Why do teenagers find SchülerVZ, flickr or YouTube so fantastic? What are they finding in the communities on the internet that doesn't exist in real life, and what exactly are they doing with it? The JFF- Institut für Medienpädagogik (Institute for Media Education) looks into these questions and learns from a 15 year-old "I think the future will just be one big Second Life."...
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Secularists aren't interested in social justice. That's why Islamists are so successful, writes Al Ahram. Feridun Zaimoglu tells Spiegel Online why more Muslims are turning European. Outlook India says Indian Muslims should not be pushed aside. Gazeta Wyborcza lauds Janusz Anderman's new novel about opposition in communist Poland. Seamus Heaney stands up in defence of W.B. Yeats. Die Weltwoche unpicks Finkielkraut's complexities and The New York Times eavesdrops on a high-speed debate.
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The New Yorker observes a slinky alien: Hedi Slimane of Dior Homme. Muslims make no differentiation between knowledge and belief, fears Tahar Ben Jelloun in Le Monde diplomatique. Muslims in Denmark could face the fate of the Tutsis, warns Al Ahram. In L'Express, the Israeli poet Haim Gouri looks back on the Six Day War. Poland is the EU's anguished aunt, writes Bronislav Geremek in the Gazeta Wybrocza. Foglio describes the erotic pleasures to be won by voting for the wrong party. Le Point raises a toast to Berlin and Foreign Policy prophesies the fall of China.
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Five years after the debate in Poland on Jedwabne, the Gazeta Wyborcza concludes that only those who committed the crime feel safe. The New York Review of Books presents the most cunning poker player in the world. DU celebrates Bach. In Polityka, Andrzej Wajda would like to see more films on Poland today. The Nouvel Obs congratulates the Nouveaux Philosophes on their 30th birthday. In Die Weltwoche, Kurt Vonnegut points to the shortcoming shared by all presidents.
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In Literaturen, Friedrich Kittler reflects on the Ancient Greeks' love of their gods. For Prospect, Aatish Taseer spent a few months at the Abu Nour University in Damascus, getting to know foreign students who have elected to study Islam. In Nouvel Obs, Jacques Derrida tries to figure out why he feels embarassed standing naked before his cat. The New Statesman offers a portrait of the Chinese artist Song Dong, who builds cities out of cookies. In Merkur, Jan Philipp Reemtsma deals with the matter of freedom of the will. In Elet es Irodalom, the writer Krisztian Grecso tells the story of a Hungarian Jew who was nearly lynched for ritual murder in 1948. The New York Times visits a former Taliban spokesman at Yale.
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In the New Republic, Amartya Sen warns against confusing multiculturalism and plural monoculturalism. In Espresso, film director Luc Besson talks about blond angels and Paris. The Gazeta Wyborcza reports on a Swedish insult to Polish honour. The New York Review of Books tells how election defeat is hampering Hamas. Nepszabadsag critices the Berlin Film Festival for showcasing German cinema. In the TLS, Christopher Hitchens recommends a book on the failures of intellectuals. And Al Ahram calls the Danish film "1:1" a gesture of reconciliation to the Arab world.
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The Spectator, Die Weltwoche, Il Foglio, Le Point, Al Ahram, the Nouvel Obs, Outlook India, and Gazeta Wyborcza are all caught up with the Muhammad cartoons. In The Nation, Walter Mosley prompts Afro-Americans to found their own political party. Folio looks at super nannies, career coaches, lifestyle experts, in short: consultants. Elet es Irodalom reports on the staged death of cancer-ridden theatre director Peter Halasz. And the New York Times presents a book of pronouncements by Osama bin Laden.
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The Hungarian ES magazine names more secret police informers: Cardinal Laszlo Paskai and filmmaker Zsolt Kezdi Kovacs. In Nepszabadsag, historian Robert Braun is amazed at the ensuing silence. In Der Spiegel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls on the West to show the Mohammed caricatures everywhere they can be shown. Outlook India reports on private clinic tourism. In Kommune, Sonja Margolina writes on the emergence of a xenophobic ethnocracy in Russia. In the Guardian, Pankaj Mishra remembers with a shudder his love for Brezhnev. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, Andrzej Stasiuk declares his love for the countries on the wrong side of the track.
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Elet es Irodalom documents the spy reports that Istvan Szabo wrote for the Hungarian secret police as a film student. In Nepszabadsag, Szabo explains that he is proud of his collaboration because it enabled him to save a life. The Spectator would prefer not to touch Hitler's red telephone. In Prospect, William Davies demands an ethics of inconvenience. Przekroj believes that only Moscow can prevent Iran from making an atomic bomb. In the TLS, Canadian composer Stephen Brown explains what Mozart and Sid Vicious have in common. The New York Times settles the score with Bernard-Henri Levy's book on America.
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In the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash calls the Kaczynski twins old brooms. In The New Republic, Egyptian dramatist Ali Salem puts himself in the mind of a terrorist. Andrzej Stasiuk tromps through Albania's Cursed Mountains for L'Espresso. The London Review of Books compares Google with the railways. In Revista de Libros, Juan Villoro says men who want to talk about love should get help. In Magyar Narancs, Eva Standeisky investigates the relationship between writers and power. Die Weltwoche gets into a fight and the New York Times Magazine looks at animals that can't tell the difference between sex and dinner.
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Outlook India goes in search of India's missing Hindu girls. The Economist doesn't believe in Alan Greenspan. Il Foglio asks who's afraid of Mozart. Laszlo Földenyi celebrates the power of Dadaism in Elet es Irodalom. In Polityka, Andrei Konchalovsky proclaims his contempt of democracy. The Weltwoche reports on stolen art in Switzerland. In L'Express, Nicolas Baverez tries to wake up Western democracies. The New York Times Book Review describes Julian Barnes' indescribable "Arthur and George".
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John Berger writes in Clarin about the silent message of Israeli settlements in Palestine. In The Guardian, Pankaj Mishra is tired of hearing from writers in hotels. In the Nouvel Obs, Michel Rocard is the only French person with anything bad to say about Mitterrand. Magyar Hirlap is annoyed at an online game on the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Folio brings statistics alive. Outlook India describes the newest thing in fitness with an aura of wisdom. The New Yorker has seen at least one good film in 2005: Fatih Akin's "Head On". And The New York Times looks at "the hottest thing on earth" - the paintings of the New Leipzig School.
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In Granta, Lindsey Hilsum reports on the Sino-African trade revolution. Al Ahram describes the culture shock at the election success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In Espresso, Umberto Eco warns about an excess of change. The Hungarian ES magazine accompanies the spirit of writer Miklos Meszöly through Trieste. In Der Spiegel, Karl Schlögel predicts a European renaissance in Eastern Europe. And the New York Times Magazine portrays the Ukrainian Eva Perón.
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In Prospect, Robert Skidelsky greets veterans of the People's Liberation Army in what used to be his family's villa in Manchuria. Merkur observes with satisfaction how stockholders can now oust top managers from their jobs. In the New York Review of Books, Ian Buruma relives Joe Louis' legendary fight against Max Schmeling. Peter Nadas tells in Magyar Hirlap what it's like to be a woman. Literaturen looks into the relationships of literary couples. In Le Point, Alain Robbe-Grillet tells how God visits him in the bath. The Economist discovers why the Japanese are so taken with robots. And in Gazeta Wyborcza, Maciej Zaremba discovers a new spectre haunting Europe.
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In Lettre International, Peter Nadas tracks down the last vestiges of Le Vernet concentration camp. In Kommune, Karol Sauerland investigates politics and everyman's corruption in Poland. Nepszabadsag reports on a brand new phenomenon in Hungary: women writers. Regis Debray and Marcel Gauchet argue in the Nouvel Obs whether a civil religion can exist at all. Die Weltwoche has located God in the temporal lobes. Harold Bloom presents America's literary figurehead in The Guardian. In Gazeta Wyborcza, Kinga Dunin analyses the significance of queer literature for Poland. And in the New York Times Magazine, Pankaj Mishra tells about the Tibetans who don't want enlightenment.
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In Al Ahram, Gamal Nkrumah accuses France of enriching itself at the expense of Africa. The New Yorker fears for the future of the New York Times. In Nouvel Obs, historian Marc Ferro refuses to let the French state dictate the morality of history. The Spectator listens in on the worries of super rich art collectors. Theatre director Piotr Tomaszuk defends his right to nail a bearded female Jesus to the cross in Gazeta Wyborcza. Peter György warns against Infotainment in Elet es Iroldalom. And in the TLS, George Steiner celebrates Karl Kraus.
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