Physical Dramaturgy: Ein (neuer) Trend?

Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen. more more

GoetheInstitute

Israel has no choice

Thursday 24 August, 2006

Israel is not only defending its territorial security, it is fighting an Islamic anti-Semitism which European politics are determined to ignore. When it comes to the crunch, the Europeans' "critical dialogue" and culturally-obsessed interpretations, not to mention their playing down of anti-Semitism, have contributed to keeping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict alive. By Tjark Kunstreich
read more

The Jerusalem syndrome

Thursday 10 August, 2006

French philosopher Andre Glucksmann exposes the apocalyptic notions that haunt 21st century minds, coloring perceptions of the war in Lebanon. But does anyone really believe that Islamic extremists would lay down their arms after erasing Israel from the map?
read more

The last station

Thursday 20 July, 2006

Indian author Kiran Nagarkar thought he knew a thing or two about terrorism, having recently written a novel about "God's Little Soldier." But when the terrorists struck last week in Mumbai he was left with a feeling of disbelief, dismay and incomprehension.
read more

The conflict in Lebanon

Thursday 20 July, 2006

Since the latest conflict in the Middle East flared up, many voices in Europe and the Middle East have been seeking to make head or tail of the goings on. We give a press review from the German feuilletons, as well as links to keynote and background pieces in the European and international press.
Updated on Thursday, 14 September.
read more

Beggars of the state

Tuesday 18 July, 2006

Iranian journalist and activist Akbar Ganji has spent the last six years in a Tehran jail for his open criticism of the regime. Here in an interview with Katajun Amipur, he talks about the greatest obstacle to democracy - oil - and the moral support Iran needs from the West to make reform possible. (Photo Mansour Nasiri)
read more

Kowtowing to the Petro Czar

Friday 14 July, 2006

Nothing is forcing the Western democracies to crown the Petro Czar. The only thing supporting the Russian economy is the price per barrel. Its industry is stagnating, and Russia needs the West more than vice versa. The powers meeting in St. Petersburg today have to choose: either they prolong an enormous misunderstanding even after its death, or they bury it altogether. By Andre Glucksmann
read more

A long farewell to Yugoslavia

Thursday 22 June, 2006

Austrian author and playwright Peter Handke's political stance on Serbia has not been easy for Western intellectuals to swallow. With the recent scandal of the Heinrich Heine Prize - which was awarded to Handke and then retracted - the writer's views are back in the spotlight. In an in-depth interview with Martin Meyer and Andreas Breitenstein, Handke tries to clarify his understanding of what happened in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
read more

The French malady

Wednesday 24 May, 2006

The Clearstream Affair is just the most recent symptom of a crisis that has been dogging the French Republic for three decades. The time for a "rupture" is at hand. By Andre Glucksmann
read more

Between Guatemala and Mongolia

Wednesday 5 April, 2006

Italians go to the polls on Sunday. Do Europeans realise what is at stake, or does Italophilia blind them to Berlusconi's brutal power games? Outside Italy, people fail to see that this "puppet" would already be behind bars in most European countries, and that its legal system and press freedom are on a par with Guatemala and Mongolia. But who could come next? Friedrich Christian Delius paints a dire portrait of Italy's ailing democracy.
read more

The Asterix complex

Tuesday 4 April, 2006

French philosopher and novelist Pascal Bruckner has no qualms about bucking public opinion. In an interview with Marko Martin he discusses Gallic fury, suburban rioters' scorched earth methods, the systemic weaknesses of French society and the Finkielkraut Affair.
read more

The end of the Silvio show?

Wednesday March 8, 2006

Italy is gearing up for parliamentary elections on April 9. Opposition figures from author Umberto Eco to satirist Sabina Guzzanti and filmmaker Nanni Moretti are vying to put an end to telecracy à la Silvio Berlusconi. But can they stop the country's rampant amalgamation of politics and TV? By Gabriella Vitiello
read more

On the heels of the anti-Western reflex

Thursday 9 February, 2006

Lebanese poet and writer Abbas Beydoun talks to Bernhard Hillenkamp about the rioting in his country in response to the Danish Mohammed cartoons and the creation of a more general "Islamic" paranoia.
read more

Hoping for a game without fouls

Wednesday 11 January, 2006

An interview with Gdansk author Pawel Huelle on the new Polish government, anti-Semitism in Poland and Kaczynski's "moral revolution". By Gerhard Gnauck
read more

In search of lost sense

Wednesday 21 September, 2005

"Some find smearing the Solidarity revolution and its heroes by means of the secret police archives heroic. Others think it is more like throwing a hand grenade into a cesspool: some get killed, some injured, and everyone is left soiled and smelly. This is how we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the August revolution: bruised, smeared and frustrated. Can't we learn to speak sensibly about the things we have had the courage to achieve?" By Adam Michnik
read more

Russian dichotomies

Wednesday 14 September, 2005

Like his country's heraldic eagle, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has one head facing west and the other east. By Viktor Erofeyev.
read more