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tv   Deutsche Welle European Journal  LINKTV  September 4, 2014 7:30am-8:01am PDT

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>> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal." it's very good to have you with us. let's take a look at what we have in this edition -- looming landslide -- why norwegians fear giant waves. peaceful protest -- how refugees are fighting for their rights in berlin. in asia, people have been living
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with the fear of tsunami's for a very long time. it will be 10 years this december since the huge tsunami wreaked havoc in many parts of asia when giant waves submerged coastal areas. here in europe, too, there are places threatened by destruction of giant waves. norway is famous for its fjords. one of the most famous ones could soon see the end of its idyllic life if authorities are right and a disaster is looming. >> re: a unesco world heritage site and one of norway's most popular tourist spots, but somewhere in all of this beauty is a disaster waiting to happen. yet, nobody knows when. >> all the houses below the altitude of the church will be swept away. there will be a soon on me that destroys most of the people
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here. we are responsible to warn these people so they can evacuate before the sunol me is coming. >> this team leader for norway's geological survey's biggest concern right now is a mountain about 18 calamitous from a town. it's 54 cubic meters of rock are on the move. they've installed equipment to monitor changes in the mountain. >> this path here in white was sitting here, and now it has moved up here. >> the crack is growing up to 12 centimeters wider each year. >> here, we have this big pressure opening of the mountain .
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we can follow this large opening . the large tsunami opens up just beneath here. >> in the laboratory, the geologists have simulated what it would do to the town. the worst-case and aria has all 50 million cubic calamitous of rock falling into the fjord. the wave would hit within five minutes and reach a height of 80 meters. the buildings that would be swept away our residential and holiday homes. the nursing home, the school, and the entire center. one local resident shows us around. she says about 500 people live here. many are moving away from the
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waterfront. if no warning as possible, they would be left at the mercy of fate. >> it's a terrible thought, a tragedy. it's hard for me even to think of how often that -- awful that would be. everything would be washed away. the jobs, the factory, everybody's livelihoods. >> her friend is also worried about the looming apocalypse. she moved farther up the mountainside two years ago, but her brother still lives by the water. >> i built my house up there 150 meters above the fjord so the wave cannot reach me. it will rise 80 meters at the most. but i still do not feel quite at ease when i look at the fjord. when i come down to the town, i
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always take the car. i make it a rule to park on the hill and keep the keys at hand just in case the landslide happens. >> other villagers do not take the danger as seriously, not enough to let it dominate their lives. >> the people here know about the danger, but they rarely talk about it. though i can show you how brittle the rock is here. every spring, we have to dig the loose rock out so it will not fall on our heads. >> the danger is very real -- a wave devastated this village in 1905. the wave may have been only 17 meters high when it hit, but it
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still killed 40 people. it is only a matter of time. some 4000 lives are at stake here and in neighboring villages. it is up to their collective mayor to make sure that they are warned in time. >> we expect that we will have 74 hours to evacuate all the people in this area, and that should be more than enough to get everybody out. >> the mountain is constantly monitored by several instruments -- gps sensors, seismographs, and lasers. the measure temperatures, sounds, and movement in the bedrock. the moment anything about the mountain changes, lars gets a text message, but how reliable is the system? >> nature is nature. we are never 100%, as other
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things. there is always come -- there's always some kind of risk, but with this knowledge, we are confident. >> if all goes well, everyone can be safe, but the village will still be destroyed. the mayor says they will have to rebuild. >> we have been there for probably thousands of years, living together with the fjords, and we believe we can still be here many thousand years ahead. >> no one knows if the wave will come in two months or 200 years, but until it does, this will remain the most closely watched mountain in europe. >> growing refugee numbers have been causing a problem in the south of europe over recent years. every month, thousands of migrants arrive in spain and on the italian coast, having missed their lives on the dangerous journey across the mediterranean sea in search of a better life in europe. most do not want to stay in
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italy and spain and travel onto northern europe. one group of refugees made it to the german capital berlin months ago and have somewhat risen to fame. the migrants refuse to give up and have been protesting peacefully for human rights and against arbitrary methods by officials. >> said her husband have been on the run for six years, not in africa where he comes from, but in europe. he is lindenberg and for the last 20 years. on a public square, he and other refugees are building an art installation with 28 doors, one for each member state in the european union. >> the idea is some north can be open and some others closed because that is what europe is like. >> adam's from sudan. he and about 50 other refugees have taken their fate into their own hands.
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two years ago, they began holding citizens to protest europe's immigration policies. they demonstrated in front of brandenburg gate, one of britain's biggest tourist attractions. this move to focus on the refugee issue from the eu's outer borders to the heart of the german capital. after negotiations with authorities, refugees moved to this square where they pitched tents. >> they don't believe our story, why we are coming here. that's why all the time they try to predict the case, and now we have to appeal the court. >> the refugees demand the right to choose where they live, but the rule is that a refugee must remain in the first eu country he enters.
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in 2009, adam protested against the murderous militia who up dated -- uprooted thousands of people in darfur province. all of these people across the mediterranean to seek refuge in europe. they tell people what happened to them in a bid to drum up support. many people and kreuzberg, which already has a big immigration population, are on their side. >> it's not about wanting more. until now, we demand our basic right. freedom of movement is basic right for every human being. >> but the refugees also face opposition. this summer, the police raided a disused school that refugees had squatted in for months. the squatters had refused to
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leave voluntarily. the authority -- the authorities called in the police, and the refugees called and the refugees called in their supporters. peaceful protest turned into a tense situation that lasted for weeks. now security guards check ids in front of the school. authorities do not want any new refugees to move in and certainly not the media. >> what about the camera? >> adam enters by himself. with a cell phone, he films the remaining medical hard-core of the school squatters, angry at berlin's politicians. >> when you clearly think about what was the purpose of them, is that we should not raise the fact, we should not talk about the issue. >> adam no longer lives in the school, nor does omar from niger.
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they both want to wake people in europe up to their situation. >> i'm here because european policies cost problems in libya. i worked for a french energy company. i had a good life and an apartment, everything. but then the war started. >> in 2011, france took part in the fight against libya's dictator, moammar gaddafi. to pressure the europeans, qaddafi sent laborers across the mediterranean is refugees. he's on his way to german lessons in berlin, but where was the school again the? the 27-year-old catches sight of a fellow student and follows him. life is a matter of feeling your way. adam has an appointment, too, in
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a berlin art gallery. >> we believe we can change something. but the real change, i think, will come from the people who live here. they have the right to four smaller -- more of the politicians to change. >> adam takes part in a discussion group with artists, supporters, and even police officers. he and the other refugees are forcing berliners to think about what a humane refugee policy really means. >> this week, the german authorities said adam and his fellow refugees had no right to stay in berlin and must leave. while that may be right from a strictly legal point of view, more and more people are now demanding clearer and fairer rules for the way refugees are treated in europe.
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europe has been marking 100 years since the first world war broke out this year. britain is one of the countries that suffered most. it lost its empire and millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. today, britons are also commemorating those who returned from the battlefields suffering from severe emotional trauma. >> sergeant bernard brooks with the british army recorded his impressions of the first world war in his diary. his daughter has been looking through it a lot recently. she chose to publish it to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the war to end all wars . >> i could not believe it, really, what they went through. what they suffered, really, in discomfort, even if not in danger. it was no way for any human to live. there was mud, water, rats.
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>> brooks experienced the terrible war of attrition in the trenches, largely held by the british. he wrote it all down in unsentimental, unsparing detail as a record for future generations. brooks was made a signal or because he had a bike. he used it to bring messages and orders to the front. he was one of over 6 million to serve in the war. he was glad to enlist. >> the people did not have a clue what it was like. they were full of patriotism and thought they were doing a good thing and did not realize what they were getting into. i think it is important to have a record of it. >> personal memories need official remembrance. to mark the 100 anniversary of the outbreak of the war, the
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british government gave the imperial war museum a 50 million euro makeover. for young and old, one of the highlights of a new world war i exhibition is the chance to walk through a reconstructed trench. british prime minister david cameron said the centennial he was to be a truly national commemoration of what he deemed to be a just war against the threat of oppression-dominated europe. the great war, as the first world war is known in britain, is an important chapter in the british empire's glorious past. last year, earth from flanders fields was ceremonial ship -- ceremonially shipped to create a memorial garden, but many british historians criticize using the past to serve a present-day political agenda.
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>> the prime minister, i think for his own political reasons, has tried to portray the commemoration as celebrating our brave lads who fought in the first world war. >> she prefers to remember in private. she is especially fond of this christmas card, which her father received in 1914. >> the message on the back -- "with our best wishes for christmas 1914, may god protect you and bring you home safe or co--- bring you home safe." our men went out and spoke to them in exchange souvenirs. he referred to them later at christmas as our friends the enemy. they were quite tired of the war and had no bitter feelings. >>'s camaraderie between enemy soldiers at the front created a
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lasting impression on bernard brooks. -- this camaraderie. >> he realized that there was no difference between the ordinary german in the ordinary british soldier. he never spoke about the germans with any sort of hatred. >> it was seen as a huge national tragedy. there's a lot of argument about it here, but there was a massive national commemoration, the fundamental part of the century. the second world war is the great traumatic event in germany. >> and early august 1915, brooks underwent a traumatic event of his own when he came under heavy bombardment while trying to deliver an order. he succeeded in getting through but had to climb over dead toddies in the sticky mud. the resulting shell shock left him unable to continue in active service.
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brooks did not recover for a long while, but he often talked about the war. he also let his children read his diary. now, his daughter feels it is time to share it with others. >> i feel, and i'm sure he would have felt the same, that we should not be celebrating the war. we should just be commemorating it in honor of all those who died and to say a prayer for them. >> in london, they remember the war dead. world war i may be a century ago now, but fourth this family, its memory lives on. >> it's hard to believe such conditions still exist in europe, but in some regions of romania, it seems like life has not changed for centuries. shepherds from the mountains and
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valleys of the southern carpathian mountains, but they are on guard all the time. as they told our reporter, and dangers lurk everywhere. >> high in the southern carpathian's in romania, shepherds drive their fox from high valley to high valley, looking for greener pastures. this is georgie and his helper, simeon. they look after a flock of over 300 sheep for their village, some of them privately owned. being a shepherd is not just a job but also a communal duty. they could not do it without their dogs. >> a good sheepdog knows exactly what he has to do. two or three have to go ahead and keep an eye out for wild animals, and the other dogs have to protect the flock against per tack -- against attacks from behind.
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>> but there's no protection against the weather. the shepherds have to keep a close watch. a sudden storm could spell disaster for them. only a few weeks before on a nearby ridge, over 200 sheep were killed by a single lightning strike seen here in amateur footage. >> i'm still horrified by it. it's unimaginable for 200 sheep to die is a massive blow to the shepherds, a terrible calamity. their livelihood is wiped out. >> the flock has to be on the move constantly, always in search of fresh grass. that affects the taste of the milk and the meat. he is wary of this clearing. several encounters with bears have happened here.
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>> the bear comes from higher up and hides behind the spruce trees, snatches a sheep and disappears with it down below. >> in fact, humans are ultimately to blame for the threat from bears. down in the valley, this rancher points out the cause. a horse cadaver has been laid out in a clearing, one of several in this forest, as bait. their hunting is a lucrative business in romania. the ranger watches and waits in the deer stand nearby. >> using this kind of the two lower bears is especially dangerous because they get used to the meat. if the bait suddenly stops coming, the bear's start attacking the sheet and cattle in the area.
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>> before long, a fox shows up and starts picking up the cadaver -- picking at the cadaver. suddenly, he catches the scent. not far away, a young brown bear appears and begins rooting through some old bones. a full-grown bear can weigh up to 600 kilograms. they are europe's most powerful predators. not long after, it takes off. in the meantime, the shepherd and his flock have reached the pen. man and beast have been on the who for a good 12 hours, but the sheep still have to be milked, a hard job late in the summer. >> the animals are not giving much milk now. the time has passed, and the grass is not as strong as it was in spring.
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>> in the evening, simeon heads back up the slope. in the mountains, he sleeps in the street with just this wooden box to protect against bears. this is his home. at one time, he had a wife and family, he says, but that is long past. >> it sat in a way, but what can i do? the time is over and done. shepherding is my life now. it's what i know how to do. i cannot turn the clock back and live my life over again. that is just how it is. >> suddenly, the dog's sound the alarm. the shepherds are there in an instant. something has broken into the sheep then -- 10 -- pen.
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>> something was here. it came close, but the dogs chased it off. >> it could only have been a bear. >> the next morning, he looks for the tracks. it does not take long for him to find them -- and more. >> looked -- that was my sheep. i had already noticed earlier today that it was not there for the milking, so i was looking for it. the bear snatched it. >> it's a hard loss, but not unusual here in the carpathians. in fact, it has been nothing unusual for hundreds of years. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal." from all of us here at gw, do join us again next time -- from
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all of us here at dw. until then, auf wiedersehen and bye for now. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--
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09/04/14 09/04/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! a long time ago, i wanted to find me a good wife. i wanted to raise a family. i wanted to have my own business and everything. i never got the chance to fulfill those dreams. never got the chance because people took 30 years away from me.

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