7 sections
Introduction
-
defines the terms of democracy in theory and a piece of “ living” example of
international relations between two countries
Trip
to the past?
-
reminds the history of the Statue of Liberty from Arad, its historical,
political and cultural significance
What
is going on?
-
presents the current situation of the Statue. As the situation is “
developing”, we do hope that on the end of our Project, the solution of the
dispute will be found.
We
will be happy to understand that our Project will become
“ history”, but the goal of the Project is reached – ghost of the
past finally finds its rest and a bridge of the future is build.
What
they say
-
“let the people know” is the target of this section. In order that anyone
can understand and take action, first have to see all what the parties are
saying. All information on this section are from public declarations of Prime
Ministries of Romania and Hungary
Something
else
-
people can see other examples of how a piece
of art can join people and countries – e.g. Statue of Liberty from Ellis
Island, Statue of Freedom from Washington DC, Statue
of Jenin ( Palestine), Statue from Bolzano (Italy)
On
our web page EVERYONE has the right of speech and can express itself its
opinions or ideas. This could be a good piece of information for the decision
makers.
Narrative
-
form of what we have done
The
team
-
“
who we are” and not “ who do we
think we are”
Problems
We Had to Overcome
Basically, in all the phases of the Project there were no major problems to overcome.
As to mention them, here are
- working to a Project means that the team has to split the time from other activities and share time for the Project
- it is the first time that this team is working together in a Project and its phases
- as the subject is a sensitive one, there were some “ resistance” or “ fear” of freedom of speech – understandable after of 40 years of “freedom of speech“ under the communist regime in a country as Romania
Our
Project Sound Bite
The most important thing in a competition is ‘not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.’ (The Olympic games)
Being a competitor teaches you to organize your duties and your team as much as you can in order to have best results in all aspects - technically, and the learning process.
Whether one wins or not may be important but more important is to continue to compete, to do best, learn from others, becoming conscious of your role in the community, being aware that what one has to say is important. Competing is a part of the learning process, which leads one to a better comprehension of the world around, and the competition itself.
Project
Elements
The Project is prepared under the HISTORY OF FORIGN RELATION section of Doors to Diplomacy contest.
The theme is an example of how a piece of art coming from history of hundreds of years of relations between two countries Romania and Hungary, could overcome differences.
The students from Romania are preparing themselves for a society of globalization as well as an e-society – here understanding the Internet and computers.
Even so, using new methods as computers. E-books and Internet as resources, the traditional methods were largely used.
The team of the Project, working together have to complete each other’s skills, information and capabilities.
The concept of programming, timeline, targets, flexibility were all part of the join activities.
In Arad is functioning a LDC – Local Developing Council.
LDC is composed by representatives of local administration, Scholar Department, unions, chamber of commerce and its role of the LDC is to reform the curriculum in order the further employees to became more and easy adapted to the market necessity.
What
information tools and technologies did you use to complete your Doors to
Diplomacy project?
In the process of preparing the Project, there were used
- 1 schools’s lab computer and 2 home based PC, as Pentriun II+, AuthenticAMD AMD Duron(tm) Processor 128MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, DVD player, Encarta CD, other CD edited by Romanian and Hungarian multimedia companies.
- also in the process, for establishing the appointments with relevant historians and politicians, phone calls were used.
All the research were conducted by the students – in the information and in the software updates.
A relevant part of the research was the press – both audio/video and papers.This was the starting point for evaluating in the libraries of the Arad county museum.
Following this documentation, the discussion with local historians – both Romanian and Hungarian nationality were used, thi in order to assure the impartiality of the information.
The most useful tool was the Internet web resources, this allowing access to national/international press, museums on-line – in Romania and Hungary as well.
A special attention was accorded to the copyright.The pictures used were entirely made by the students in Arad or asked the permission of the site owner, if this was mentioned.
In
what ways did your students act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for
your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.
The
Project’s leading idea is that the web page and its information are part of
the solution and not part of the problem.
The
Project is a “ living History of
Foreign Relations “ between two countries Romania and Hungary, and came from
another example : the Statue of Liberty from the Ellis Island, USA.
As
the situation of the Arad STATUE OF LIBERTY is a “fluid “ situation, and is
a subject of foreign diplomacy.
The
information regarding the history, the culture, art and background of this
subject is focused to inform a
large majority of people.
This
will allowed people to understand and judged by themselves a current situation
as well as the example of others.
In
this way, hopefully another step will be done in this subject in question (of
the Arad Statue of Liberty ) by the raise awareness about the importance of
international affairs and diplomacy.
Internet
has no borders and is assuring the freedom of speech. People from at least both
countries involved in the subject are free to visit the web page, to read, judge
and express themselves.
In
order to promote the web page, after the deadline of the Project, an intensive
promotional activity will take place. The e-mail will be most usefed as well as
some local media from Romania and Hungary too.
The
web page is an interactive one, and those who already visited the pages and
their content could express by posting a message, or read what others are
saying.
The
web page has also an educative character as this is an example how to settle a
differences between two countries.
What
has been or will be the impact of your project on your community?
The state of the art of the Project is based on the real and current situation.
The two countries are in a dispute to replace or not the Arad Statue of Liberty , and if yes, where? - on the old location or a new one.
As the subject is a sensitive one – having in mind that demonstration pro and against are taking place from time to time, as the national press from both countries is involved, as the Prime Ministries from Romania and Hungary are discussing diplomatic solution, the local community is sometimes confused.
Having the possibilities to read and get information already collected and prepared in a concentrated mode, and more to see what others have done ( e.g. Statue of Jenin ), the community are becoming more aware about the subject. In this case, the public opinion could be part of the foreign relation policy of the two countries, which will have a Cross Border effect, as Arad is located in the proximity of the Hungarian border.
How
did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and
volunteers?
It is true that in this process of preparing the Project, the most important step is the idea.
Sometimes, a good idea is more that 60% of the value of the Project.
As Arad has a strong Hungarian communities, their preoccupation to bring back to light the value of a piece of art as part of history and diplomacy, it was easy to be in touch with their representatives.
Nevertheless, the Romanian historians from local museum, the people from local press were largely consulted.
From Hungary, traditionally partners from Budapest, relatives or friends were asked for help.
Especially, people from an Arad twining town from Hungary, where a large of Romanian community exist was very helpful with documents, web address or information.
Collecting information from different and very diverse source of information, gives the Project the stability and impartiality.
Discoveries,
Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
While working on the project we have found out that a group of people belonging to the Hungarian minority in Arad started to collect information on the same topic .However, their focus is different from ours, as the statue is perceived as an art
work and a testimony of historic events. After sharing information and ideas we have been given permission to use information from their web page .We have been also asked to create a link on our web page to their web address ,and we have welcomed this idea as it perfectly fits into the larger frame of our project A piece of art and history can thus become a very good example of the way in which two countries find a diplomatic solution to settle their dispute .Un unbiased approach to the problem discussed is ensured by the opportunity to access our project on the internet and to contribute to it interactively.
In the process of preparing our project for submission to Doors to Diplomacy we realized that the idea to bring a contribution to the settling of a long and useless dispute is dear to us.As Arad benefits from the presence of a numerous Hungarian minority it was not difficult for us to get in touch with their representatives .It was not difficult either to ask for help from Hungary ,from friends and relatives as well as from partner schools in Hungary .We would like to acknowledge their contribution and to show our special gratitude to the Romanian minority in Hungary ,whose support has been priceless.
We believe that by trying to involve in our project all parties concerned we will succeed in our endeavor :to suggest a solution to a sensitive diplomatic problem while being as objective and impartial as possible.