Accepting a job in New York City was a difficult decision.

In the summer of 2017, I arrived in the U.S. from Cambodia for a wedding. As soon as my bridesmaid duties were over, I planned to move back to Europe. My loose plan was to settle in Budapest and use that as a base to cover Eastern Europe as a freelance journalist.

Then I received an offer to cover foreign affairs from Newsweek Magazine‘s downtown Manhattan office, and I thought, why not? I’d always been curious about what it would be like to live in New York as an adult.

I was born in Manhattan and spent a lot of time there as a young person. But I’d lived outside of the U.S. almost my entire adult life. My only concept of 21st-century New York came from Sex and the City and friends who had spent time in Brooklyn. They promised New York was about as similar to London as I’d find in the U.S. They described it as an adult playground, albeit more segregated and expensive than most cities I knew.

Most importantly, my mother was only a little over an hour away. After so many years apart, I relished the idea of being close to at least one parent. Perhaps I would come full circle and settle down in the city of my birth. I loved the idea of having a life with a straightforward narrative arc.

Flash forward eight years, and life is slightly different from what I imagined then. I no longer live in Brooklyn or work for Newsweek, but I’m still in the United States. It’s an outcome that I struggle with sometimes. There are a lot of practical reasons to be here. On paper, my life looks pretty great. But I still yearn to report all over the world. I still miss friends and family in Europe. There are so many stories I can’t cover when I’m grounded in the United States. I would much rather not be stuck in one place.

The compromise I’ve come up with is to travel regularly. I try to make two to four transatlantic trips each year. Some of those I pay for myself, while others are reporting trips funded with grants or fellowships. I squeeze in as much time with friends and family as possible on each trip so I don’t lose connection with people I love, even though I sometimes feel isolated on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

People sometimes ask how I can afford to travel now that I live in the U.S. After all, it’s much more expensive to fly from the East Coast of the United States than to cross borders if you live in Europe or Asia. I usually tell them transatlantic travel isn’t as expensive as you think.

Travel is out of reach if you live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t blame anyone for not seeing the world when they’re under financial strain or drowning in student loans like many people in the U.S. But if you’re the kind of young professional who can afford to go to happy hours and order takeout multiple times a month, you can probably afford to travel internationally. You could save 50 to 100 dollars a month by going to fewer bars and restaurants, for example, and you’d be able to travel overseas at least once or twice a year.

Not everyone will want to travel exactly the way I do. These options might not work for people who are disabled or have minimal travel time. But I’ll share my tips for those who are curious. Some of the links included are affiliate links, which means I’ll get a small commission if you use them to purchase something. That said, everything I linked to is something I use regularly and recommend, whether it’s an affiliate or not.

My guide to affordable transatlantic travel:

• Don’t buy your flight directly from an airline.

I have a rule about never paying more than $400 to get across the Ocean. Occasionally, I’ve snagged a round-trip flight from an East Coast city to Europe for around $250 or $300. That usually means you will need flexibility regarding which airport you fly from (more on that below).

The most important thing, however, is to use a flight aggregator. I usually use Skyscanner or Trip.com. You just enter your preferred airport, destination, and dates, and the platform shows you various options from different airlines.

You can also let the platform know if your travel dates are flexible. The more flexible you are, the better your chances of finding a deal.

• Don’t check a bag.

I never check a suitcase for trips that last less than a month. If I plan to spend around ten days away, I often use this bag from the British Amazon. They will ship it to the United States for a small fee. It counts as a personal item, which means you won’t pay the extra fee for carry-on luggage that so many airlines charge now.

Taking so few clothes means you’ll need to do laundry in the middle of the trip (I usually stay with friends or in an Airbnb rather than a hotel. That’s partly so I’ll have laundry access). It also means you’ll need to bring versatile clothes you can wear more than once.

If I’m going to stay longer than ten days, or if I need to bring work clothes and clothes to go out, I will use this suitcase. It has the perfect dimensions for every airline. I’ve fit shoes and weeks’ worth of clothes in it and never been asked to check my bag. It’s perfect.

• Choose your departure airport carefully.

If you’re only willing to fly from one airport, you will have fewer options for cheap flights. You should always check a few of the closest airports to you.

I usually look at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Philadelphia International Airport, or Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The latter is often my first choice because it’s close to my home. But I will take a bus to JFK or Newark for a well-priced flight. Sometimes, I’ll use that as an excuse to see friends in New York or New Jersey before I catch my flight.

Taking a bus or train to an airport a few hours away can be time-consuming and tiring, but it’s often worth it from a financial perspective. In my experience, Newark Airport usually has the best international flight options.

• Pick a good transit hub and don’t avoid layovers.

If you can save money by being flexible with your departure location, the same can be said for your destination.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to travel to Barcelona. It might cost $500 or $600 to catch a flight from Newark Airport directly to Spain. But if you’re willing to do a layover in London or Lisbon, you could save a few hundred dollars.

There are often a lot of good deals on flights to big cities with many airports, like London. Then, you can always catch a separate low-cost Ryanair or EasyJet flight to your final destination starting at around $20. If you have the bag I recommended above, you won’t exceed your carry-on limits for those low-cost airlines.

When I fly from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, I often fly with the low-cost airline Play. It’s an Icelandic company that started flying from North America to Europe in 2022. They don’t offer meals or in-flight entertainment, so I usually bring a Kindle and pack a lunch.

You’ll have a layover in Iceland on each flight. Reykjavik has a very nice airport with good, healthy food options. The savings on your plane ticket are worth it.

I often recommend a layover in Istanbul if traveling to Asia. Flights to Istanbul usually aren’t too expensive, and there are tons of low-cost flights from Turkey to the rest of the world. You can also spend a few hours wandering around Istanbul between flights, which is always enjoyable.

• Cut down on your accommodation costs.

Staying with family or friends is often my first choice. You save money and spend more time with the people you’re traveling to see. I’ve spent a lot of nights on people’s slightly uncomfortable pullout sofas because I’d rather spend the night in a friend’s living room than splurge on fancy accommodation. But if you don’t know many people in other countries, there are other options.

I’ve stayed with Couch Surfing hosts dozens of times. Some people say creepy men primarily use the website to pick up female travelers. That hasn’t been my experience. I’ve met some of my closest friends over the years through Couch Surfing, and I’ve stayed with lovely people in countries like India and Bulgaria for no cost. You can usually tell a lot about a person based on the references on their profile. That said, I don’t recommend staying with someone who doesn’t have a lot of positive references.

You also have to be willing to socialize. Using Couch Surfing when you have time to bond with your host is usually best practice. The website is primarily meant to facilitate cultural exchanges, so crashing on someone’s sofa when you have a packed travel itinerary and no time to talk can seem rude.

• Use a local SIM card instead of international roaming.

Everyone needs a phone to navigate daily life. That’s even more true if you’re traveling overseas and must look up where you’re going. However, I never recommend splurging on roaming charges to use your Internet data overseas. It’s much more affordable to get a local SIM card.

The U.S. is an outlier because most people purchase a contract with a phone company to get monthly data. That’s not the case in most other countries. When you arrive at the airport, you can usually buy a local SIM card for anywhere between $10 to $20. That will give you enough data to use your phone as often as you want for at least a month (the U.S. telecommunications industry is a ripoff, but that’s a story for another day).

Some phones in the U.S. are locked. That means they won’t work with just any SIM card. Before your trip, go to your local phone shop or wherever you purchased your phone and ask them to unlock it. They’ll do it for free.

I always carry a paper clip to open my phone and switch out the SIM card when I buy a local one. Just make sure you don’t lose your original SIM card. You’ll want to switch back to that when you return to the U.S.

Some companies now offer e-SIM cards that you can purchase before your trip. That might make life even more straightforward because you won’t have to wander the airport looking for a kiosk to buy a SIM card as soon as you arrive. One place to get that is Yesim, a Swiss company that offers digital SIM cards that work worldwide.

• Act like a local

Some people like to splurge on one big fancy vacation a year. If you don’t travel very often, spending money to be as comfortable as possible when you do can make sense. But if you value frequent travel over luxury like I do, the trick is to treat your time on the road like the rest of your life. Go to the local supermarket and cook your host a meal. Rent a bike to get around the city you’re visiting. You’ll get a real sense of where you’re staying without spending more than you would at home.

The post A Guide to Affordable Transatlantic Travel first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

I always imagined the Austrian capital as a posh, polished city full of buttery cakes and glittering opera houses. While there are certainly elements of those stereotypes, it’s also diverse and a little gritty.

Almost 40 percent of Vienna’s population was born abroad, and there’s a sizable community from the Western Balkans. That shouldn’t surprise me, given the country’s history and location, but it wasn’t something I’d ever thought about.

Vienna seems like a very livable city, but there’s plenty to do, even if you’re passing through and aren’t all that interested in the typical tourist sites.

Join the Pride Parade

If you can time it right, I highly recommend visiting Vienna during the annual pride parade. It was one of the best pride celebrations (Regenbogenparade) I’ve ever attended. Better than New York or London. The music selection was excellent, over 300,000 people attended, and everyone was friendly and having a spectacular time. The organizers claim it’s the largest annual demonstration in Austria, and I believe it.

The parade circles the Vienna Ring Road (Ringstraße), in the first district, and you can follow along with the crowd or stand on the side to watch the revelers. One furniture shop opened its doors to let the paraders rest on the sofas and chairs for sale. There’s a real sense that the entire community has bought into the event.

Learn about Vienna’s social housing

During the trip, I visited Karl Marx Hof, allegedly one of the largest residential buildings in the world. Vienna’s municipal city council began construction on the building in the 1920s, during the height of a period known as Red Vienna (Rotes Wien), when the Social Democratic Workers’ Party experimented with new forms of social policy prior to the eventual fascist takeover of Austria.

The social housing policy from the 1920s still impacts the city, where at least 25 percent of residents live in government-owned housing and another 40 percent live in government-subsidized housing. Homeownership and participation in the private rental market are exceptionally low for a major city in Western Europe, and most people still only spend a small fraction of their income on their living space.

What’s more, the building’s designers were students of Austrian architect Otto Wagner, a leading member of the Vienna Secession and Art Nouveau movements. Tucked away in the building’s old washroom is a museum showcasing the history of Red Vienna. I couldn’t recommend it more.

Go vintage clothes shopping

Neubau, in Vienna’s 7th district, is one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city. It has no shortage of bars, cafés, art galleries, and vintage clothing shops. I found quite a few stores that sold used clothing by the kilo. There’s one on practically every corner when you’re walking down Neubaugasse Street. I stopped at RetroSchatz and bought 3 shirts for €14.

Go clubbing

The club I visited during my only free weekend in Vienna was the smaller of the city’s two most popular techno clubs. It’s called Das Werk.

I had low expectations for the city’s nightlife. I assumed the music would be subpar because nowhere compares to Berlin. I was wrong. The techno was excellent.

Multiple people told me Grelle Ferelle is bigger and better. The two clubs are next to each other in warehouses along the Danube River. A special shoutout to the Austrian journalist who scribbled a list of club recommendations on a scrap of paper for me.

Find the Balkan Mile

On the hunt for a diverse neighborhood I would probably live in if I were to move to Vienna, I took the number 46 tram to Schuhmeierplatz, in the direction of Ottakring. It had started to rain, so I ducked into a nearby shop, only to find myself in a bookstore that sold translated literature and poetry in Serbo-Croatian (the language of the former Yugoslavia).

The neighborhood is filled with cafés and restaurants from the Balkans, Cyprus, Turkey, and the wider Middle East. You can find burek, ćevapčići, or pretty much any other regional food you want. I spent the rainy day walking through the Brunnenmarkt, allegedly Vienna’s longest street market, fantasizing about all the specialty foods I would buy if I had kitchen access.

Visit a museum

I only had time to visit one museum during my free weekend in Vienna and chose the Leopold. It has a decent collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt. My favorite was Death and Life.

I am now also a fan of Egon Schiele, who I wasn’t familiar with before my trip to the Leopold. His existential angst is palpable, and I found it utterly relatable. According to a plaque in the Leopold, Schiele was “especially fascinated by death and described the process of ‘coming and vanishing’ as the central, transgressive path to a deeper understanding of the world.”

I found this moving and purchased a graphic novel of his autobiography in German.

Check out the municipal trash incinerator

If you had told me before visiting Vienna that I would buy an espresso in a cute coffee shop inside a municipal energy company, I would have been unable to imagine what you were talking about. But that is exactly the experience I had.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian visual artist and designer passionate about the environment, redesigned the Spittelau incinerator in the 1980s. He was known for saying things like, “The straight line leads to the downfall of our civilization.”

Vienna’s municipal waste incinerators produce energy for around 50,000 of the city’s households. You can tour the incinerator, and the employees will explain the whole process in addition to Vienna’s robust rules about recycling. The incinerator is also close to nightclubs.

The post An Exclusive Lazo Mag Travel Guide to Austria’s Capital first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

On Saturday, April 6, nationalist candidate Peter Pelligrini won Slovakia’s presidential election, cementing the pro-Russian government’s power. 

Slovakia is a tiny Central Eastern European country with just over 5 million inhabitants. But despite its small size, many analysts argue that the country’s recent election could have longstanding consequences for European democracy. 

The presidential election pit Ivan Korčok, a pro-European former foreign minister, against Pelligrini, the speaker of Slovakia’s parliament and a close ally of its Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico. 

Election Time

Polling initially suggested that Pelligrini was a shoo-in for the job. But Korčok surprised everyone by winning the first round of elections with 42 percent of the vote. Korčok’s supporters, however, were soon disappointed. Pelligrini slid to victory in the runoff with a little over half of the vote. 

The presidency in Slovakia primarily has a ceremonial role. Nevertheless, many had their eye on the race because the president could curb some of the Prime Minister’s worst impulses by refusing to sign problematic legislation into law. And Prime Minister Fico has plenty of problematic plans for his country. Since returning to power last year, he has attempted to overhaul the country’s public broadcaster to make it more government-friendly. He’s also attempted to reform the penal code to protect himself and his allies. He also parrots pro-Russian talking points, threatens to block European aid to Ukraine, and ended Slovakia’s weapons shipments to Kyiv. 

An aspiring mafia state

Experts, meanwhile, describe the 48-year-old Pelligrini as a politician content to greenlight the Prime Minister’s policies if he can maintain a luxurious lifestyle. 

Despite all of that, some experts argue that the biggest problem with Fico is that he’s self-interested. Rather than being motivated by an affinity with Russia or an authoritarian ideology, Fico opposes systems that put a check on his power. Ultimately, he wants a mafia state with himself at the top, reaping the benefits. 

“Fico’s primary goal is not to create an authoritarian state, and not even ideologically to be Russia’s puppet in Central Europe or within the European Union. He’s doing that, but that’s not the primary goal,” said Michal Vašečka, a Slovak sociologist who focuses on populism and civil society. “The primary goal of these people is to recreate an oligarchic state, or the mafia state they lost in 2020.” 

“They are heading toward an authoritarian state, but that’s kind of a byproduct,” Vašečka added. “Because you cannot have an oligarchic mafia state within a full-fledged, functioning liberal democracy.”

A political comeback

Fico, a former Communist Party member, first became Prime Minister in 2006. For the following twelve years, he ruled on and off whenever his party, Smer, could cobble together a coalition. He often sided with the country’s oligarchs while claiming to be a man of the people. 

In 2018, he resigned after mass protests erupted over the murder of a young Slovak investigative journalist, Jan Kuziack. Kuziack was investigating corruption when hitmen shot him and his fiance dead in their home in Slovakia. 

Fico, who has called Slovak journalists “dirty anti-Slovak prostitutes,” attempted to link the demonstrations to the American financier George Soros. But when a sprawling court case revealed that the journalist was assassinated for investigating a corrupt businessman, Slovak society decided it was tired of Fico allowing oligarchs to dominate the country. The president then tasked Pelligrini, then deputy prime minister, with forming a new government. 

At the time, Fico assured his supporters that he wasn’t leaving politics for good. He returned to power on a populist platform following elections in 2023. 

“You’ll hear a sovereign Slovak voice from Slovak ministries and watch a sovereign Slovak foreign policy,” Fico assured his voters. 

Europe’s illiberal leaders

Analysts often compare Fico to his neighbor, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The Hungarian leader has pursued a form of authoritarianism light, taking over the country’s judiciary and gerrymandering the country in his party’s favor. He also ensured people friendly to the ruling party owned most of the country’s media outlets.

In Brussels, Orbán has attempted to block EU assistance to Ukraine, often demanding concessions for releasing his hold on the money. 

But Lucia Yar, a Slovak candidate for the European Parliament, said that, unlike Orbán, Fico hasn’t attempted to stop the European Union from helping Kyiv yet. He also hasn’t demanded anything from Brussels in exchange for not blocking assistance. 

“The only thing Slovakia ‘gained’ from this, for now, is a low trust amongst European partners,” Yar said. “If you look into how he was voting in the European Council and how he was representing the country at the European Summits, in reality, he is toothless. The rhetoric remains different from the action, even if we can’t rely on the fact that it will remain that way.”

Populism in Slovakia

Fico’s approach is populism over pragmatism. Within Europe, Slovakia has one of the lowest levels of support for Western alliances, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And while many Slovaks opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees pouring across the border in 2022, support for Ukraine has dropped since the onset of Russia’s invasion two years ago. 

Fico successfully plays to a base that believes Europe is leaving them behind. He’s also forged alliances with ultranationalists and social conservatives who embrace traditional family values and gender norms.

The Prime Minister handed control of the Ministry of Culture to his coalition partner, the far-right Slovak National Party. That party claims to uphold European Christian values and rails against so-called “degenerate art.”

Under the Slovak National Party, the Ministry of Culture immediately resumed cooperation with Russia and Belarus.

When the party organized a conference against vaccines, Fico attended. In January, he appointed a member of the Slovak National Party and a known anti-vaxxer, Peter Kotlár, as the government envoy to lead an inquiry into pandemic management. 

Russia, meanwhile, has taken advantage of Fico’s populist rhetoric. Russian propaganda pushes Moscow’s agenda within the European Union, often in an attempt to undermine Europe’s support for Ukraine. Yar noted that Facebook’s moderators do very little to track or flag Russian disinformation in Slovak language on its platforms. 

Just this week, Fico met with a far-right politician from the Czech Republic, Jindřich Rajchl, who advocates against supporting Ukraine. 

The government has also proposed a foreign agents bill similar to laws in Hungary and Russia that target Western support for non-profits. 

Civil society resistance

Despite Pelligrini and Fico’s election wins, many Slovaks are deeply concerned about the direction their country is heading. Thousands of people have shown up across the country to resist the changes to the criminal code and the takeover of the public broadcaster. Protests against Fico and his rule spread across the country. They even reached smaller cities and regions that traditionally support the government. 

Fico’s plans to create a new government-controlled council that would determine who could appear on public radio and television channels received significant pushback. Journalists argued the council would destroy the public broadcaster’s editorial independence. 

And thanks to pushback from outgoing president Zuzana Caputova and the European Union, Slovakia’s Constitutional Court is now reviewing the proposed changes to the criminal code. 

Anti-corruption activists in Slovakia have started calling on the European Union to cut funds to their own country. They argue that Fico will not be able to consolidate power without European money to play with. 

And unlike in the cases of Hungary and Poland, when Brussels took years to address democratic backsliding, the European Union is already threatening to cut off some EU recovery funds if Slovakia doesn’t scale back its attack on the rule of law. This time, the EU isn’t waiting until Fico completely consolidates control before threatening to use structural funds as leverage. 

Echoes of history

Vašečka noted that there is reason for hope. Slovaks already lived under a populist government during the 1990s, that of Vladimír Mečiar, a former amateur boxer who served as Prime Minister on and off between 1991 and 1998. 

Like Fico, Mečiar attempted to turn Slovakia into his personal mafia state and faced political turmoil over a high-profile assassination. 

That experience means that Slovak civil society knows how to organize in the current political atmosphere. Concerns over democracy and the rule of law even occasionally unite culturally liberal and conservative Slovaks, who are usually locked in political infighting. 

“Slovakia is basically used to it,” Vasecka said about Fico’s populist approach to politics. “Civil society, pro-democratic, liberal, pro-European forces have been basically balancing on the edge of the canyon for thirty years, and still winning, more or less, even though it’s exhausting.” 

The post Rising populism leads to Russia victory in Slovakia election first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

A group of friends went to Berlin for a long weekend in November.

There are some trips that are just short reprieves that quickly fade from memory. And then others should feel short because they are, yet are somehow so meaningful that they completely alter your state of mind. They pull you out of the parts of your life where you’re stuck and into the version of the world you wish existed, showing you that it’s possible to feel differently.

My recent trip to Berlin was one of those latter journeys. It’s hard to say precisely why. Maybe it was because I was so present and engaged with what was in front of me that I forgot about my responsibilities or worries in a way that felt revolutionary, as if my real life had completely faded away and all that was left was the experience at hand.

Perhaps it was because I was in an environment in which I fit in, something that rarely happens to me, a perpetual and professional interloper. Or maybe it was because I was surrounded by friends who showed me the type of platonic love I wished to experience during every mundane interaction. Perhaps the beats of Tresor rearranged my brainwaves, or I became entranced because the city is, as David Bowie said, “the greatest cultural extravaganza that one could imagine.”

Whatever it was, this short trip felt like true contentment. There was a warmth and glow to every interaction, a knowing nod of acknowledgment with every rumpled, hooded stranger, a sense that somehow I’d returned to where my soul was waiting for me. In other words, I had a very nice time in Berlin. I wonder why it took me so many years to go back.

And it seems I’ve brought back whatever magic I picked up in Germany because people keep looking at me and smiling. On the train and the streets, people make eye contact and nod for apparently no reason, as if there were some invisible sheen about me that I didn’t previously possess. I’ve come back softer and nicer and less tired, with a renewed enthusiasm for life and work. If only every short holiday could be like this.

My dear friend Aurélien Thome, a musician and audio engineer based in Paris, took some photographs of our trip. They’ll give you a glimpse of what we saw as we wandered around Germany’s capital. We spent most of our time in Kreuzberg, which I still think is somehow the most interesting neighborhood in Berlin, even 10 years after my first visit to the city.

The post Berlin: An Authentic View of Germany’s Capital first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

This interview was originally published on September 5, 2021, in Lazo Magazine’s weekly newsletter. It’s a conversation between Lazo Magazine’s founder and Editor-In-Chief, Cristina Maza, and Nissa Kinzhalina.

Her designs blended the traditional with Nissa’s personal, modern touch. We discussed her decision to use a 3D printer to create a modern saukele and her career as an innovative furniture designer.

Cristina: So, tell me what inspired you. What made you decide to make this saukele?

Nissa: Honestly, I didn’t want a traditional wedding. But the saukele is made for a specific wedding ceremony in Kazakhstan called ‘the viewing of the bride.’ It’s a joyous and sad ceremony because it symbolizes the daughter leaving home. The mother of the bride puts the saukele on the bride before she is given to the groom. It’s a symbol of the marriage.

Cristina: Does the saukele have some symbolism related to the family?

Nissa: Yes. I’m not a strict adherent to Kazakh traditions. I didn’t want the wedding to be done in this traditional style. But my mother really wanted it. It was so important to her, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

My husband suggested I make my own saukele in an absolutely modern style. I thought about it, and then I sat down, and in 10 minutes I had an idea for a saukele.

Cristina: What made you decide to 3D print the saukele?

Nissa: We only had a few weeks, so that was the quickest way to make it!

Cristina: In your experience, do many young women in Kazakhstan want modern weddings and to eschew the old traditions of giving away a bride?

Nissa: Yes, absolutely. But many girls also want to get married at around 20 years old. They think 29 or 30 is too old for a Kazakh girl to get married.

I believe you should get older before you get married because marriage isn’t a game. You need to have experience before you live with another person. At 20, you don’t even know yourself. You need to know yourself before you can be with someone else.

Cristina: Did people pressure you to get married younger?

Nissa: Yes, of course. Everyone from the nurse in the hospital to my mother.

Cristina: Tell me about your work. What did you study in school, and how did you develop your career as a furniture designer?

Nissa: I knew who I wanted to be from childhood. When I was little, I was interested in how things work. My parents would give me a toy, and I would take it apart and see what was inside.

At around 12, I started drawing a lot. I thought that I would be a fashion designer. I was always drawing dresses and models, and I had a rich imagination. I could see ideas everywhere I looked.

When I was 17, I entered the architectural university in Almaty, met my future mentor, and started to study Japanese architecture. I completed 5 years of school, and during that time, I began to notice small details in houses.

I realized that I don’t want to make furniture that will fit in houses, I want to make furniture that you want to build a house around.

Cristina: What is it like to be an independent female entrepreneur in Kazakhstan?

Nissa: There are not many young female entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, especially not in design.

You have to have a really strong character. Every day I am trying to make something unique. Every day I am trying to make something unique. Every day I am trying to explain what I am doing, and not many people understand me. So it is challenging.

You can check out Nissa’s website here and her Instagram page here. She ships her furniture worldwide, and all of the materials are sustainable and locally sourced in Kazakstan.

The post One Woman Blends Modernity and Tradition in Kazakh Design first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

I’m speaking with a 37-year-old Green Party member of the European Parliament, Daniel Freund. He came on my radar after arguing that the European Union’s infringement proceedings against Poland don’t go far enough. We talked about everything from democratic backsliding in Europe to corruption. Here’s what he had to say about how the European Union can put its house in order.

This interview was originally published on January 16, 2022, in Lazo Magazine’s weekly newsletter. It’s a conversation between Lazo Magazine’s founder and Editor-In-Chief, Cristina Maza, and  Daniel Freund. 

Cristina: You are a relatively new MEP. How long have you been involved in politics, and what made you decide to get involved at the European level?

Daniel: I have always been a political person. Fighting for the things that I believe in: justice, a sustainable future, and the European Union. I joined the Green Party in 2005 while at university as I was deeply impressed by Joschka Fischer’s vision for further European integration.

I come from a border area myself, Aachen, the city of Charlemagne. I went to kindergarten in Belgium, to school in Germany, and met my wife on an Erasmus exchange in Paris. When the European project, which had given me so much, came increasingly under attack by Brexiteers like [former UK Independence Party leader Nigel] Farage and illiberal politicians like [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán, I decided it was time for me to do something. I ran in the European elections in 2019 and was elected to the parliament.

Cristina: When it comes to the European Union’s crackdown on democratic backsliding in member states like Hungary and Poland, you have argued that infringement proceedings don’t go far enough. Why is that, and what measures would you like to see in their place?

Daniel: The European Union is in a severe crisis. There are several member states where the EU’s treaties are called into question, where independent judges are attacked, where independent journalism almost doesn’t exist anymore, where NGOs and universities are thrown out of the country, and where corruption by the political elites is rampant. Poland and Hungary are the most evident examples. But elements of this exist in several more member states, and the crisis is spreading.

The EU’s answer to this crisis was too little too late. The Commission only launched a so-called Article 7 procedure – for violations of the fundamental values of the Union – when the crisis had reached two countries. But Poland and Hungary promised each other mutual protection, thereby making Article 7 useless because it requires unanimity to work.

Infringements are an important tool to ensure that all member states respect the rules that were jointly agreed upon and that EU law is applied in the same way across the Union. But infringements alone are not going to solve the rule of law crisis. First, Hungary and Poland have over 100 ongoing infringement procedures between them. It’s doubtful that a few more will stop these governments from attacking democracy and the rule of law.

Second, infringements are often too slow. When Hungary kicked out the Central European University, the university went to the European Court of Justice. Two years later, it won on all accounts. Hungary’s actions violated the treaties. But the university had already left Hungary. Infringement was too slow.

The language that is understood by the Polish and Hungarian governments is money. The two countries are the biggest recipients of EU funds. Almost all public investment in new roads or fast Internet is co-funded by the EU. Those who do not play by the rules should not receive EU funds.

The Commission should use the rule of law conditionality and cut EU funds to both countries.

In the regions in Poland that declared themselves “LGBTI free,” we saw that just the threat of withdrawing EU funds made them retract their declarations.

Cristina: Tell me about your plans for the European Parliament’s Anti-Corruption Intergroup. What are its goals, and how will it function?

Daniel: Before I was elected to parliament, I led the EU work of the organization Transparency International. I have a lot of experience in the fight against corruption. So I knew that fighting corruption only works when it is coordinated across party lines and borders.

When I came to the parliament, I founded the anti-corruption intergroup. There are now 130 members from 6 political groups working together. It has been very successful in coordinating better legislation, and it is very helpful to hear from colleagues about their experiences and best practices from different member states.

The Biden administration made clear that the fight against corruption and kleptocracy would be one of their priorities. We have already seen Magnitsky sanctions against Bulgarian individuals, for example.

That’s why we’ve decided to join ranks with U.S. politicians in an alliance against kleptocracy. International cooperation and coordination are absolutely crucial in the fight against corruption.

Cristina: What kind of laws would you like to see in place to clamp down on corruption within EU institutions – including problems surrounding revolving door issues – and boost transparency in lobbying and consultancy in the Brussels bubble?

Daniel: The European Union actually has reasonably good laws to deal with different aspects of corruption. Also, with political corruption and lobbying. I would say that we should start by implementing those rules and using the tools we already have.

There are rules for revolving doors, which is when European Commissioners become lobbyists after leaving office. There is a two-year cooling-off period. At least on paper, because the Commission ignores the rules in practice.

We need independent oversight of the existing rules on lobbying, conflicts of interest, and revolving doors. And sanctions if the rules are broken. That is why I have proposed an independent EU ethics body, and a large majority in parliament has supported my proposal.

We also have a rule of law mechanism to deal with corruption and rule of law violations, but the Commission refuses to use it, despite being sued by the Parliament. We need to use all tools to fight corruption.

We also need to ensure that institutions that fight fraud, corruption, and mismanagement: the court of auditors, the European prosecutors, and the anti-fraud office, are well-funded and well-staffed.

And we should finally be able to know where EU money is being spent and who gets it.

It might sound bizarre, but the EU spends 160bn euros per year and we don’t know who gets it. We do not know, for example, who the biggest recipient of EU funds is in each member state. That makes it very difficult to track corruption and conflicts of interest.

Cristina: And how do you think MEPs can most effectively combat euro skepticism in their home countries?

Daniel: Transparency and communication are really important. Always showing and explaining to citizens that we are stronger together. The big challenges of our time are climate change, large companies not paying their taxes, and corruption. No country can face them alone. Our only chance is to work together in the European Union.

In my own work, I sometimes expose corruption and mismanagement in the EU institutions. Some might say that could fuel euro-skepticism. But I firmly believe that we need to keep our own house in order.

The EU should lead by example. I think that builds citizens’ trust in the EU.

The post How the European Union Can Fight Corruption first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

This interview was originally published on November 21, 2021, in Lazo Magazine’s weekly newsletter. It’s a conversation between Lazo Magazine’s founder and Editor-In-Chief, Cristina Maza, and Stefan Vladisavljev, an expert on Chinese influence in the Western Balkans at the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence.

Cristina: How did you get involved in this issue?

Stefan: For the past couple of years, I’ve been closely following the Chinese presence in the Western Balkans and Chinese influence through foreign direct investments like infrastructure projects and preferential loan agreements. I’m basically following all topics that are China-related in my part of the world.

I became interested in the Vietnamese workers because the company involved is the biggest foreign direct investor from China in Serbia since the beginning of the contemporary relationship [between Serbia and China] in 2009.

It is estimated to have invested around 900 million euros since 2018.

China had large investments before that in Serbia. But those were mostly the purchase of already existing assets, like old industrial socialist factories. This one started from scratch.

It’s interesting to follow because there was never this much foreign direct investment coming from China in this part of the world before this.

Cristina: What can you tell me about Zrenjanin, the Serbian city where Vietnamese workers are building a factory?

Stefan: It’s in the northern part of Serbia, called Vojvodina. It’s an autonomous province in Serbia.

Vojvodina itself is separated into three different regions, and Zrenjanin is the biggest city in the Banat region in Vojvodina. It is the regional center. It has a population of around 80,100 people, approximately, since we haven’t had a census since 2011. But it is an old industrial regional center that dates back to the communist period.

It is recognized as one of the most vivid industrial centers in Vojvodina still today. It has significant companies from different countries, not solely Chinese investment. There are big companies and factories from Germany. There are also big domestic companies there.

Cristina: How did these Vietnamese workers become a national story in Serbia?

Stefan: The workers came to the attention of some local NGOs who realized they were being abused. They’re being kept in deplorable living conditions and experiencing terrible working conditions.

Ling Long is the name of the Chinese company that we’re discussing. It is constructing a tire factory. When the factory is finalized, they will produce car tires for export.

The factory is still under construction now. But because Ling Long is not a construction company, they must hire subcontractors for the construction. That subcontractor hired Vietnamese workers.

This is one of the concerns with Chinese companies in Serbia. They often bring subcontractors and workers from abroad. Usually, those workers are from China. But in this case, they brought workers from Vietnam.

A few days ago, one of the major television stations in Serbia produced a report about the dire living conditions of these Vietnamese subcontractors. They are living without electricity. They only have access to one liter of water a day per person. Ten people are sleeping in the same room, often without mattresses. They don’t have appropriate winter clothes. Right now, at night in Serbia, the temperature is around 0 degrees Celsius.

They also said the company took documents from the Vietnamese workers. Some weren’t paid regularly. They aren’t getting enough food.

Following these initial reports, civil society organizations began saying that we are dealing with a case of human trafficking.

I think that’s probably an overstatement. The workers said they signed contracts with an employment agency. They knew they were going to Serbia. But the conditions in their contracts have not been met.

Civil society organizations went to the factory to check on the situation on the ground, and they confirmed the media reports.

Then the organizations sent an official request to the relevant government institutions about the need to inspect the situation and find out why basic living standards and the labor rights of those workers are not in line with Serbia’s national laws.

Cristina: What was the company’s response to these complaints?

Stefan: The Ling Long company hired private security guards. That gained a lot of attention because there were confrontations between the security guards and activists. There was no physical confrontation. It was mostly verbal.

The whistleblower, a Vietnamese worker who spoke to the organizations and the media, got fired. So, the activists tried to get him out of the factory compound, but the private security guards wouldn’t allow them to take him.

But then some of the workers made a human shield between the whistleblower and the private security, and they managed to get the whistleblower out to the civil society activists.

After that, the company closed all the access points to the media. But some journalists had the phone numbers of the Vietnamese activists, so they are still getting some information out.

Cristina: What has the Serbian government’s response been?

The first response was quite broad. They said that there are regular inspections, and they did see any misconduct.

Later, they said that they had reported the bad conditions and some steps would be taken.

The Minister of Construction stated that the living conditions are poor, but the Vietnamese workers are getting paid $900 a month, so they could afford to find better accommodation if they wanted to do so.

After that, the Prime Minister [Ana Brnabic] said the workers would be moved from the compound to a better location. But she pointed fingers at the civil society organizations and political opposition and said they wanted to criticize all Chinese investment in Serbia.

Now the workers have been moved from the compound, and there is barbed wire around the compound. That would never have happened without civil society and the local activists.

But still, this is a trend. This isn’t the first time there have been reports about the abuse of foreign workers hired by Chinese companies in Serbia.

Cristina: Was it confirmed that the Vietnamese workers earned $900 a month? Did any whistleblowers confirm that?

Stefan: No. That was what the Minister of Construction said. The original reports claimed they were earning between 300 and 400 euros a month but weren’t always being paid regularly.

Cristina: What do we know about how these workers were hired and how they arrived in Serbia?

Stefan: My understanding is that an employment agency has hired them. You can reach out to employment agencies if you’re investing in Serbia, and they will make all the arrangements for the workers coming here.

There is also a company in Serbia doing this, and they have connections with Vietnam. There are also Vietnamese workers in other locations in Serbia. Some reports say the workers had to pay around $2,000 to get a job in Serbia. That amount would presumably cover transportation costs to Serbia.

Cristina: What is the legal status of these workers in Serbia?

Stefan: That is a tricky question. When our government signs contracts with the Chinese government, either for infrastructure projects or foreign direct investment, some clauses in the contract exclude workers from Serbian laws.

So basically, while they are working on constructing a Chinese factory, they are excluded from the implementation of Serbia’s regulatory framework based on bilateral agreements that Serbia signed with China.

It is not a usual practice, but it’s an exception that Serbia is making for Chinese companies. The workers are not subjected to our laws because they are working for the Chinese.

Cristina: What do you think this case says about Chinese influence in Serbia?

Stefan: Well, I would put the ball in the Serbian court. No investment is harmful or corrosive on its own. It’s about how you treat investments and what benefits you give to investors.

In the case of China, we have not set any kind of standards, and we have not set any conditions that China must respect.

In the past decade, China has really become an essential economic partner in Serbia, especially in infrastructural development. China is the leading provider of loans for much-needed infrastructure projects. Serbia relies on Chinese foreign direct investment. We have had around 2 billion euros in investment.

Whatever Chinese companies are doing here is because Serbia allows them to do it.

The post Vietnamese Workers, Exploitation, and China’s Influence in Serbia first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

This interview was originally published on December 5, 2021, in Lazo Magazine’s weekly newsletter. It’s a conversation between Lazo Magazine’s founder and Editor-In-Chief, Cristina Maza, and  Abdul Saboor, an Afghan photojournalist based in Calais, France.

At least 27 people died this week, making a desperate attempt to leave the port city and cross the English Channel.

This week, I had a quick chat with Abdul Saboor, an Afghan photojournalist based in Calais, about his journey to the city and why people want to leave it.

Cristina: Where are you from originally, and how long have you been in Calais?

Abdul: I’m from Afghanistan. I’ve been in Calais now for about three and a half years. I left Afghanistan because life was hard. I worked with the U.S. Army, and I was shot and injured a few times. Then the U.S. left the city where I was working. They all went home, and I was left on the ground there, so I decided it was time to leave.

Cristina: How did you travel to France from Afghanistan?

Abdul: Walking. I crossed borders on foot. It took me two years. I stayed in forests, mountains, refugee camps, ‘jungles,’ anywhere I could find. I passed through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy. After that, I traveled to France and then Belgium and Spain. Eventually, I went back to France, and I have been here ever since. It was a very long, long trip.

Cristina: How did you support yourself during that time?

Abdul: When I was traveling, I did a little bit of photography. My family sent me a little bit of money for food.  Now I teach photography at a university one day a week, and I sell my photos.

Cristina: I know that there has been a recent uptick in the number of people trying to cross from Calais to the United Kingdom. Why is that happening now?

Abdul: Because the weather is bad. The camps are like hell. They are cold, windy, and rainy. They are so cold. People are finding the camps very difficult. They don’t have enough to eat. A lot of people made a quick decision to leave. Many people go with traffickers. Some people try to go alone, but some go with traffickers. It’s because they are in the camps, and they think, ‘what else can I do?’

Cristina: How much do the traffickers charge for their services?

Abdul: Different people charge different amounts. Some people charge €3,000,  some € 2,000, or some people say € 5,000.

Cristina: How many people do you estimate are in the camps now?

Abdul: I think there are maybe around 2,000 people. There are a lot of Kurds. There are people from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali, Eritrea, really everywhere.

Cristina: What is the relationship between the people in the camps and the French authorities?

Abdul: The police are harassing people. Police are trying to evict people. They cut their tents. They give them a very difficult time.

Cristina: Why do people want to go to the U.K. instead of staying in France?

Abdul: Most people going to the U.K. tried another European country first. I don’t want to go to the U.K. because I have asylum in France. They didn’t get asylum, so they decided to go to the U.K. once they were rejected.

You can find out more about Abdul and his work here.

The post Migrants in Calais Are Dying To Leave first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

This interview was originally published on January 9, 2022, in Lazo Magazine’s weekly newsletter. It’s a conversation between Lazo Magazine’s founder and Editor-In-Chief, Cristina Maza, and  Balut Dhakiev, a practicing Jehovah’s Witness from Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad region. 

People suspected of practicing the religion have been subjected to violent raids and arrests, had their property seized, and even gotten lengthy jail sentences.

Now, Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Kyrgyzstan are worried that the country’s leadership could follow in Russia’s footsteps. In December, the Pervomayskiy District Court in Bishkek rejected a prosecutor’s application to ban the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ religious texts as extremist literature. The ruling was a win for the religious group, which has around 5,000 adherents in Kyrgyzstan.

Still, it was a little too close for comfort. Kyrgyzstan has attempted to import repressive laws from Russia before.

“What’s happening in Kyrgyzstan is the latest consequence of Russia’s ambitious foreign-policy strategy to export its systematic persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses under the pretense of fighting extremism,” said Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Kyrgyzstan is simply following Russia’s model of repression— ban the Witnesses’ literature with the ultimate goal of banning their organization.”

For this week’s interview, I spoke to Balut Dhakiev, a practicing Jehovah’s Witness from the village of Terek-Say in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad region.

Cristina: What religion did your family practice when you were growing up?

Balut: I grew up in the Soviet Union, so as you know, people were atheists at the time. But my parents were nominal Muslims. I am 48 years old now, and I was around 18 years old when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Cristina: When did you become a practicing Jehovah’s Witness?

Balut: I was raised in a village, and after school, I came to Bishkek for university. I was a student here and learned about Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was 21 years old at the time.

It was amazing and eye-opening. I had been seeking the truth since childhood. I had one main question for everyone. I asked my mom, and my friends: Why do people die? No one could answer.

When I met the Witnesses here, they were two young girls. They showed me in the Bible that we can live forever because that’s how we were created. God’s original purpose was for us to live forever. It was a very happy day for me. I thought, me and my family, we can live forever.

I started studying and then was convinced that this was the truth, that the truth is in the Bible.

Cristina: What was your family’s reaction when you told them you were becoming a Jehovah’s Witness?

Balut: Immediately after discovering the Bible, I went home for the holidays. I began to preach and tell all of my relatives, my parents. They were all happy. They wanted to learn more. Some also started studying with me. People in my village were also interested.

But when I left, the religious leaders in my village opposed this. They scared people into stopping their studies.

Cristina: Are Muslim leaders very influential in your village?

Balut: Yes, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union. They became influential.

Cristina: Are most of Kyrgyzstan’s Jehovah’s Witnesses based in Bishkek? And are you experiencing any intimidation there?

Balut: There are many witnesses here in Bishkek. Some are Russians. Some are Kyrgyz.

In general, Jehovah’s Witnesses appreciate our freedom in this country. Kyrgyzstan is considered the most democratic country in Central Asia. Our President recently said that all religions are equal and should have the same rights.

But recently, we have been facing some persecution. We were shocked to learn that a criminal case has been opened against our religious center since 2019. We didn’t know anything about it. We have no idea why they opened it.

The State Committee for National Security, the successor of the KGB, visited our center and conducted a search last March.

Cristina: What were they searching for?

Balut: They were interested in our literature. They stayed a whole day and took documents from our office.

Everything was returned in a week due to the outreach of the international community.

We are really worried that Russia’s laws will be copied here.

We are open to dialogue with the government to resolve any issues. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not politically inclined. We’re not involved in politics. We remain neutral.

We hope that Kyrgyzstan will not follow the example of Russia but will follow the other 240 democratic countries that recognize Jehovah’s Witnesses as law-abiding and peaceful citizens.

The post Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kyrgyzstan Fear Russia’s Extremism Law first appeared on Lazo Magazine.

Cristina: When people think of Iran, they often think of the Persian population. What other ethnic groups live in the country?

Rahim: Iran is ethnically and culturally diverse, with a population consisting of several ethnicities, including Azerbaijani Turks, Ahwazis, Kurds, Turkmen, Baluchis, and Caspians, in addition to its better-known Persian population.

The non-Persian ethnicities, in fact, collectively make up around 70% of the population. Despite this diversity, the Persian race, culture, and identity are promoted as dominant and superior.

Like the Shah, the Islamic Republic adheres to an ethnocentric state model instead of promoting common interests and celebrating diverse cultures.

Under the monarchy and the Khomeinists, Iran expected the non-Persian ethnicities to give up their distinct identities altogether and consider themselves Persian in dress, language, cultural attributes, and so forth.

But even if they are fully committed to forgetting their history and identity, they still face discrimination and oppression based on ethnic origin.

Non-Persians, therefore, are expected to adhere to contradictory expectations: to avoid identifying themselves by their cultural origin even as they are routinely stigmatized due to that same origin. It is, to be blunt, institutionalized racism.

Cristina: Where are you from in Iran, and what is day-to-day life like there?

Rahim: The Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority has inhabited the south and southwest of Iran for centuries. The Arab population calls it the Ahwaz region. The region is rich in oil, gas, water resources, and fertile agricultural lands.

But unfortunately, its native Ahwazi Arab population suffers from decades of oppression and discrimination. For example, Ahwazi Arabs are constantly denied employment in the oil and petrochemical industries that have risen in the areas they populate.

At the same time, Persian speakers are allocated the majority of jobs, varying from managers and engineers, even down to laborers. Thus, the educated Ahwazis, like the rest of the Ahwazi population, are being driven out of employment throughout the entire energy sector.

Any protests demanding reforms and an end to discrimination are met with – at best – empty promises by successive Iranian governments. More often, even the most peaceful protests are met with brutal and lethal force, particularly when the protesters are minorities.

Cristina: What can you tell me about the Ahwazi culture? Can you describe your music, language, and traditions?

Rahim: The Ahwaz culture is considered one of the most ancient cultures in the world. In the past, Ahwaz was called Elam, and it was the cradle of the Elamite and Maysani civilizations.

Ahwaz has a rich history of constructing buildings, monuments, and obelisks on which cuneiform writings were engraved, which depict the nature of life and prevailing culture in those ancient times.

In Ahwaz, there are a lot of monuments that contain colossal buildings called Ziggurat. They are stepped temples. Among the most prominent temples of this kind is Dur Untash Ziggurat, registered with UNESCO.

The Ahwazi people’s language is Arabic. In general, hospitality and generosity to guests are deeply rooted in the Ahwazi Arab culture and traditions. People treat guests with noticeable care and paramount attention.

Cristina: Were Ahwaz people ever free to express and celebrate their cultural heritage in Iran?

The Reza Pahlavi regime and its successors instituted an effort to eradicate the Ahwazi’s Arab history and culture, changing the names of streets and districts, cities, towns and villages, and even natural landmarks such as rivers and hills from Arabic to Farsi.

Following the 1979 ‘Islamic Revolution,’ the new theocratic regime did not change this policy of cultural eradication but rather accelerated it. Ahwazis were subsequently forbidden from giving their children Arabic names and were forced to choose from a list of Farsi names approved by the regime.

Both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Khomeinist regime actively worked to change the region’s demographic composition to eliminate its Arab character and subsume it into a Greater Iran.

For Ahwazis, 1925 marked the beginning of the brutal occupation and oppressive suppression which has continued since, characterized by cultural, political, economic, and linguistic injustice and oppression based on virulently anti-Arab bigotry and prejudice.

Cristina: Do the Ahwazis have an activist community, either in Iran or in exile?

Any attempt by Ahwazi people to protest at the horrendous injustices inflicted by successive regimes is brutally crushed.

On April 15, 2005, Ahwazis across the region in Ahwaz, Hamidiyeh, Ma’shour, Howeyzeh, and other cities, towns and villages, and staged peaceful anti-regime demonstrations unprecedented in their size.

They were protesting the revelations in a leaked letter from a senior regime official. That senior regime official said the regime wished to reduce the Arab population in the region further. In the letter, reportedly from Mohammed Ali Abtahi, the head of the office of then-president Mohammed Khatami, the author detailed a plan to reduce the Arab population within ten years.

The regime was enraged by the demonstrations, with around 60 protesters killed and hundreds more injured and arrested by security forces and police.

Anti-Arab discrimination permeates every facet of life for the Ahwazi people.

For the rulers in Tehran, this culture of discrimination and denial of the most fundamental rights in every area of life ensures that Ahwazis remain powerless and marginalized.

The post Iran’s Ahwazi and Systemic Oppression first appeared on Lazo Magazine.