Stage designers is developing more and more into the most important element of stage productions. It is set designers or ?spatial artists? like Johannes Schütz, Muriel Gerstner, Stéphane Laimé and Olaf Altmann who are ?to blame? ? they are the ones who can turn an evening at the theatre into a total work of stationary art....
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I want to see Turks en masse waving the German flag. Jobs, rules, the German language and free religion – these must be the pillars of a new German society. Today's West Germans, East Germans and foreign Germans are perhaps only the forefathers of the curious folk we will be in thirty years. And then, what belongs together will grow together. An appeal by Feridun Zaimoglu.
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Turkish-born German sociologist Necla Kelek has been accused of painting the Turkish community in Germany in a bad light. In an interview with Michaela Schlagenwerth, she explains that what she sees is what she writes. More dangerous than her portrayal, she says, is the pervasive blindness to the facts. (Photo Lebeck)
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As Germany toys with the idea of introducing tests to screen prospective immigrants, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht cautions not to confuse rules with culture and asks: what is the norm, anyway?
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A clash of cultures? No, of mindsets. Philosopher Andre Glucksmann on truth and belief, and why the Danish Muhammad cartoons and cartoons
about the Holocaust are two different things.
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Since they were published in September last year, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons have excited responses from every corner. We've translated a daily press review, a distinction between truth and belief by French philosopher Andre Glucksmann, a balanced appraisal by Islamic scholar Navid Kermani, an interview with the Lebanese poet Abbas Beydoun, an open letter by eleven French writers, a statement of indignation by Sonia Mikich and a piece on how it all began by Jörg Lau.
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Anyone familiar with Middle Eastern literature knows
it abounds with jesters who heap scorn on God, the mullahs, and rulers. But if Western media show endless stereotypes of Muslims - hooded men with machine guns and faces distorted with rage - you should not be surprised when hatred escalates and turns violent. By Navid Kermani
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The disconcerting thing about the cartoon conflict is having to remind people that we
have the right to commit blasphemy, that picking on the parish priest
has long been a national sport. When we talk about anti-Muslim racism, we ask: what race are we talking about? Is Islam genetically transmittable? An open letter by eleven French writers.
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Tariq Ramadan is the most important thinker in Switzerland, even if most Swiss have never heard of him. Who is this
man that some consider to be a terrorist hero and others, a
Muslim Martin Luther? By Martin Beglinger
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We are offended. Our traditional values have been quashed. Freedom of speech and reason are sacred to us. And let's not forget, the world isn't flat. A wake-up call. By Sonia Mikich.
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In September, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Some Muslims were not amused. Jörg Lau explains how the seemingly innocent pictures caused an international crisis.
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A new Rushdie affair? The European press is full of the heated debate over the Muhammad cartoons. A survey.
Updated on Friday, February 24.
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After weeks of heavy press coverage on the rioting in the French suburbs we have compiled a dossier with four related feature articles as well as a comprehensive collection of international voices from In Today's Feuilletons and our Magazine Roundup.
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The riots in the French suburbs are taking place in an atmosphere rife with male violence where girls and women live in fear.
If we really want to address the problem of burning cars,
then we must also tackle the problem of burning girls. By Alice Schwarzer
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French philosopher Andre Glucksmann sees the rioting French suburbs as an expression of hatred. You can blame socio-economic conditions, he says, but you won't get to the root of the problem until you look this hatred in the eye.
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French author Francois Bon has spent years giving writing workshops to youths in the suburbs that are now being set ablaze. He looks critically at where the violence originated and with despair at where it's headed.
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