Outcomes from the Parliamentary Conference
The 19th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) took place in Mariehamn, Åland Islands, 29-31 August 2010. Dr Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute held a presentation under the title ‘Convergence or Divergence in Baltic Security?’ This and other conference documents can be found on BSPC website. It can also be downloaded here. Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.org
Valentine’s Day and equality
Jeanette Mauricio is a journalist with studies in Human Right and Master’s degree in Feminism and Gender issues. Currently she is a doing the European Voluntary Service at The Peace Institute. The blog is written by the peace institute’s present or former staff, guest researchers, board members or invited guest writers. The opinions are the author’s own. There are different stories about the origin of Saint Valentine’s Day, but all of them are related to Christian martyrs with that name. One story says that Valentine was killed because he was dedicated to marry couples even though the roman emperor Claudio had forbidden it. Apparently, at that time they believed that single men were better soldiers than the married ones. Another story says that Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, and before being executed sent her a love letter saying “from your Valentine.” Currently Valentine’s Day is become a commercial gimmick where everybody has to express love, but not any but the romantic (heterosexual) love. This idea about romantic love is not a biological natural fact, instead it’s an idea that constantly gets pushed down our thoughts. The concept “and so they lived happily ever […]