On Local Matters, journalist Franziska Peschel tackles the big social issues, exploring what they mean for our local communities in Luxembourg and how the big decisions and events affect people on a personal level. Every week, she explores one topic from three different angles - in interviews and short features. Franziska is passionate about narrative reporting for radio and written press. In her stories, she tries to find something human, she tells about people and what moves them.
Tune in every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9.40am.
If you want to get involved and suggest a topic that we should investigate on or if you feel like you have a story to tell that fits our style at Local Matters, get in touch and write an e-mail to listeners@ara.lu.
Time to talk about racism again. On Local Matters today, we see how young people approach the issue, and which experiences they have made. A dozen young people spend this week together working with the association Aldic to understand what discrimination is, and how to react.
Today on Local Matters, we walk. We put on our gender glasses and join the association Kehsia for a memory walk in Luxembourg-City. The aim is to see how women are portrayed in public spaces.
On Local Matters, we have a visit to the north-eastern end of the city of Luxembourg, to the neighborhood of Kuebebierg. So far, it is only green fields and a few trees. Once finished, the Kuebebierg neighborhood will house 3000 families.
In the past years, digitisation has been a huge challenge for the National Archives. The archivists have been digitising paper documents, while planning how to store documents that exist only online. For the National Archives, digitisation is an opportunity to make archives more accessible. In our interview on Local Matters, the director of the National Archives Josée Kirps explains the recent strategies and challenges.
In the end of January, the townhall of Junglinster caught fire. The roof collapsed into the municipal archives. Even though luckily no important documents have burnt, some communes have started focusing more on the relevance of their municipal archives after the incident. On Local Matters this week, we take this as an occasion to talk about archiving.
In the beginning of this week, lawmakers in France voted in favor of making abortion rights constitutional. The planning familial Asbl has been advocating to take the same step in Luxembourg as well. In our interview on Local Matters, Ainhoa Achutegui, president of Planning Familial, explains why this is so important and how accessible abortion is in Luxembourg nowadays.
The National museum of Resistance and Human Rights in Esch was reopened last week, after almost 6 years of renovation works. On Local Matters, we've had a visit.
Follow Local Matters as we go on tour! This week in Rollingen where we explore the natural source Dreibouren and its role for the drinking water supply of Ettelbrück.
Farmers struggle to pass their family farms on because the new generation doesn’t want to be farmers anymore. For Tom Kass, one reason is the isolation that goes hand in hand with living on a farm. To avoid this, he recreated the Kass-Haff as a community project that brings people and especially kids closer to the farm. On today's Local Matters, Franziska takes you along for a visit.
Local sports history, nostalgia and success - the Stade de Thillenberg is an iconic place. On Local Matters today, we dive into the history of this stadium.
Differdange debates where to accommodate the asylum seekers. The current building at Thillenberg is in a bad condition. The heating doesn't work and the building needs renovation. The Green party suggests to relocate the refugees to the large building next door, the former hospital. The mayor has a different view.
Amélie Dolo knows: Debts make sick. And she also knows that people have to make debts to stay healthy. Amélie Dolo is the head of the Inter-Actions' over-indebtedness counseling service. In our interview on Local Matters, she explains how debts and health are related.
When something unexpected happens in life – job loss or sickness – people risk making more debts than they can afford. The Ligue Médico-sociale offers consultancy for people with excessive debts. Christian Schumacher, the head of the department, is our guest on Local Matters.
Once per year, youth gets to defend their proposals in parliament, debating with MEPs and ministers. For the president of the youth council, Liam Bremer, the Jugendkonvent is a successful tool for political participation, for Diana and Marta, it's an occasion to get their points across and to feel heard. On Local Matters, all three of them explain what political participation means to them.
In our interview on Local Matters, Charel Schmit, the Ombudsman for Children and Youth tells us how he sees the progresses that have been made and the issues that still need to be addressed to guarantee the right to participation for youth.
Violence as a means of communication is used when words are not available. At the service Riicht Eraus of the Red Cross, psychologist Daniela Cabete tries to prevent men from using violence against their family members. In our interview, she calls for a rethinking of boys' education.
On Local Matters this week, we dive into the topic of men’s tears. Upon growing up, young men learn to mask their emotions to be masculine. Often this impacts mental health, fosters depression and internalised stress. With the local association Infomann, men and boys can seek help.
How do memes help the far right in recruiting new followers of their radical ideology? On Local Matters, Mira Sorrentino explains how social media opens doors towards extremism. Mira works with the association respect.lu to keep people from pursuing radical ideologies. Tune in to learn more!
With the latest escalation in Middle East, public debate is more polarised than ever. Doors wide open for more extreme opinions and radicalisation. On today's Local Matters, Carine Weyer and Peter Kagerer explain how they avoid people from getting more radicalised with the Asbl respect.lu
At the English class for seniors at the senior club Beim Kiosk in Schifflange, learning English is one part of the deal, staying active and being together the more important one. For our third and last episode of this week's Local Matters on the risk of loneliness for elderly people, we took the microphone and participated at the English class for seniors.
Upon retiring, people need to restructure their everyday life. In our interview, Laura Zuccoli and Astrid Lauterbach explain how the Gero Kompetenzzenter fir den Alter supports people taking this step. They both volunteer as "pensiounscoaches". This is our first interview of this week's Local Matters on the risk of falling into loneliness for elderly people.
Since Monday of last week, Luxembourg doesn’t provide accommodation for newly arriving single male asylum seekers anymore. On Local Matters this week, we follow up on the situation and see on which solutions the actors in the field have been working.
For more than a week, single male asylum seekers have been denied access to the refugee shelters. They have since slept in the streets of Luxembourg. On Local Matters this week, we analyse the consequences of this decision taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and look out for potential solutions.
Tennis is one of the few sports where women are nearly as famous and nearly as well paid as men. On Local Matters today, two women who have to do with tennis get the mic. Danielle Maas is one of the organisers of the Luxembourg Ladies Masters tournament that took place last weekend. And Andrea Petkovic has played tennis on international stages for years. With both, we talk about gender equality in sports.
Photo: Wikicommons
Gender equality is still particularly visible in sports. On Local Matters today, we talk to a local women's volleyball team about how they perceive the inequality. And Maurice Bauer, alderman for gender equality at the city of Luxembourg, explains what the commune does to increase equality.
Centres for homeless people in Luxembourg are not well enough equipped to accommodate women. In our interview on Local Matters, Alexandra Oxacelay, the director of Stëmm vun der Stroos, tells us more about their situation.
A live in the streets is more dangerous and more violent for women than for men. Women tend to hide instead of seeking help, and avoid mixed spaces as they are often not adapted to women's needs. In Brussels, the Asbl L'Ilot last month opened a new day care centre - exclusively for women. Franziska went to interview the director Ariane Dierickx.
Artificial intelligences reproduce racist stereotypes. For the people concerned, this can have serious consequences. In our interview on Local Matters, digital rights activist Oyidiya Oji talks about the risks. This Saturday, she speaks in Luxembourg in the framework of Black History Month.
Next week, Diana Tape holds a workshop on how to avoid and react to micro-aggressions in the framework of Black History Month. On Local Matters, she explains all about the upcoming workshop and about micro-aggressions.