Die Tageszeitung 30.01.2007

Political scientist Claus Leggewie pleads for a removal of the terms Islamofascism and Islamophobia from public discourse. He feels that the latter term turns legitimate criticism of religion into something approaching discrimination. "This term has to be limited – to cases where Muslims are really exposed to attacks, in which their mosques, schools and cemeteries are being vandalised and they are being discriminated against at school, work or in public institutions on the basis of their religion or outward appearance. If we don't make this distinction, false tolerance and sensitivity only create a protected area into which the Islamic world can retreat, refuse to make any attempts at self-criticism, and continue to portray itself as a victim."

Die Welt, 30.01.2007

In the rather dry discussion about the possible amnesty for the last RAF prisoners (more), Marium Lau considers how the Bundesrepublik has been reconciled to itself despite all the RAF films and art. "What was almost never to be heard – not in the 'Fischer affair' (more) or any other cases for that matter – were the voices of those who never resorted to violence but who followed the events with a strong sense of sympathy, melancholy and depression, such as the terrorist's sister in von Trotta's 'Bleierner Zeit.' How could you consider the Bundesrepublik of a Willy Brandt or Helmut Schmidt to be enemy territory? How did you find your way out of that? It was easier to speak of Iphigeneia. It was with horror that one watched the career of lawyer Horst Mahler, whose tight connection to the RAF morphed into right-wing nationalism: always ultra."


Le Monde, 30.01.2007

French philosopher Andre Glucksmann explains why for the first time in his life he will vote for a right-wing presidential candidate – Nicolas Sarkozy. In part, it's because Sarkozy wants to break some republican taboos. "He's in favour of affirmative action and breaks with the idea of a merely virtual equality in order to fight against the real inequalities that arise from skin colour or origin. And he praises public support for the building of mosques so that believers don't have to pray in cellars or places provided by rich fundamentalists."


Frankfurter Rundschau 30.01.2007

In an interview with Anja Hirsch, author Wilhelm Genazino discusses his forthcoming novel "Mittlemäßiges Heimweh" (mediocre homesickness) and how his - albeit mediocre - hero felt at losing an ear. "I'm both bemused and relieved that many readers with whom I've spoken are so familiar with the feeling of losing a body part. You don't even have to explain it to them. The reader has a spontaneous feeling for what it's like. He's smarter than the theorist who's bound by realist blinders and wants to know: just how am I supposed to understand this?"


Der Tagesspiegel 30.01.2007

Documenta head Roger M. Buergel (more here) talks in an interview about the "rather undecided" art city of Berlin, and explains his concept of "bare life," the motto of Documenta XII: "This topic concerns everyone. The entire German middle class is threatened with social setbacks or worse, and yet they avoid facing the issue. Age, death, sickness, raising children – all of these topics confront one with uncertainty. Yet people prefer to think of favelas, Palestinian refugee camps, child soldiers in the Congo, prostitutes in Bombay. All of that can exist, sure, but no one wants to know about unemployment in Kassel. This is where the Documenta exhibition comes emphatically into its own, and can have a profound effect on the body of society."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 30.01.2007

Thomas Wagner has been to the dual exhibition of painter friends Rolf-Gunter Dienst and Dieter Krieg at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. He is particularly taken by the paintings of Krieg, who died in late 2005: "Krieg vehemently hurls fried eggs, juicy green curtains and monstrously large words at the observer. But it's not what he paints that's important. Like in Dienst's works, what really leaps from these huge canvases is painting itself. It takes on a presence entirely of its own, like in a hold-up or a mugging, becoming almost tangible in its pasty materiality. The style squashes the object, squeezing it until the self-will of painting itself inescapably takes over the role of object. Anyone who has seen Krieg's work knows that the trumping sensuality and palpable vitality of his colours are the result of his own questioning and doubt."