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It all started with the devastating defeat of the Social
Democrats in
North Rhine-Westphalia; after 39 years in power, they lost the state
elections on May 22 to the CDU. With 37.1 percent of the vote (5.7
percent less than in 2000), the SPD had its worst election results in
the state in 50 years. At the same time the defeat marked the end of
the
last state government coalition of the SDP and the Green Party.
Two things followed: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder immediately declared that he wanted to schedule new elections
in
the autumn of this year. Following a self-initiated parliamentary vote of
non-confidence in his leadership, Schröder now awaits German President
Köhler's decision on whether elections can be held this fall. And in their
anticipation, a new leftist alliance has been founded, the
Linkspartei, bringing together the PDS (successor party to the East
German communist party) and the WASG (the West German Electoral Alternative
for Labour and Social Justice). Polls show the new alliance could win ten
percent of the vote.
The probable fall election has stirred up German politics in a major way: What will become of the labour-oriented SPD? Will the
Linkspartei replace the Greens as Germany's third strongest party? And
above all: What do the conservatives want? We have put together a
collection of articles.
The last rock 'n' roller of German politics
Joschka Fischer, Germany's Foreign Minister and figurehead of the Green Party,
has announced that he will be stepping back from the political front
line with the end of the red-green government. In an interview with the
taz, Fischer reflects on what this means for his party, his country and himself.
read more
What was Schröder on?
There
was something surreal about Gerhard Schröder's appearence on national
television last night. Although his party was second in the polls,
Schröder saw the victory quite clearly as his own. And anyone who saw
matters differently, an idiot. Arno Widmann asks the question that is on the minds of many Germans today: what was Schröder on?
read more
Indulging a penchant for paradox
What
do you get when you cross Left and Right? Gerhard Schröder the double
paradox: a chancellor who backs social protest against his own
policies, and a ruler who deprives himself of power in a bid to reclaim
it. By Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht
read more
Standing in file
Tanja Dückers
writes a huffy retort to Eva Menasse's recent claim that German
writers' refusal to take a public stance in the federal election
campaign reflects opportunism.
read more
Writers! Break free of your routine!
Why I'm getting involved in the current federal election campaign. By Eva Menasse
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Sighing, sweating, screeching
The run-up to the German federal elections is awash with blood, sweat and tears as Schröder, Merkel and Co. give their all. But the voters aren't having any of it. By Jörg Lau
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Merkel's a total cutie!
Christoph Schlingensief's
controversial "Parsifal" is showing at the Wagner Festival for the
second year running. He talks to Tina Hildebrandt and Stephan Lebert
about hero impersonators in politics, zombies in Bayreuth and
pre-election Germany.
read more
The big lie
Sociologist Ulrich Beck
explains why German politicians' idea of full employment is an illusion
and why Kafka's works belong to the classics of sociology.
read more
What do the conservatives want?
If Germany's conservatives win the coming elections in September
they'll be more powerful than ever before. But what do they actually
want? By Gustav Seibt
read more
Who are Germany's new young conservatives?
Now that Gerhard Schröder has admitted failure to himself and the rest
of the world, German conservatives are being summoned back from
political Siberia and pushed into the spotlight. But are they even
still alive? By Mariam Lau
read more
Writers warn about Linkspartei
A group of German writers have signed a public condemnation against what it sees as dangerously populist sentiments behind the new 'Linkspartei'.
read more
Merkel's new middle
The Germany that makes the headlines is one of hedge-fund 'locusts' and
burgeoning numbers of unemployed. Don't believe the hype: the upcoming
German federal elections will be fought out in the middle. But unless
the Germans stop expecting to be spoon fed by the state, and get
proactive, little will be gained by a change of government. By Paul Nolte
read more
The Berlin Republic
So cunning is history: The cornerstones of the Berlin Republic – the
departure from the social market economy, the rediscovery of war, the
mistrust of the state for its citizens, the historicisation of the
Holocaust – were laid by the West German 68ers. An attempt by a member
of the old German Federal Republic to come to terms with the country he
lives in. By Arno Widmann
read more
Loveable losers in the Ruhrpott
The surprising defeat of the SPD in the state elections in North-Rhine
Westphalia has set a process in motion that will probably result in new
federal leadership in Germany. Writer and comedian Frank Goosen describes in an interview what his fellow Ruhrpotters think about this, if anything at all.
read more
RSS
In 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 
The 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.
Tunisian-born writer Abdelwahab Meddeb depicts the pain and sadness afflicting Gaza, where the horror of the human race appears in all its nakedness.
The 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)
Iceland was determined to be a globalisation winner at any price. German-Icelandic writer Kristof Magnusson looks into the culture and history of this mini-state to find out how it became buried in debt.
Why Austria's far-right under Heinz-Christian Strache and the late Jörg Haider are celebrating their election triumph. By Doron Rabinovici
Russian author Arkady Babchenko rose to international fame with the remorseless description of the Chechen conflict in his autobiographical novel "The Colour of War". Babchenko was also the millitary correspondent for the Novaya Gazeta during the recent Russian military operation in South Ossetia. Jörg Plath met up with him in Berlin.
Radovan Karadzic might be on trial in The Hague, but he can sit back in his Hugo Boss suit, confident that his work is done. His heirs are young, healthy and full of hate. And as far as they are concerned, the war is far from over. Croatian author Dubravka Ugresic dreams of a procession of collective shame and a ritual of repentance.
The dead body of Russian artist Anna Alchuk was pulled out of the river Spree in April this year. She and her husband, philosopher Michail Ryklin, had moved to Berlin in November 2007 after life in Russia became intolerable as a direct consequence of Alchuk's participation in the exhibition "Caution: Religion!". Michail Ryklin looks to his wife's tormented diary entries to help him approximate the causes of her death.