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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Die Weltwoche | Nepszabadsag | NRC Handelsblad | Polityka | Plus - Minus | The New York Review of Books | Elet es Irodalom | Le point | Al Ahram Weekly | The Walrus Magazine
Die Weltwoche, 18.05.2006 (Switzerland)
"I wanted all that. The fatherland and the pissed dead, stories and ghost stories, assassinations and spies." Noberto Funtes, at first an enthusiastic fan of Fidel Castro, emigrated in the 1990s and wrote a 2,000 page fictitious autobiography of the Maximo Lider. Sandro Benini is both impressed and disappointed
by the abbreviated German version. "It's written with a very particular
style, it's told in an exciting way, it's beautifully composed and
wonderfully translated into German. It's neither a history book nor a
historical novel, but more a hybrid testament of unconquered love-hate.
Fuentes creates a literary figure and at the same time makes a claim to his historical accuracy. Despite all the fascination with the boldness of
this undertaking and admiration for the enormous historiographic work
that this exiled Cuban has accomplished, his book leaves the reader
pretty much clueless. A strange exotic fruit that one is happy to eat but whose taste is quickly forgotten."
Nepszabadsag, 18.05.2006 (Hungary)
The plans for a major exhibition in Budapest on the revolution (click here for a series of private histories) in 1956 remind artist Dezsö Vali of the cultural politics of the communist dictatorship. The Kunsthalle
in Budapest wants to instruct artists how they should approach the
topic. "It's fundamentally wrong to prescribe the themes of a
country-wide exhibition in advance. It's reminiscent of a time when
paintings of tractor-drivers and jubilant May Day parades of
factory workers were called for. Now sorrow and repression are being
requested. Bureaucrats in grey suits and dark brown outfits are telling
us how to paint. Real art has never been produced and never will be."
In the Saturday edition, Charles Gati, historian at Johns Hopkins University
explains how he researched the Hungarian people's revolt of 1956 in the
archives of the secret service. "Most important would have been to
finally be allowed to read the documents in the archive of the KGB,
the Soviet secret service. During my last visit in 1992, I requested
this quite adamantly, at which point the archivist laid his pistol on his desk. I decided I'd be smart to go." The documents of the CIA
showed "that the promises that the USA would 'liberate' Eastern Europe
were not accompanied by any practical measures. Anyone who suspects
that the CIA is everywhere at all times is going to be disappointed.
During the revolution, the CIA had only one staffer in all of
Hungary, and he had so much to do in the embassy that he could hardly
leave the building."
NRC Handelsblad, 17.05.2006 (Netherlands)
A group of Dutch intellectuals (among them Connie Palmen, Geert Maak and Joost Zwagerman) have issued a public statement of solidarity with Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
who is currently facing de-naturalization. "Maybe she was not a real
refugee according to current interpretations of the law, but she
certainly was in the last four years. Her 'asylum city Amsterdam' which
offers protection to persecuted writers and artists, must guarantee her
peace and safety. We are deeply ashamed of those Dutch who think that Ayaan must leave the country and yet again seek asylum."
Polityka, 20.05.2006 (Poland)
"Oh my blog!" cry
Mariusz Czubaj and Miroslaw Filiciak in the Polish weekly. "In a
country where forty percent of the adult population doesn't read at
all, there are more than two million online-diaries, so-called blogs." Why?
"A blog proves the existence of a person. Cultural studies researchers
compare the blog mania with the portrait mania of the late
middle ages, when salespeople wanted to satisfy the need for
individuality and the extraordinary. This 'wanting to say something at
any price' has already been given a name: exscribitionism." The
authors realise and regret that what does not yet exist in Poland are
serious, politically engaged blogs. "According to these
standards, we are still stuck in a phase of egocentric, exhibitionist
online-diaries, and that says a lot about our society."
Plus - Minus, 20.05.2006 (Poland)
In the magazine of the conservative Rzeczpospolita, Dariusz Rosiak wonders why Poland has so little clout in European politics. One reason, he writes, is a complex about the West: "Polish opinion makers are paralysed by the fear of what people in the West think of the country. Poles manically judge themselves on the basis of Western standards, attempting to live up to them even when no one expects them to. On the other hand, the image of Poland in the Western media is still conditioned by stereotypes. In general, Poland is seen as an uninteresting country where nothing interesting happens, so there's nothing to comment on. In this way our image is created by complexed Polish commentators and stereotypes commonly found among Western, liberal elites." No good starting point for a self-confident foreign policy. For Rosiak, what Poland needs is "political determination, competence and a feeling of belonging. Not one based on victimisation myths but on the conviction that it is a good thing to be part of the EU."
The New York Review of Books, 08.06.2006 (USA)
In the debate about the article written by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt on the "Israel Lobby", Michael Massing situates himself squarely on the side of the authors. They had contended it was Jewish pressure groups, and not American interests, that determine US policy toward Israel. However Massing does concede that the authors had no compelling proof for their accusations. But: "The nasty campaign waged against John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt has itself provided an excellent example of the bullying tactics used by the lobby and its supporters."
Elet es Irodalom, 19.05.2006 (Hungary)
People who have been exposed as former Stasi spies usually justify their actions by claiming they were forced to collaborate. Holding up renowned scholars as an example, the young historian Krisztian Ungvary argues that in actual fact they did have a certain freedom of action. He points out that when historians György Ranki and Ferenc Glatz and literary scholar Mihaly Szegedy-Maszak simply refused to collaborate with the Stasi, this had no severe repercussions on their careers. Historian Karoly Vigh, on the other hand, was quite willing to spy on his famous colleague, Domokos Kosary. Kosary lost his post and very nearly went to jail. "The cases I reported are just the tip of the iceberg. The files contain many reports that prove there weren't only traitors, but also courageous people under the dictatorship. Numerous accounts showing how the Kadar regime worked have been recorded for posterity. Sooner or later they will come to light. It lies in the interest of Hungarian society that the perpetrators and victims of these accounts be made known."
Le point, 18.05.2006 (France)
In his "Notebook" column, Bernard-Henri Levy turns his attention to the Peter Handke affair. Handke's play "Voyage to the Sonorous Land or the Art of Asking" was to have been staged by the Comedie Francaise in January, but was then struck from the theatre's programme. Commenting on Handke's "Rund um das Große Tribunal", a chronicle of the trial against Milosevic, Levy writes, "If I'd been in Marcel Bozonnet's place, I wouldn't have had to wait for Handke's participation Milosevic's funeral to know there was no place for him in my theatre.... The fact is that Handke should never have been programmed in the first place. It should have been clear to everyone much earlier that they had no intention of working with a man who thinks that 'the suffering of the Serbs is greater than that of the Jews under Nazism'."
Al Ahram Weekly, 18.05.2006 (Egypt)
In a passionate article, Palestinian migration researcher and publicist Abdel-Qader Yassine criticises European countries of creating an "ethnic absolutism" with their immigration policies, which are the result of "aggressive, relentless imperialist expansion": "Even as the EU is the single most cohesive economic unit the world has ever known -- the wealthiest and most powerful entity in history -- the peoples of this empire are barricading themselves in, aided in this by the rhetoric of fear and helplessness: fear of the nameless, foreign flood of humanity; helplessness at the escalating violence enacted to staunch that flood. But if refugees are a challenge as well as a reproach to our humanity, if refugees are a lament raised, a cry spoken, if refugees are the bastards of the idea of empire, then how can one blame this highly disenfranchised, displaced humanity for all the ills of Europe?"
The Walrus Magazine, 01.06.2006 (Canada)
The decision by potato breeding company Europlant to pull the potato sort "Linda" from the market caused a hue and cry among her fans in Germany. A year and a half later, Naomi Buck visited the protagonists of German's potato saga. Despite initiatives by some farmers to preserve Linda, Europlant's Managing Director Jörg Renatus doesn't believe she has a future. "'Look,' he says, massaging his Palm Pilot, 'Linda is forty years old. She was first bred in 1964. She's vulnerable to fungus infections and has no resistance to nematodes. In the fall, she's mealy; in the spring, she's firm. She's just one sort like hundreds of others.' (...) 'Why should Volkswagen keep making the Beetle when they've got the Golf?' The Golf, in this case, is Belana (more), and Renatus lights up at the mention of her name. 'She's yellow and firm, has excellent resistance and an intense taste. And she's already selling better than Linda ever did. We're exporting her, even to Canada.'"
RSS
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.
In Lettre International, philosopher Michail Ryklin explains how power functions. In Le Point, historian Patrice Gueniffey explains the revolutionary passion of the French. In the London Review, psychogeographer Iain Sinclair watches on as Olympic preparations destroy London's East End. In Polityka Adam Krzeminski is irritated by the Polish neo-National Democrats and the German Left. Atlantic hears the music in Rupert Murdoch's plans for the Wall Street Journal. The New Statesman remembers Austrian football hero Matthias Sindelar. Elet es Irodalom asks why we need literature?
The Economist watches the evolution of the book market. Theatre director Pawel Demirski tells Tygodnik Powszechny that Lech Walesa is a dead symbol for Polish youth. The TLS tells us why we're all geeks now. Espresso looks into the female face of India's future labour market. The New York Review of Books has the latest on the love affair between dopamine and the human brain. In Nouvel Obs anti-globalisation network Attac explains the effects of globalisation. In ResetDoc Zygmunt Bauman tells us what to do about it. And the New York Times takes us down to PigCity.
The London Review wishes Elfriede Jelinek's novel "Gier" had never been translated. Polityka provides a history of Polish anti-Semitism - in German too. In Clarin, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is confident that our cities will soon become pleasant places to live. In Gazeta Wyborcza, political scientist Ivan Krastev assuages ex-Yugoslavian fears that the end of the EU is nigh. In the Guardian, Ian McEwan pours cold water on apocalyptic belief. Al Ahram looks back at the history of the Jews in Egypt. And the New York Times admires Pakistan's strongest democratic weapon: men in black.
The New Humanist observes the rise of Muslim Creationism. Nepszabadsag wonders how democracy should deal with covert racism. The New Yorker introduces Dr. Fadl, a reformed terrorist and one of al-Qaeda's fiercest critics. In the New York Review of Books, the head of the Harvard library explains why the news is only a story. Caffe Europa describes the xenophobia of Italian politicians. Die Weltwoche warily watches the vicious hoodies in the new Justice video.
In the London Review of Books, Kevin Kopelson spills the beans about his plagiarism-littered path to professorship. Elet es Irodalom is green with envy over the independence of the Polish press. The Christians had it better under Nasser and Saddam Hussein, claims Coptic priest Giuseppe Scattolin in Resetdoc. In Le point, Bernard-Henri Levy spits out a colourful array of adjectives to describe the regime in Burma. And in L'Espresso, Umberto Eco analyses how the Mafia is murdering with the times.
In Eurozine the 69-year-old Catalan philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventos admits to his growing radicality. In Nepszabadsag the 75-year-old writer György Konrad declares: remembering is rebellion. In Artforum the 84-year-old philosopher Artur C. Danto thinks about art and revolution. In The New Republic Anne Applebaum takes a hammer to Nicholson Baker's pacifist polemic "Human Smoke". In Folio Christian Demand sends out a distress signal for art criticism. And the Spectator portrays the Anglican Church's only openly gay Bishop.
In the TLS, tenor Ian Bostridge writes about music under totalitarianism. The New Yorker introduces the millionaire-nerd-led group "Intellectual Ventures". Caffe Europe describes Aldo Moro's attempt to reconcile Church and communism. Nepszabadsag and Elet es Irodalom analyse the frequently misundertood concept of "competition" in Hungary. The London Review of Books explains Thabo Mbeki's motivations for backing Mugabe. And in the Weltwoche, violinist Julia Fischer demonstrates how to put up a wall.
Literaturen searches in the giant haystack of literature on '68 for a book on equal rights. The TLS rediscovers the man who sexed the English language. In Outlook India, political scientist Kishore Mahbubani closes the lid on Western cultural dominance. The New York Review of Books looks at the dominance of the national conservatives in Putin's Russia. Le Monde des livres reports on a clash of historians over the role of Islam in the Middle Ages. The Economist fears for freedom of the press in Eastern Europe. And the New York Times portrays Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswan.
In the Weltwoche, Tom Ford makes the case for full, natural pubic hair. Vanity Fair blames Bill Keller for the diminishing Timesness of the New York Times. In Espresso, Umberto Eco mourns the diminishing importance of the newpapers all together. The Times waves its fork about over the English breakfast. In L'Express, über ad-man Maurice Levy wants to give the industry a complete rehaul. The LRB experiences the joy of French painting, the TLS the joy of German Romanticism, the Economist the joy of Japanese "infantile capitalism and Al Ahram, the joy of Russian photography. The New Yorker conquers English with Li Yang.
Elet es Irodolam knows that 'minor literature' doesn't have to be political to be political. World Affairs defends Hirsi Ali, Bruckner and Berman against Buruma, Garton Ash und Ramadan. Rue 89 works through a black book of censorship. In the TLS professor of geriatric medicine, Raymond Tallis, argues that too much brain is the death of literary criticism. Hector Abad speaks out against literary protectionism in Semana. Outlook India is thoroughly put out: revolution is simply not cricket. And Vanity Fair plunges into icy water with the Russians.