Construction of the Elbe Philharmonic is underway, with its opening planned for autumn, 2011. Hamburg?s creative artists are not alone in seeing a new landmark for their city in this spectacular concert hall....
more
Le Monde des livres | Tygodnik Powszechny | The Economist | Le Nouvel Observateur | Nepszabadsag
Le Monde des livres 08.02.2007 (France)
Recent weeks have witnessed a growing rumble of discontent among friends and followers of Pierre Bourdieu. This was provoked by linguist and philosopher Jean-Claude Milner who, on Alain Finkielkraut's radio programme "Repliques", accused the sociologist of anti-Semitism. On February 8, a number of intellectuals wrote to the Liberation to protest against these "absurd and ludicrous" accusations. Jean Birnbaum summarises Milner's arguments, which fire directly at two of Bordieu's books, "The Inheritors: French Students and Their Relations to Culture" and "State nobility. Elite Schools in the Field of Power". According to Birnbaum, Milner's "objective was to provoke thought", because of what he considers are the "disastrous" consequences of Bordieu's theories on young immigrants. He quotes Milner: "The astonishing thing about Bourdieu is his general style, his use of rhetoric which involves twisting the meanings of words. He describes as 'inheritors' groups that have no inheritance and uses the term 'state noblesse' for something that has nothing to do with noblesse. I myself am an example of what he calls meritocratic elitism. But what inheritance he is referring to? My parents had no money, and French was not their mother tongue!"
Tygodnik Powszechny 12.02.2007 (Poland)
Since Archbishop Wielgul of Warsaw confessed to having collaborated with the communist police, Poland has turned the spotlight on its communist past. Conservative politicians and newspapers are flocking to point the finger at Adam Michnik, the one-time leading dissident and now editor-in-chief of the influential Gazeta Wyborcza, for having stonewalled lustration processes in cahoots with the (post) communists. Michal Olszewski declares: "The day of reckoning is here. Gazeta Wyborcza and Michnik himself, with their strategy of national reconciliation and forgiveness, are on the defensive. All the talking is now being done by people who have had enough of differentiation and who like things black and white. Communism was bad, the failure to address the communist past in 1989 was bad. The time has come to take revenge on Michnik for all the real and alleged misdemeanours."
The Economist 12.02.2007 (UK)
The Economist finds Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography as fascinating as it is problematic. "Read as a modern coming-of-age story set in Africa, the book has a certain charm. Read as a key to the thinking of a woman who aspires to be the Muslim Voltaire, it is more problematic. The facts as Ms Hirsi Ali tells them here do not fit well either with some of the stories she has told in the past or with her tendency in her political writing to ascribe most of the troubles of the Muslim world to Islam." Follow the multicuralism debate launched by Pascal Bruckner here.
Le Nouvel Observateur 08.02.2007 (France)
To mark the publication of his book "A Sultan in Palermo" in France, Pakistani author, journalist and filmmaker Tariq Ali talks in an interview about Islamism, Iraq, and his youth in London in the 60s where he mingled with the likes of Mick Jagger and John Lennon. Things look black for Iraq, he states: "In my opinion, the Kurdish areas in the north will separate and come under Israeli/American protection. A major part of the south will become an Iranian protectorate, while the middle will be dominated by the Saudis or by Syria. The times of an independent Iraq with its own territorial sovereignty are over. Like Afghanistan, the country is a veritable time bomb."
Nepszabadsag 10.02.2007 (Hungary)
Political scientist Laszlo Lengyel has read the new book of essays by Adam Michnik, and agrees with Michnik that Western Europe has "lost interest in our region". "Far from taking an active part in shaping Europe, we are still very much an outsider, be it a reverential or a sceptical one.... It's not easy to go on beseeching Europeans in Brussels or other European capitals to help protect Europe's periphery from the barbarians, and at the same time to see their cold calculating looks and indifferent smiles. It's as if they were saying: Dear Central Europeans, handle your barbarians yourselves, we've got enough problems! Michnik hates the Poland which seeks to be the historical 'guarantor' of Western Europe, which puts demands on Europe and the world, but itself supposedly has no debts. Michnik has no time for the Poland – and the Central Europe – that sees only its own suffering, and wants to have all its sins absolved. Michnik wanted Poland to become a normal country. Now he stands there, still on the periphery, and must continually point to the special, other Poland, just to attract people's attention at all. As a Central European it's impossible to become a member of the inner circle of the European club. Our enterprises, newspapers and opinions remain forever Polish or Hungarian. We will never sit on the management boards in Munich, Paris or Milan, we will never belong to the decision makers. All we have is the choice of remaining at home as vice regents, or of emigrating. Europe, take care that after having won us, you don't lose us just as fast!
RSS
Protect investors from themselves, cries the New York Review of Books, in tune with George Soros. Teach the Roma how to work, calls Nepszabadsag. In La vie des idees, Historian Roger Chartier shows how the digital age has returned the book to its medieval state. The Economist thinks it has seen the light for the music industry. In Standpoint, tenor Ian Bostridge pops a rock 'n' roll bubble. Jonathan Littell goes to Georgia for Le Monde. Bollywood is to India what Dante was to Italy, says Outlook India. And the New York Times visits a rosy-cheeked Kleiner Perkins. 
In the Nation, Joseph Stiglitz is not buying anything the Bush administration is selling. L'Express introduces the "black book of publishing". The Times Literary Supplement warms to the unlikely Ukraine defender, Archduke Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen. Literaturen travels to Kamering with Austrian author Josef Winkler and his pepper spray. HGV has the end of lonely thinking in sight. And The Economist is keeping a beady eye on Total Information Awareness.
Portfolio portrays the billionaire Raymond Harbert who is knocking ever louder on the New York Times's door. In Espresso, Umberto Eco has a good old chuckle about downgrading. In the Gazeta Wyborcza historian 
Rupert Murdoch is fantasising about reaping sweet revenge on the New York Times, Vanity Fair believes. The New Yorker describes the sticky situation of the Putin-critical radio station Ekho Moskvy. The Spectator describes the impossible situation of bloggers in Iran. Le Monde diplomatique prints a posthumous text by Jacques Derrida about rogue states and how to outfox them. Outlook India celebrates India's rise to nuclear standing. And the Atlantic thanks the Met's Philippe de Montebello for never underestimating the public.
The New Yorker tells the tale of a hero, police officer James Zadroga. In El Pais author Javier Cercas seaches for happiness, boring as that might be. Le Figaro explains the difference between a snob and a dandy. Nepzsabadsag is amazed at how Serbian nationalism is moving with the times. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, political scientist Ivan Krastev admires the power of the paper tiger. Przekroj harbours the secret of the Westerplatte. The London Review of Books examines the malaise of party politics. And in L'Espresso, Umberto Eco calls for a new law on naming streets.
The New York Review of Books explains how Russia sent a message to the Ukrainians and the Balts. In Le Point, Bernard-Henri Levy awards Monsieur Putin a gold medal for his cynicism. Prospect meets the world's best and fairest society. Rue 89 asks whether France was waging a revolutionary war in Rwanda. Elet es Irodalom prescribes an "Operation Paprika" for Hungary. Gazeta Wyborczy remembers the Polish Danzigers. Folio goes on a dream holiday. And the Nation describes how New Orleans came close to reinstating segregation.
The Hudson Review tells the story of the boxing film "The Set Up" which was based on an epic poem from 1928. Wired plugs into the future of electric cars in Israel. In The New Republic, Joseph Stiglitz looks at the impact made by the Great Depression 2008. Tygodnik Powszechny tells the Catholic Church to wake up and smell the environment. In Babelia, novelist-turned-publisher Javier Marias explains how he ended up working for the afterlife. In openDemocracy, Ivan Krasten looks at the fatal consequences of the war in Georgia for Russia. And in the New Yorker, John Updike follows Max Factor on his journey from wigs to bee-stung lips.
The Atlantic holds up the termite as a paradigm of bio-efficiency. The New York Times investigates wine classification in Bordeaux. In Tygodnik Powszechny, writer Marek Nowakowski outlines his strategy for accommodating communism. Letras Libras misses the hawkishness of Roberto Bolano. Outlook India portrays the new Bollywood star Aksay Kumar. In Rue 89 Michel Wieviorka warns about burgeoning racism in France. And in L'Espresso Umberto Eco smells fear and regression in Italy.
In Die Welt, Victor Erofeyev collects his thoughts on Solzhenitsyn's life and work. The New Republic laments the Europeanisation of American cities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, theatre directors Monika Strzepka and Pawel Demirski are pining for the equality that neoliberalism has abolished. Prospect magazine covers the re-emergence of character in Britain. Przekroj magazine covers both Sarkozy and heavy metal, albeit in separate articles. And Roberto Saviano tells us in L'Espresso why Italy's boxers will be packing a punch with Southern gusto. 
The London Review of Books finds one point on which to agree with General Franco. Rue89 asks: How anti-Semitic is the cartoonist Sine? The Wall Street Journal reports on a Dutch cartoonist who landed in jail for making anti-Muslim jokes. In the New York Times Thomas Schweich looks at myopia, corruption and poppies in Afghanistan. Al-Ahram watched the Egyptian remake of 'Cabaret'. In Espresso, Umberto Eco uses taxi drivers to justify the rise in global security. And political scientist Seyla Benhabib tells ResetDoc why we need blogs.
In the Hungarian Quarterly, Magda Szabo remembers how her first manuscript was smuggled out of Hungary and into the hands of a German publisher's reader by the name of Hermann Hesse. Portfolio portrays the new publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Weymouth. The Financial Times portrays the editor of the New Yorker, David Remmick. In Espresso, Robert Saviano meet actors who would never join the Mafia. The Economist is amazed to see that the music industry is starting to wise up at last. And in the New Yorker, Chinese students ask why they need democracy.
"Hands off Lech Walesa!" demands Adam Michnik in the Gazeta Wyborcza. Polityka also defends the Solidarnosc leader against the hatred of the Kaczynski brothers. La vie des idees introduces a resistance programme against the dominance of English. In The Nation, Naomi Klein explains the neat rationale for pillaging Iraqi oil. Suketu Mehta encourages slum tourism in Espressso. Martina Navratilova lobs and smashes her way into the art world in the Spectator. And Elet es Irodalom can't get over the Dutch in Hungary.
In American Scholar, Yale professor William Deresiewicz sees the downside of his elite education while standing opposite his plumber. Wired welcomes in the Petabyte Age. Tygodnik Powszechny visits the "Sacroexpo" to look at camouflaged chalices. In the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith analyses the supra-Kafka. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco explains the vocative to Italian ministerial officials. Merkur recommends that art critics take a leaf out of Theocritus' Fifteenth Idyll. And the New York Times goes out in search of children in Europe.
The New Republic portrays the last hero of Tiananmen, the surgeon Jiang Yanyong. In Tygodnik Powszechny, historian Jochen Staadt explains why Polish lustration is anything, but not a witch hunt. Polityka says Poles just wanna have fun. The Spectator fears that the Catholic Church is on the brink of civil war. Espresso portrays Italy's two most famous fugitives. The TLS reads Prokofiev's diaries. And the best English-language books of the moment, Outlook India claims, all come from Pakistan.