Monday 29 January 2007

Süddeutsche Zeitung 29.01.2007

"Nothing but music, dunes and sky" is what Werner Bloch experienced at the "Festival au désert" in the oasis Essakane in Mali. "The best bands in the country and a couple of international acts pushed their way onto the small stone stage, the only solid structure far and wide. Despite the chaotic organisation, stars like Oumou Sangare and Habib Koite are in the best of moods. The biggest discovery here is Adama Yalomba with his 21-string kora, a mixture of lute and harp, who sent the audience into ecstasy." The only problem for Bloch is that, despite its proclaimed intentions, the festival does nothing to reconcile Tuaregs and black Africans.


Frankfurter Rundschau 29.01.2007

In an article that appeared in the Frankfurter Rundschau on September 28, 2006, psychoanalyst and author Franz Maciejewski put forward the thesis that Sigmund Freud took his wife's younger sister, Minna Bernay, as a lover. (more here) The suggestion provoked reactions from around the world. Today Maciejewski responds to an article by the lawyer Albrecht Hirschmüller, who defends Freud against accusations of infidelity. Maciejewski writes, "My impression is that one can understand Freud's erotic closeness to Minna as a repetition of an infantile episode. In recent years, much research has suggested that Sigmund had a two-mother complex as a child because he was being raised by both his mother Amalie and a nanny who played ersatz-mother. In light of these assumptions, the 'neurosis that thrived at 2000 metres' can be seen as evidence of how much the 44 year old Freud suffered from early-childhood trauma."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung 29.01.2007

Author and film director Alexander Kluge talks in an interview about the Suhrkamp culture, literature and the Internet. "The first row of journalistic online portals is occupied by media like Spiegel and the NZZ online. Behind them is the second row, where anyone can express himself. Then there's the third row and that's where the unqualified ends. Instead there's been a re-discovery of thoroughness and commentary. The forms that we encounter there are not ordered academically and individual elements can be short – 3 minute films, for example. The complexity increases with the network. In the deeper levels of the Internet we can revive the old thoroughness. All the way to Thomas Aquinas' method of commentary. The only thing that we can't get back is the author who yells 'here I am, I convert all autumn leaves into a sad mood.'"


Die Tageszeitung 29.01.2007

Islamic Studies expert Sonja Hegasy has studied the UN's most recent "Arabic report on human development" (online the 2005 report) and has discovered progress that, in her opinion, has not been paid enough heed. In politics and the media, for instance. "Since 1999, election observers have been testifying that falsification and the silencing of voters have become ever rarer. Arabic satellite television is now presenting informed, public pan-Arabic opinions. And in countries like Morocco and Palestine, NGOs have taken on the role of marginalised parties in opinion-formation as well as the recruitment of young politicians."


Saturday 27 January, 2007

Neue Zürcher Zeitung 27.01.2007

Anne Huffschmid portrays the philosopher Horacio Gonzalez, who has headed the Argentinian National Library for the past year. "There is an ironic side to the futuristic-looking book cathedral. This is where the figurehead of Argentinian history, President Juan Domingo Peron, resided with his wife Evita. When he was removed from office through a putsch in 1955, his residence was bulldozed. The foundations were left to go to waste until the new national library was built on the same site in the 70s. Architects like to talk about the monstrous building's 'brutal aesthetic.' But that doesn't bother Gonzales. 'When you work here, you see things with more friendly eyes.' The fenced-in statue of the Pope on the front lawn has a downright surreal charm. Adolescent kids like to use it as a goal for street football."


Berliner Zeitung 27.01.2007

Actor and director Milan Peschel explains to Anja Reich in an interview why he's not at all depressed by the East German provinces. "I find West German cities a lot worse. I went to a couple of small towns in Lower Saxony and near Mönchengladbach with the Senftenberger Theater. The most pathetic thing is how they all try to persuade themselves they've created something worthwhile just because they've got a pedestrian zone. I know that's unfair. Of course I'm a local patriot. I always look for the pretty parts when I walk through an East German town. I don't want to see the ugly bits. I never could get used to Hamburg. I always found it cold there. Not superficial, just cold, off-putting. A little like a health-food shop. Everyone's always so nice in a demonstrative, noncommittal way. I'll take the saleslady at the Extra-Markt any day. She's more genuine, even when she's pissed off because she's been working her feet off."