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GoetheInstitute

09/06/2005

European Constitution Special

A selection of articles on the European Constitution, and the referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Damned to expertocracy
The end of democracy? Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk talks with Marius Meller about French revoltism, British phlegm and Europe's national hallucination chambers.
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Friendly takeover
In response to the French 'no' to the European constitution, France's new Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has proposed a new kind of union between France and Germany. Historian Gustav Seibt argues that this would be a disaster for Germany and insists that Europe be considered in a broader historical perspective.
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The victory of Euro-nihilism
The French no is standing guard on the frontiers of the old European Community. The referendum on the constitution became a retrospective referendum against the enlargement from fifteen to twenty-five member states. Formerly Euro-skeptics, the French who recklessly promoted the no on May 29 have become Euro-nihilists. By André Glucksmann
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"I can't live without Europe"
Both France and the Netherlands have rejected the European Constitution. German-Iranian author Navid Kermani reflects on what this means to him, as someone who wanted to become - or thought he was - a European.
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In full knowledge of the facts
The practice of holding a referendum on a subject like the European constitution is suicidal. It is an electoral absurdity that puts in question the political intelligence not only of the French president, but also of his immediate entourage and communication advisers. By Paul Virilio
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The illusionary "Leftist No"
To the French naysayers: A Left which aims to tame and civilise capitalism with a "No" to the European constitution would be deciding for the wrong side at the wrong time. By Jürgen Habermas
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Europe demands courage
An open letter to French voters from German intellectuals, artists and academics warns the French public that voting "No" to the EU constitution would mean betraying progress and abandoning the ideals of the Enlightenment.
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Wake up, Europeans!
Or you will find yourself subjected to a constitution you never wanted, discussed, or decided on. By Oliver Eberle
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Herta Müller recommends Liu Xiaobo for Nobel Peace Prize

Monday 8 February, 2010

In a letter to the Nobel Foundation, Herta Müller expresses her support for the nomination of Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Prize, "because in the face of countless threats from the Chinese regime and great risk to his life, he has fought unerringly for the freedom of the individual."
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Citizen journalism in Iran

Monday 11 January, 2010

TeaserPicThirty years of superficial reporting by the Western press neglected the build up to the current turmoil in Tehran. Iranians are not risking their lives because of an alleged election fraud last June, but because they have endured thirty years of brutality, humiliation and frustration. By Haideh Daragahi
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Minaret and swastika

Friday 18 December, 2009

TeaserPicTo advocate the Swiss minaret ban with the arguments of Anne Applebaum, Henryk Broder and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is to apply to the sort of fundamentalist logic which the west left behind - historically speaking - an amazingly short time ago. If we don't want to return to a pre-1648 world, Gustav Seibt argues, what we need now is two-way tolerance.
photo:hewy
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The 'execution' of a young Kurd

Tuesday 17 November, 2009

On November 11, Ehsan Fattahian, a 28-year old Kurdish freedom fighter, was dealt 'sudden death' in a prison in the Kurdish province of Iran. Nobody was present at the execution and no medical certificate was released. The same fate has befallen any number of demonstrators who took part in the protests after the elections, and lays ahead for 12 other political prisoners in jails throughout Iran. By Ahmad Eskandari
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Jolly eschatology

Thursday 21 October, 2009

TeaserPicClaus Leggewie and Harald Welzer have written a book about the end of the world as we knew it. Jan Feddersen grills them on climate change and the role of democracy in a political system that has had no new ideas since the fall of the Wall.

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Securitate in all but name

Monday 31 August, 2009

UPDATE: Herta Müller wins the Nobel Prize for Literature 2009. Twenty years after Ceausescu's execution, his secret service is still active - only its name has changed. Secret files are being manipulated; shadowing and smear campaigns continue. For the first time, Romanian-born German writer Herta Müller describes her long history of Securitate persecution, uncertain of how much she has yet to endure.
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The future of Iranian feminism

Wednesday 5 August, 2009

Shadi Sadr, an Iranian feminist and human rights activist working as a lawyer and journalist, was released on bail from Tehran's Evin prison last Tuesday. Haideh Daragahi looks at an article written by Sadr, which may have triggered her arrest. It is a blueprint for the future of the Iranian women's movement and how it should relate to the new movement for change that is rocking Iran.
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The dream of an apocalypticist

Friday, 31 July, 2009

In a footnote to his latest book, Timothy Garton Ash distances himself from the term "Enlightenment fundamentalism", which he had used in reference to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. John Gray picked up on the ammendment immediately and took him to task in The New Statesman. Perlentaucher editor Thierry Chervel is baffled by Gray's twisted pessimism.
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"I wanted to fly away"

Monday 20 July, 2009

Alham Abrahimnejad is a women's rights activist who fled Iran two years ago and now lives in Berlin. She talks to Waltraud Schwab about her fear of being sent back home, the soul of the Iranian protest and her lack of freedom in Germany.
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Gentrification follies

Monday 20 April 2009

Politicians are turning Istanbul's year as European Cultural Capital 2010 into a programme for promoting real estate and tourism. By Dragan Klaic
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Haider in their hearts

Monday 15 March 2009

TeaserPicIn local elections at the beginning of the month, the Austrian state of Carinthia effectively granted a governing majority to a dead man. Eva Menasse looks at an idyllically beautiful corner of the world that has been dumbed-down to death. Photo by pixel0809
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Submission in advance

Monday 16 February, 2009

TeaserPicThe fatwa against British Indian author Salman Rushdie was issued 20 years ago. Today, says Thierry Chervel, Islamism has the West more firmly in its grip than ever before – thanks to our left-wing intellectuals.
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The pornography of horror

Wednesday January 14, 2009

TeaserPicTunisian-born writer Abdelwahab Meddeb depicts the pain and sadness afflicting Gaza, where the horror of the human race appears in all its nakedness.
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Life after bankruptcy

Wednesday 26 November, 2008

TeaserPicThe age of privatisation is over. Politics not the market is responsible for promoting the common good. Philosopher Jürgen Habermas talks to Thomas Assheuer about the necessity of an international world order. (Photo: Wolfram Huke)
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In Moscow traffic with Walter Benjamin

Monday 11 November, 2008

Dragan Klaic was in Moscow to run a theatre workshop. He was overwhelmed by the sense of impending financial disaster and nearly missed his plane home.
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