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Jarmok is a kind of festival mixed with amusement park attractions. Unlike Oktoberfest or other famous festivals, jarmok does not focus exclusively on beer promotion. In fact, nowadays jarmok does not have any special purpose, but there are strong traditions rooted in the past.

The people would gather from time to time to exchange, and later unfortunately trade, their goods and enjoy themselves whilst doing it. Such market meetings took part in the early Autumn, after the end of the harvest season when the farmers looked to sell their crops and buy what they would need for the winter. The farmers and craftsmen were gradually replaced by supermarket suppliers and businessmen, but the idea of jarmok, or city market, remained.

Jarmoks take place over the whole year in different cities and towns, often connected by some kind of holiday- for example the city's anniversary or a Christian holiday. The jarmok in Levice (where I went) used to take place on St Martins day (11 November), but was brought forward to the middle of October for the better weather. My grandparents remember the traditional jarmoks, when the people used to sell real animals. Now, the poor horses serve as an attraction for the kids who consider them unicorns with broken horns.

The recent acquittal of George Zimmerman, who killed the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in February this year, has sparked protests across the African-American community in the US, who are protesting against the verdict of the jury.

President Obama declared during a public speech, that the protests are the result of racist discrimination against black men who are often judged by the colour of their skin:

"It's important to recognize that the African-America community is looking at this issue through a set of experience and history that doesn't go away. There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. [...] The African- American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparity in the application of our criminal laws."

Trayvon Martin might have been a ‘thug', he might have acted suspiciously and might have assaulted Zimmerman.

However, rather than focusing on whether Zimmerman reacted in self-defence (a right that is often abused and extremely hard to prove right or wrong) or not, the argument here is on the conversations going on about racial discrimination and prejudices that show still how ephemeral any integration can be.

Brazil is using the upcoming sporting events to present the idea that it belongs to the world's richest countries; however the protests against the social problems do the exact opposite.

Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is getting ready for the organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later. However, over the last week, the streets of the major cities have been stormed by protesters, using the football Confederations Cup as a way to get global attention.

They are objecting to social injustices and increasing costs, especially those of public transport- since 1994, the bus ticket price in Sao Paulo has increased by 540%. The discontent of the majority testifies to the fact that the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and the rest fail to pay for a middle class status.

The Business of Football

In contrast, on the football field Brazil is doing well at the Confederation Cup- a kind of rehearsal competition one year prior to the World Cup. They have always been good at the ‘low cost' game brought by the British workers at the end of the 19th century.

Malala Yousafzai attended her first day at school in Birmingham, yesterday. She described this day as: "the most important of my life", and I believe it should represent an achievement for all of us and a reminder of the struggles of people in other countries.

The braveness of a Pakistani adolescent, who was shot in the head by Taliban for asking education to be granted to girls in Pakistan, has to remind us that what we have is still denied in other places.
However, the irony is that while in some parts of the world people risk their lives to gain access to education, somewhere else the importance of a hard-won historical right is denied.

I often happen to hear youths lamenting because they have to study: it is too boring and useless.
I see so many teenagers, forgotten by their parents, wandering around the city smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and ‘acting cool'. None of them has a dream, a purpose, a motivation and the more I witness this, the more I think about Malala and how differently education is conceived today in modern societies.

Erik Redli is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. Each week he gives his view on the events of the last seven days. This week, he casts his eye over Hugo Chazez's death,  a Mother's Day daffodil shortage and international students' right to the NHS. 

Death of Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez died this week after a lengthy but secretive illness.

"Dictators usually live a long time, unless they are overthrown and executed. Hugo Chavez died at the comparatively young age of 58 which hints that he was not the traditional dictator, but a "21 century liberator"- a term he coined himself.

Recently, the president of Colombia said that Chavez was a model leader for the rest of South America. Many countries followed the Venezuelan process towards ‘21 century socialism' with a bit of democracy. However, Chavez‘s health has been debated for over a year. There are stories that he might have died long before the official announcement. The sudden cancelation of some public appearances only testifies to what could have been a political move playing for time.