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Gazeta Wyborcza | The Believer | Magyar Narancs | The Nation | L' Espresso | The Spectator | Polityka | Elet es Irodalom | The Economist | La vie des idees | New Humanist | Folio
Gazeta Wyborcza 05.07.2008 (Poland)
Adam Michnik has kept quiet for a long time about the recent accusations that Lech Walesa worked for the Polish secret police. But enough is enough for the 'Solidarnosc' leader's companion: "Hands off Lech Walesa!" Although he, too, has criticised the ex-President, Michnik cannot accept that the Polish Transformation, for which Michnik and the Gazeta Wyborcza also stand, should be dragged through the mud. "I cannot write about this from a purely political point of view. I am simply appalled, I feel bitterness and resentment. I would never have thought that Poland would do such a thing on the 25th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize for its national hero. Don't say that you are uncovering things and want to reveal the truth that others (the establishment?) want to hide. You are lying."
Also, Dawid Warszawski welcomes an unusually positive signal from the IPN, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, who have published Bozena Szaynok's book about Polish-Israeli realtions between 1944-1968. "It is not only indispensable for anyone with an interest in Poland's diplomacy, it's also a catalogue of missed chances. Until 1967, Poland played a vital role for Israel, not only for historical reasons - the Israeli state was largely built by Polish Jews and the eilte were Polish-speaking. For Poland, trapped in the Eastern Bloc, Israel could have been a window to the world. But the mob which, fired up by the communist rulers in the wake of the Six Day War, attacked Israeli diplomats on their way out of the country, and slammed that window shut, definitively."
The Believer 01.07.2008 (USA)
The July-August issue focusses on music. Brandon Stosuy offers an informed introduction to the black metal scene in the USA. He even travelled to the birthplace of the genre, Norway, and clears up some common misconceptions about style: "A common mistake made by the uninitiated listener is to conflate death metal and black metal. I've been at a few parties or dinners or whatever where someone has asked me to describe the difference between the two. To answer involves me trying to explain a blast beat, followed by vocal impressions of a death-metal vocalist (low, deep, guttural growling) vs. a black-metal vocalist (usually higher, wispy, wraithlike, and screeched). Admittedly, sometimes it can be like splitting hairs. Black metal's gone through various shifts, but generally speaking, the guitars buzz, the drums are quick, the vocals shrieking, ghostly, and anguished. The early work had a particularly eerie, lo-fi sound. As the scene developed, and younger musicians mastered their instruments, the structures grew more complex. Black metal is generally not as straight-up technical as death; it’s usually more classically symphonic."
Also, Haruki Murakami writes three short essays about jazz (only the one about Billie Holiday is available online), Rick Moody defends Prog Rock, Andie Beta interviews the founder of the World Music label 'Sublime Frequencies'. Ange Mlinko follows up on the obscure vaudeville charm of Bree Benton. And Davy Rothbart sings the praises of the rap CDs he buys on the street.
Magyar Narancs 04.07.2008 (Hungary)
Last Monday was the third day in the trial about the dissolution of the fascist Hungarian Guard. It brought no noteable outcome and afterwards the court adjourned for the summer break. The journalist "A szerk" comments on the court's apparent inability to bring the trial to a speedy conclusion: "Infinitely dragging out the proceedings serves the interests of the Guard more than anything, who are obviously bent on a protracted trial. The longer it continues, the more people will join the ranks (even if we're only talking about a few hundred here), and the longer they can repeat their hate preaching, the harder it will be for the court to rule against them. We are not claiming that banning the Guard would 'solve' the problem of the Roma or that it would eliminate racism in Hungary. It's possible that the blackshirts will never disappear from Hungary's streets. But at least if they were banned, the law-abiding citizen would know that this is now no longer acceptable. And vital organs of the poitical system - mayors, councillors and the police - who are given the increasingly difficult task of curbing racist violence, would also have a guideline to which they could adhere."
The Nation 21.07.2008 (USA)
Contrary to all statements and promises, 75% of the total rights of six of Iraq's key oil fields will be handed to the multinationals. The logic of this, as Naomi Klein explains, is compelling: "Iraq's oil industry needs foreign expertise because years of punishing sanctions starved it of new technology and the invasion and continuing violence degraded it further. And Iraq urgently needs to start producing more oil. Why? Again because of the war. The country is shattered, and the billions handed out in no-bid contracts to Western firms have failed to rebuild the country. And that's where the new no-bid contracts come in: they will raise more money, but Iraq has become such a treacherous place that the oil majors must be induced to take the risk of investing. Thus the invasion of Iraq neatly creates the argument for its subsequent pillage."
L' Espresso 07.07.2008 (Italy)
Bombay-born author and journalist Suketu Mehta advises all tourists to India to visit a slum as well as the Taj Mahal. "Come on, just do it, no one will hurt you. Whatever might happen in South Africa or Brazil, poverty in India is not linked to street crime, to mugging or kidnapping. If you prefer, you can also take a guided tour through the slums in Bombay or Delhi, which are offered exclusively by non-Indian organisations, for tourists who want to get a more realistic image of the country. But save the tip you were keeping for the tour guide and give it instead to the slum dwellers. It's the easiest thing in the world to visit a slum. You only have to ask the porter or the chamber maid at your hotel if you can accompany them home. Then you will discover the true India, that's not incredible but the real thing."
The Spectator 05.07.2008 (UK)
Melissa Kite meets the nine-times Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova. "Nowadays she says she is just as happy hitting paint-coloured balls on to canvases, in a technique she calls 'tennising', as playing tennis itself. Some of the balls are carefully aimed, some are bounced up and down on the spot, pre-serve style, to make an intense pattern. Some are whacked randomly to create 'more esoteric pieces'. The idea was proposed to her eight years ago by the artist Juraj Kralik, a fellow Czech. 'I was very sceptical but curious. I wanted to try new things. I thought, 'I'll try it a few times and be done with it,' but eight years later we are still making pieces and the stuff just grew.' This week the pair unveil their first commercial exhibition in London. "
The end is nigh declares Theo Hobson, and he is referring to England's good old national church. "Over the last few decades, the Church of England has increasingly presented itself as one part of the global Anglican Communion. This seemed a way of reinventing itself, of edging away from the embarrassment of being a state church. But the move has turned out to be disastrous. It has been the undoing of the C of E and has led what was once a pacific, tolerant church to its present state of exhausted collapse. On the eve of the Lambeth Conference (it begins on 16 July) we are witnessing the End Times of the C of E. The bickering factions in the worldwide Anglican Communion have simply pulled our church apart."
Polityka 08.07.2008 (Poland)
In a moving and comprehensive article, Krzysztof Burnetko and Wieslaw Wladyka portray Lech Walesa, making it quite clear that the new accusations concerning his involvement with the secret police spring from personal and political grievances: "Even in the most precarious moments of the Polish Transformation, Walesa never turned his back on the reformers – not even the more difficult ones who were alligned with the increasingly unpopular Leszek Balcerowicz. The bottom line was that he stood firm as president of the Third Republic. Which is why, to this day, he is the Fourth Republic's most hated Polish Third Republic politician. This enmity is of course fuelled by the resentment harboured by the Kaczynski brothers, who were chased out of his court like so many before and after them. But it also stems from his resistance to political scheming and manipulation, that he, like his trade union, remained so utterly independent and 'self-governing'... The normal, human sympathy of the Poles for Walesa is not on the wane, it is growing as the years go by. It was not impacted by the sensationalist revelations of IPN historians. There is a widespread feeling that he has been unjustly treated, and that to insult Walesa, one of Poland's greatest legends, is to throw dirt on one of Poland's greatest victories."
Elet es Irodalom 04.07.2008 (Hungary)
The Dutch, after the Germans and Austrians, are the third largest ethnic group to have taken up residence in Hungary. Admittedly they can rarely shake off the tag of "rich foreigners" that is automatically conferred upon them by their surroundings, and often remain part of a socially demarcated subculture - be it in the city or the countryside - because few natives speak foreign languages. However, Tibor Berczes believes that their different mentality can influence their new environment: "The Dutch are confronted with their common cultural heritage in their new culture, even if they deny it. In Hungary they realise that because of the quasi organic historical development of the Netherlands, they have a different relationship to their mother tongue (which is not a survival-kit but an everyday tool) as well as to the past (about which they speak in the past tense and not the present). The same goes for their concept of nation (a sense of nationalism only ever arises during international football championships) and even Europe. In Europe, they feel so at home, it is almost like an extension of Holland. They finish with Holland by relocating elsewhere, but they immediately reproduce it there. They adapt to wherever they are, but remain Dutch. So they set an example. Whether they'll find successors or not, only time will tell."
The Economist 04.07.2008 (UK)
India hosted its first ever Christopher Street Day parades in a number of cities. The Economist reports on the celebrations but also on the problems faced by homosexuals in a country which is still in the grips of Victorian morals. "There were no half-naked dancers, pink floats, or sailor boys locked in clinches; but India's gay-pride parade was ground-breaking enough without them. Several hundred men and women, waving rainbow flags, danced, stamped and sang their way through the city centres of Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata (Calcutta) on June 29th - the first such national event in this conservative country.(...) Many of those who paraded under heavy monsoon clouds in Delhi said one of their main motives was to campaign for the repeal of that law, Section 377 of India's penal code, which deems homosexuality an 'unnatural sexual offence' alongside bestiality."
The reviews cover a book on Lewis Carroll alias Charles Dodgson as mathematician, a collection of essays by Indian author Amit Chaudhuri, a history of communism told through its jokes, and a London exhibition of the great Danish painter of household interiors, Vilhelm Hammershoi.
La vie des idees 01.07.2008 (France)
Blaise Wilfert-Portal introduces the manifesto "Pour une litterature-monde" (Gallimard) in which, under the aegis of the publishers Michel Le Bris and Jean Rouaud, twelve authors address the question of the role and importance of the French language, or rather literature, in the globalised world. "The authors roll off a series of anecdotes which demonstrate that the main role for French literature in the world at large is to provide more or less exotic, friendly temping work which may have its uses in the resistance programme against the dominance of English. This echoes the origins of the term francophonia, which was coined at the end of the 19th century by Onesime Reclus to lend the French Republica a new punch-packing weapon in the imperial race. Language and literature were meant to compensate for France's low birth rate and its economic border expansion in the fight to outstrip the English or German rivals."
New Humanist 01.07.2008 (USA)
"Through the language of diversity, racism has been transformed into just another cultural identity," according to writer and broadcaster Kenan Malick in an article on multicultural identity politics. "If the right has embraced the grammar of diversity, liberals have adopted the idiom of racial identity. Will Kymlicka is anything but a xenophobe. Yet his pluralism leads him to adopt the language of exclusion. 'It is right and proper,' Kymlicka believes, 'that the character of a culture changes as a result of the choices of its members.' But, he goes on, 'while it is one thing to learn from the larger world,' it is quite another 'to be swamped by it'. What could this mean? That a culture has the right to keep out members of another culture? That a culture has the right to prevent its members from speaking another language, singing non-native songs or reading non-native books? Kymlicka's warning about 'swamping' should make us sit up and take notice. The right has long exploited fears of cultural swamping to promote the idea that Western nations should pull up the drawbridge against immigrants whose cultural difference makes them unsuitable?"
Folio 07.07.2008 (Switzerland)
This month's Folio magazine enters the desert emirate of Dubai, which is run like a major corporation by its ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as Victor Koch explains: "Insiders are concerned about how long the Sheikh general director, will be able to keep track of things in his rapidly growing state corporation, and maintain command structures. To control public life the ruler has had a comprehensive state-of-the-art surveillance system which can flash up every last corner of Dubai onto a screen. The ruling house also keeps close tabs on strategic property to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. The city's largest families are kept sweet with trading monopolies such as import licences for luxury cars."
RSS
The New York Times investigates the new hunger for reality. In Salon, Andrzej Stasiuk sees only individual realities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, the ethnologist Tomasz Rakowski describes the reality of the Polish poor mines. Sometimes you can turn reality on its head, El Pais reads in the Financial Times. Le Monde diplomatique gives the low-down on the ACTA talks. And the New Yorker dreams of less polish and a bit more grit.
In Magyar Narancs Agnes Heller demands more civil courage of the Hungarians. Mohammed Ali Atassi explains in Qantara, why conservatives in Egypt see women as candy: either wrapped or covered in flies. Oliver Roy outlines in Resetdoc, why's there not so much as a hair's breadth between the Christian right and the secular left. In Magazin, the philosopher Ludwig Haslar tells the Swiss that if they want mediocrity today, they cannot expect the superman tomorrow. Jonathan Safran Foer tells Prospect why he neither wants a chicken in his bed nor on his plate. The NYT embarks on a human-flesh search and finds a kitten killer.
The New Yorker tells the story of how corrupt podiatrists almost brought down the US health system. In Polityka, the Kapuscinski biographer Artur Domoslawski explains how he thinks the legendary reporter should be read. In Tygodnik, Zygmunt Bauman calls for more understanding for Kapuscinski. Magyar Narancs celebrates the ban on Holocaust denial in Hungary. In Le Point, Jorge Semprun asks whether Claude Lanzmann is the only person who's allowed to talk about the Holocaust. Wired describes how Google learned how to tell the difference between a hot dog and a poached pooch.
In Eurozine, the Transylvanian-Hungarian-Armenian writer Kinga Kali tells the story of a "virgjinesha". Prospect celebrates the next art superstar, Argentinian painter Guillermo Kuitca. The Gazeta Wyborcza explains how young people use the web. The New Yorker sends out a message to the depressed: stay away from psychiatric literature. Outlook Indian learns to play Carnatic music online. The London Review swims with the salmon sages.
The Atlantic finds out why the Chinese are not enemy number one in cyberspace. Elet es Irodalom asks why no one in Hungary is interested in former informers. In New Statesman, Tariq Ramadan can't tell us what a moderate Muslim is. The Guardian hearkens to the ticking bomb in Emily Dickinson's bosom and links it to the shards of crockery on the floor. And if it can't smoke, El Pais Semanal wants everything painted black.
In Prospect, Tim Berners-Lee invites the world to play with the British government's data. England, not Nigeria belongs on the terrorist list, literary Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka informs The Daily Beast. In Rue 89, Beppe Grillo explains why Sarkozy is more dangerous than Berlusconi. In Tygodnik Powszechny, Stefan Chwin mourns for the Polish idealist. Polityka reveals where a Pole turns to when he's not allowed to marry. Olga Tokarczuk walks her Polish tangle around Amsterdam for Salon. And the Guardian thinks about Armenian women rubbing their soft breasts on a stone.
In Wired, Chris Anderson celebrates the next industrial revolution - taking place in garages near you. The Boston Globe serenades the camel - Nabati style. In El Pais Semenal, the sociologist Edgar Morin complains about European lethargy. Outlook India asks why the Australians hate the Indians. Odra and Tygodnik are still debating the impact of freedom on literature. In OpenDemocracy, Salome Zourabichvili mourns for the wilted petals of the rose revolution. In Prospect, Martin Amis divides the literary sheep from the goats, according to the pleasure principle. The NYT profiles a dyed-in-the-wool jihadist from Alabama.
Das Magazin reports on the dramatic increase in the number of pupils who have threatened to gun down their classmates. The Spectator warns City bankers about gun-wielding dominatrices in Switzerland. In Sinn und Form, Marc Fumaroli remembers the man whose name shall not be mentioned: Mario Praz. In the New Humanist, Laurie Taylor remembers the holy men who sexually abused him as a child. The Guardian asks why Theo von Doesburg slipped into avant garde oblivion. And in the NYRB, Garry Kasparov asks why computer chess programmers are so uninspired?
OpenDemocracy explains why a novel called "Paranoia" suddenly disappeared from Belarussian bookshops. Prospect fears that a ban on Islam4UK could undermine British democracy. The Gazeta Wyborcza explores Polish-Jewish relations. Le Monde diplomatique watches the carving up of Africa. In El Pais Semanal, maths whizz Marcus du Sautoy explains the sex appeal of suduko. And Gerhard Richter manages to surprise the Nation.
The New Yorker buries itself in the Arab novel. In Le Monde, Bernard-Henri Levy heaps scorn on the state-run caricature of a debate. Qantara points to the person responsible for all the misery in the Arab world: Daddy. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco takes a pin to the overblown daily paper. The Nation has earmarked 30 billion dollars to save journalism. In Tygodnik Powszechny, the writer Wojciech Albinski explains what makes Poland exotic. And the Spectator waves a tear-stained old hanky as shabby chic fades into the past.
In Merkur, art historian Wolfgang Ullrich defines a new type of artist: the contractor. In Nepszabadsag, writer Peter Nadas considers the crisis in Hungary and how it might end. In NouvelObs, Francis Ford Coppola explains why DVDs should be free. Eurozine introduces Lithuanian literature. In the New York Review of Books, Wyatt Manson asks why Pleiade is omitting Celine's anti-Semitic trilogy from the collected works. In Express, Philippe Gavi reminds us that Mohammed was not a crazed killer. A Californian marvels in NZZ Folio, at the reincarnation of an Indian factory worker. And confronted with the recent proliferation of literary cuddling, the New York Times yearns for a bit of Philip Roth.
Wired tracks James Cameron's 32-year quest to out-Lucas Lucas. In Nouvel Obs, Alain Finkielkraut and Alain Badiou tear each other apart over immigration and national identity. Tygodnik Powszechny introduces the pioneering artist Miroslaw Balka. Andras Bozoki asks why Hungarians are undermining democracy. In The New Statesman, Leo McKinstry explains why the bombing of Coventry was an inspiration to the British Air Staff.
Vanity Fair goes in search of a superpartner. Elet es Irodalom reads a new collection of essays by Imre Keresz. Outlook India complains about journalistic corruption. The New Yorker reads a new Koestler biography. Nepszabadsag foresees the next French revolution. Rue89 wonders about the provenance of prawns. And in the New Republic, Moshe Halberthal celebrates the sublime humility of Amartya Sen.
In Wilson Quarterly, the economist Tyler Cowen sings an ode to multitasking. Prospect has seen the monsters of the left. The Boston Globe follows James C. Scott to the new Shangri-La in the mountains of Tibet. Weltwoche is up in arms about the criticism of Switzerland's anti-minaret vote. In the Novel Obs, Pierre Nora applies his mind to the bestseller. New Criterion knows why the Pop art bubble won't pop. NZZ Folio examines the chicken nugget. Al Ahram asks what political Islam wants. The Walrus mourns for the first victim of the C-58. In Resetdoc, Joseph Massad explains why Arab homosexuals are an invention of the West.
Slovenian poet Ales Debeljak argues for a fusion of cultures in Eurozine. Umberto Eco agrees in Le Monde. The Nation portrays the Salvadorian author Horacio Castellanos Moya, who himself explains in Babelia why 200 years after independence there's nothing to celebrate in a number of Latin American countries. Polityka lies Poland down on the couch. La vie des idees reads a book on Jews and the resistance in France. Americans read more than Europeans, writes historian Peter Baldwin in Merkur. And in The New York Review of Books Robert Darnton makes two bold proposals for a new Book Settlement.