 Welcome to another episode of DMTV. This is the Faces of DM25 episode, a series exploring the people making up our movements, where we discuss their inspirational stories, why and how they took the step from citizen to activism and politics. I'm Johannes Fair. I'm coordinating volunteers for DM25, and I'm speaking to you here from Berlin. And I'm really excited to be here tonight with Julie, Robert, Maria and George. I think they're coming into the screen now. There they are. This is the core team that you're now seeing behind the scenes, doing English subtitles for the videos on this channel. So probably now you will do subtitles that this team has actually done and has done for so many videos on this channel, which is a very tedious and important work, because for example, subtitles provide clarity of technical language, jargons and full names, enhancing language skills, widen reach, make it available for anyone and anywhere, allow manageable viewing and sound-sensitive environments, better user engagement and experience, boost search engine ranking, all these things I've done a little bit of research. And I think the success of this channel, which has now around 100,000 subscribers, is also partly the success of the volunteers behind the scenes actually helping out with providing these subtitles that making it easy for everyone and actually watching to engage with the different videos. But before we go into this, a little bit of talking about the experience of doing subtitling, let's see who these people are who are with me tonight. And I would go once around the virtual room and find out a little bit who and where you are, what is your background and what's your motivation, why did you join the M25? So it would be great if you could just give a little bit of an introduction of where and how you are also tonight when joining on this call. Yeah, very excited to start with Julie, who I think is in Turkey, right? Yeah, I live in Turkey now. I'm from the U.S. and I live in a little village here since COVID and I'm certainly not used to public speaking like this. I'm a little nervous, so I wrote notes. But my background, I guess, most of my work life was in tech. I'm retired now. And I've traveled a lot. I've lived in Algeria and here in Greece a little bit and around the U.S. in a lot of places. And why I'm here is, I guess, because I believe in the things that Deem has to offer. You know, the ideas are amazing. And so I found a place where I could, as an introvert, sort of plug in and participate and do something. So that's it. Great, thanks. And yeah, thanks for taking that step forward. I know that it can be, you know, weird to actually see yourself on screen now. Who is this person I believe in the Czech Republic and is called Robert or Robbie? You know, I think people have been calling me Robbie, all of my friends for basically my whole life and including the closest friends. So I have, I just, it's stuck. So anyway, yes, I'm speaking to everyone from the border of the Czech Republic and Poland called Czeski Kieszyn, that I've lived in for a year and a half. And previously before that, I had lived in Prague for seven years or thereabouts. And yeah, I moved in 2012, November 2012, from the United States. I'm an American. And I've been living here in the Czech Republic since. So my background, a little bit about me, I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. I only lived in the United States. I had never traveled abroad or had been abroad before moving to Europe and, or hadn't spoken any languages or learned any languages or anything like that. So this was for me and really almost no one in my, I don't know, around me had either. So it was really a big thing for me to move. And at home, I studied literature for four years. And I had, I worked many different jobs and mostly in restaurants and this kind of thing. And I guess if I, when I was looking at your question, Johannes, about preparing a little bit about what my background is, I guess that most people at home in Cincinnati know me as a musician. And because I was playing and I've been played in many, many bands and drums and guitar and punk and metal and hardcore bands basically. So I think most of the friends I know know me that way. They don't know me as a leftist in Europe, part of a political organization called DM 25. So it's, so I think it's for me, this part of the coming onto here tonight would be, in some sense, a lot of people don't know what I'm doing and don't see what I'm doing at home. So that's a nice thing for me too. So yeah, I'm a school teacher here. I've been teaching English and I do translations also. And I have check and check in Polish or rather check. And that's how I got into DM actually, or that's how I started to do this translation work was because of my interest in the languages. And I thought I would be useful in that way. And then I ended up basically starting to work with the subtitles. So it was, I wasn't expecting that exactly, but that's the work I find myself doing it. And it's fine with me. Yeah. And I think that's all I can think of about my background without getting too sentimental or nostalgic. Thanks. Yeah. I didn't know about the music. Maybe I have to look up your name and search for it. I think I'm not the, I know that there's also a resident metalhead and Eric also in the coordinating collective. So I always see Eric and think, you know, a metal, metal brother. So I'm one of the other one, I guess. All right. All right. Very good. And then, yeah, you came to Europe and became a leftist. Or you probably always were another leftist in Europe. I think, or I guess, let me know if that is not what you call yourself. Sitting in the Netherlands. Maria, how did you come to the N25? I grew up in a family with there was no politics. Not ever discussed politics at national or international. But we were raised with a great awareness of our surroundings, meaning nature, culture, but especially the fellow humans. I studied nursing and did the ICU training afterwards and actually traveled in that capacity quite a bit. I treated, helped treat the poor and the rich. I worked in Africa, in Zaire. Now it's Congo, Kinshasa, I think it's called. And I saw the devastation of the colonial regime there, of the post-colonial from Belgium. And I worked on cruise ships working from Piraeus in Greece. And with the rich get together and have their joyous trips. But in the end, everybody, they all have the same anxieties. They all have the same fears of pain and illness. So in that sense, we're all equal. After I settled with my family in Greece, and the 2008 crisis really woke me up to I stumbled on the logo of Jan Verpakis' thoughts for the post-2008 world. I don't know if you notice. It's a very... And I followed and tried to find answers in what the F is happening in Europe and especially devastation it caused in Greece. Then it was developed into DMI, followed that, became a member and wanted to help. But I'm not a street activist. You don't see me ever with a sign on the street, I don't... And not into that. So just behind the scenes helping and I like dealing with language. So I joined the Dutch translator board, later became coordinator. But there's not so much work there. And then we have this global translation calls, where all the translators meet online. And I heard a rubbish call for help. So I decided I could do some work there too. And I'm still there learning to transcribe in subtitle, I mean, instead of translate, which is a different altogether. But yeah, we're a great team. I like doing the work and it's a joy being part of them. That's it for me. Thanks. Thanks for the introduction. And yeah, you can already see I think a lot of travelers here in this virtual rooms. And of course also just a small part of the bigger team. As Maria has already mentioned, there's many more people working on different languages as well. But yeah, tonight we have the team that has been doing most of the English subs for Dm25. Yeah, I think Maria was also speaking a little bit about Greece already and her experiences there. And we have someone here that is not quite from Greece, but in Cyprus. And that is George. Please introduce yourself as well. I'm, as Johannes said, I'm located in Cyprus, actually in Limosol in Cyprus. I repatriated here after having a little bit of work to broad for practically all my adult life. In fact, as a child, my parents immigrated to the UK, where basically all my education graduated from there, got married, and then got a few feet and so I traveled, I think going about two or three continents. Some of my childhood years, I spent in Australia after the age of 18. My family then started to up and come back to Europe, back to London in fact, the UK, where I lived and worked for a number of years. I worked as an engineer in the pharmaceutical industry. And since then I've also worked in Africa, but West Africa and Central Africa. Again, in the capacity of an engineer in sort of factory management. And then come full circle and I wound up back here about 20 years ago. I am in fact a Greek speaking Christian Cypriot. I use that description rather than say I'm a Greek Cypriot because I think I don't want to emphasize the Hellenistic part that in fact that's I think a toxic element in our problem. For those of you listening, may not be aware Cyprus is a divided island. The north is occupied by the Turkish army. And although we, you know, at the Greeks, the Greeks speaking part we weep because we are victims. In fact, our Turkish Cypriot compatriots are even more victims because over the years there's been settlers moved from the mainland to the north Cyprus. And unfortunately our compatriots are now a minority in their own country. Sorry to get political there. I wasn't political until I came to Cyprus actually. Although I've always been left leaning. Again, that was the influence of my parents, particularly my mother. In her youth she actually worked, she was a member or loosely associated with the Communist Party on the cultural side. She was a drama. She did various events. But she had to give it up. She was from a poor working class background as was my father and obviously they integrated to the UK for a better future for themselves and their children. That worked out pretty well, I think. Now, my motivation for joining DM I've been a member since 2017 and part of the translation and the subtitle subscription group. I started out a few years after that, a couple of years I think. But what would draw me to DM in the first place I think. Was some of Yanis' appearances very far found, very inspirational. And also the thing which resonated particularly about DM is the aspirational elements for equality and inclusivity, which I think is very relevant in the context of my country. And by joining DM it was my way in fact of getting educated to try and contribute in some way here. I made contact, I believe there are other members of DM and I usually try to be successful in making contact but hopefully we will be able to talk specifics and I'll keep you updated on that. But for the moment I'm happy to be a foot soldier as part of the translation and the transcription team and do my bit. Well, that's me. Thanks, George. Thanks a lot. Yeah, I also learned something here about a lot of different experiences and jobs that you have done and yeah, I think values also that you bring to the team of VM25, very inspiring. I also, we learned something about the Cypriotic history now that's also very interesting. Since Julie you have spoken very shortly in the beginning and you're in Turkey, which is as we all say in DM, I think, also a part of Europe, so we have active DMers in Turkey as well. Julie, I wanted to ask you a little bit on how is it in today's Turkey because how is the situation maybe to tell our listeners a little bit. Wow, the situation. Well, the economy is terrible. The currency is falling terribly and people are paying so much more, I don't know, 36% more since December in the grocery store and petrol and everything and the electricity bill was doubled. But now they've backed off, I read today, you know, from that because there was so much protest. It's hard for the people here, really hard. And I think people here, many people really want change and they hope for it and they're looking for a way. Yeah, yeah, I'd say like that without going too far because really I'm not Turkish, you know, and I'm aware that an American coming in and saying some big opinions about things, it's just unpleasant. Okay, yeah, that speaks for you. But thanks, I think it's very important sometimes to pronounce this and also say to all listeners, maybe from Turkey, you know, DM 25 is active in the country and we especially, of course, are very happy. Yeah, we get new Turkish comrades joining the movement and working for the change that you have been describing. Now we got a little bit political, but I think that is probably quite normal on a DMGV episode. Let's go a little bit into the work that some of you have already been trying to describe a little bit, but I think it has also personally for me through DM 25, sometimes I'm doing now subtitles or translation, which is of course for us as a European movement. Yeah, we have so many different languages. We are speaking English tonight, but all other languages are also important. So we're trying to do as many translation work as we can and do that mostly on a volunteer basis. So every help is always, of course, also welcome. So if you are there, want to join, volunteer at DM 25.org, you can join this team and be part of the global translation call and get to know all these people better also. Let's go a little bit into the work, how, what has been challenging and or exciting when doing subtitling and why do you think it is important? Robbie, I think we can circle back to you. Thanks, Johannes. Well, why is it important? I think it's maybe I'll speak for everyone here, but obviously it's important that in the sense that we needed translations or with the hopes that the English, you know, if we have a working knowledge of English, that we can translate that later and try to get as much reach as possible instead of having subtitles, but rather translations of the text and then subtitles and respective languages would be ideal. Of course, because of reality, this is not possible. It takes so much time, but I think the overall, let's say importance of this is that in my opinion or how I perceived it at the beginning was that we were, you know, this idea of having as much reach as possible for the M25. That said, with subtitling, you know, the work, like you mentioned at the very beginning in the intro today, all the aspects, it's also a watchability or also even a reach for some videos, as far as I understand that when videos have subtitles they even are, I don't know how to say this, but they're in YouTube even, you know, they're more available and they have more views and this and that. So there's that. But for me, I can say, you know, speaking personally, the importance of the subtitling is really that it's the thing I can do for DM that needs to happen, you know, that has to happen and I am able to do it simply. I can find time and sit down and do it and do this. You know, I coordinate the board, as you've mentioned, or has a bit mentioned, but I, part of this coordination effort and basically the four of us are sharing that duty, especially with Julie. But, you know, this is something that I, like, maybe like Julie said that I was able to do it, so simply I do it in its important work for me because like Maria, I'm also not the person who is involved in this political life as much in the Czech Republic or even in America, not at all. And this is, so for me, the importance of it is quite personal that I can simply, it's something I can do for the movement. But of course, the idea that I think is that we have as much, we have some basis that we can basically translate from. And that's why the importance of the English board, I think is, I mean, it's very important this English board because it has this basis for the rest of this translations if they make that possible. So speaking, I mean, for me, it's personal because it's the thing I can do. But, yeah. Thanks. I think for all the listeners, the board is basically the team, so the English team, you know, working on the different tasks that are of course numerous. So we have a kind of a table, a board where we, you know, where everyone can pick what they can actually contribute in the time that they have available on this voluntary basis. Maria, what did you learn by doing these subtitles or by doing this kind of thing? I learned everything, Janice. I knew nothing about subtitling because on the Dutch board, the Dutch translations, there was hardly any subtitling done. And I sort of avoided it because it seemed difficult. But once, you know, you get put a little effort in it and you read what it's about and you try and make mistakes. And I mean, these guys around me helped me all the time to get better. And it's like an enjoy doing it. It's fun also to be able to get something done, you know, makes you feel proud as well that you did it again. And I think what Rob said, it's true, it's so important that the message gets out there and that's understood by as many people as possible. So, yeah, it's important work because English is the main, however we make of it, the main language. And yeah, it's important that it gets done. Yes. And I think in Dieppe 25, we are of course also doing a big effort to having more content now in different languages that is, you know, originally done in Greek in German in other languages. But of course, for the international scale, so to say, the English still will be our most important language that we can also learn to speak to each other. Great, George, is there something that you can share that what you have learned by doing this tedious work of writing down what other people are saying, basically? Yeah, I just said it is tedious work, mind-numbing at times. But okay, you know, okay, boring work is something I'm used to. But I think when I got out of it, I could probably put into three separate headings. There's the intellectual stroke educational aspects of it. Because in doing the subtitles, I'm actually seeing many more videos under the cover of I'm actually seeing many more videos than I would normally, and maybe even see some which I would particularly choose to see. But even then, I find there's a lot of interesting stuff, particularly the allusion to the political implications of a lot of cultural stuff. You know, I'm going to realize that culture is political or can be political. The other aspect basically is the social side in basically through the medium of these videos, you're seeing getting exposure to people from different backgrounds and different objectives and different cultures, different countries. And the other thing is the cultural. Basically the social and cultural sort of merge. And I think the main benefit to me if you can call it a benefit is as the other speakers already mentioned is the satisfaction of having contributed something. It may seem like a back room, it's a back room activity. You know, carrying placards and so on, but I think what we do contributes to the efforts of the movement for enlightenment. I think as someone once said the three most important things about movement is communication, communication, communication. So that's where we are I think. Yes, that's what we're doing now communicating and something that I can share what I've also found an interesting experience when subtitling videos and especially then doing translation of subtitles is that I actually go much deeper into what the text is actually speaking about and learning what the speakers are saying because I'm writing it down basically again, which is also a technique that helped me in school and so on once more go through it. So this is also something if you see an interesting video that is much easier of course subtitle and of course most of the DnTV results are very interesting and fun to subtitle. Julie, what is there something that the special that you learned while doing this? Well, everything's pretty much been covered but I guess I'd say I kind of enjoy it because there's kind of a relaxation that happens when you focus down on something for that long and I've learned a lot and seen people that I would never have known about before and ideas I didn't know about before so I love it and also when you're going that slow and going over what they're saying you get the emotional content that's going on in there too and that's always interesting to me and yes and the different kind of characters that you can also see and they're fascinating and a lot of people I've respected for a long time and it's like an honor in a way it seems silly but I feel honored to be a part of something that they're in front of yeah cool yeah I think this has been half an hour episode of DMTV so that we will make it a little shorter tonight so that we don't have that much work for this one to subtitle but maybe once more one more time to Robbie to wrap up the call and or the livestream or the stream that we have been doing so Robbie over to you thanks Johannes yeah it's been given to me to end it so a lot of the things that you've heard tonight I can say that this is a way to get involved in the movement that is possible, doable at any you know any contribution can help anytime you can put into it can help Julie and I are native speakers of English or Americans George has background in the UK as you've heard but this doesn't require you to be a native speaker of English so one of the aspects about joining our team could be that you could practice simply practice English or some exposure to listening and so on and transcribing can be in some sense practice you know but anyway I wanted to say that it's not a special inclusive team that you have to learn a lot of things to get involved in there are some things at the beginning but once you get the hang of it it's easy work it can be tedious but it's easy work and yeah so as you've heard there's many of us on the team but we're always looking for you know more and we really need some people who would be able to take over some of this work from us because one of the things is that the four of us here are pretty worked and pretty overworked sometimes with this so not to sound pathetic but so please out there if you're watching if you could consider joining our team and helping us out with these videos in my opinion DMTV or speaking personally DMTV is I think both maybe the most powerful tool or one of the most powerful tools for people to learn about DM to see the people involved in it all the way from people like us in the background all the way to the sort of most famous people that are part of it or the most influential ones you know this is a good way to get involved I think so yep if you're sitting in and you want to get involved somehow with DM25 you don't know how to do it and you understand English you can work with it and you have a computer get in touch please we need the help great yeah I think this is of course also true for other languages if you want to get involved volunteer at DM25.org that's where you can contact me and I will connect you to with all these people that you have seen today on this Faces of DM25 episode four Faces of DM it was a great pleasure also you out there if you want to join DM25.org slash join if you're not yet a member that would also you know to grow and thanks to you all for joining this call I think it was great fun and hope to speak to you soon again Karpidium