All the members of the European Union espouse the common value of fair and efficient cooperation, which in turn involves smooth communication on as equal a footing as possible in business, politics, the arts and the EU institutions. The large linguistic communities, whose languages are often learned as foreign languages, also have particular interests....
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Der Tagesspiegel 06.03.2007
Christine Lemke-Matwey travelled to Riga to hear one of world's leading young conductors, the 28-year-old Latvian Andris Nelsons, (more here)
conducting Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" – despite the somewhat
problematic acoustics of the National Opera House. "Nelsons might turn
the most incredible pirouettes in the pit since Carlos Kleiber,
cuddling up fairy-armed with Siegmund (Jirki Antila), Sieglinde (a
daisy-fresh Elisabet Strid) and the wild wide world, playing the
Dervish here, and the quiet shoulder-shrugging Torero there with Fricka
(a very deliberate Martina Dike): it just refuses to ring right. Not
enough upper tones, no stomach. And yet musically, this evening is one
of the most exciting that the season has to offer in many a land, for
far and wide."
Süddeutsche Zeitung 06.03.2007
The SZ
celebrates fifty years of African independence. On March 6, 1957, the
British Gold Coast gained independence and renamed itself Ghana. The writer Amma Darko
is proud of her country's constitutional face today. "Today we can
simply shout out what we don't like about President Kufour and then get
back to work. When, after taking office, Kufour declared Ghana bankrupt
and opted for the 'Heavily-Indebted-Poor-Countries number' Ghanaians
shook their heads in disbelief. How could he do this to us? The shame,
the humiliation! The people retaliated immediately. A crossroads near
the president's house in Accra soon was soon dubbed the HIPC crossroads."
Spiegel Online 06.03.2007
Actress Sibel Kekilli, who shot to fame in Fatih Akin's "Head On", talks in an interview about her criticisms of
Islam and her frustration at always being treated like a foreigner in
Germany. Recently in a podium discussion in Berlin, Kekilli stated that
"violence was part of the Islamic cultural heritage." And she stands by
what she said: "It can't be denied. Most honour killings are justified
by the perpetrators with reference to Islam. Islam is cited as one of
the grounds for female genital cutting, although it's not prescribed
by Islam. Men who beat their wives say it's written in the Koran. Of
course the relevant passages can also be interpreted in other ways, even
if unfortunately they're not as a rule. People try to justify their acts
of violence with religion. And the peace-loving Muslims have to suffer
under the extremists." Kekilli blames the Germans as well as the Turks
for the slow pace of integration: "I'm tired of explaining that I'm a
German citizen, that I was born here and that I'm still not accepted
here. For most Germans I'm still a guest, although I was born here and live by the constitution."
Die Tageszeitung 06.03.2007
Three collectors are presenting works by Sigmar Polke in the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden. Georg Patzer finds
the rooms too small and the catalogue too sparse, but feels these
shortcomings are made up for by the works themselves. "There are the
more mysterious pictures like the realistically-painted, plump and floating sausages,
or an example of Polke's arithmetic skills, '1 + 1 = 3', which a bank
decided not to purchase in the end, for fear of unsettling its
customers. Then there's his very lovely collage 'So sitzen Sie richtig'
(how to sit properly) on printed fabric, blending Francisco de Goya's
aquatinta engraving 'Ya tienen asiento' with Max Ernst's 'Une semaine de bonte.'
Ernst's snake flees before Goya's young woman and the balancing chairs
fly through the room – all that painted on fabric printed with little dogs. A true whirlwind of art history."
For everyone who doesn't receive Venezuelan TV, Gerhard Dilger describes the popular "Alo Presidente," Hugo Chavez' one-man show
which airs five days a week. "Chavez takes a map and explains his trade
policies with the small countries of the Caribbean. Then with the aid
of a chart he shows the rising food prices and stresses the need to
deal firmly with speculators. And between all that he suddenly bursts into song or pokes fun at President Bush."
Frankfurter Rundschau 06.03.2007
Sociologist Trutz von Trotha compares the German's relationship to their children with that of the French, diagnosing a tendency on the part of former to be too "child centred."
Germans, he says set such high standards that they end up not wanting to
have any children at all. The French, on the other hand, see things
more pragmatically: "After giving birth, French mothers focus on
getting back in shape and looking attractive. Unlike the Germans,
French mothers are not afraid to subject their children to rigid daily
schedules, and recommend letting babies have a good scream so that they will sleep all the more soundly – something that meets with contempt and abhorrence among German mothers."
Die Welt 06.03.2007
In an interview (with pictures), artist Gregor Schneider
tells Uta Baier why he now intends to put his black Kaabaesque cube,
which was barred from being erected on St. Mark's Square at the 2005
Venice Biennale, in Hamburg. "The fascinating thing about the Kaaba in
Mecca is that it is an unknown space for me, and one of the most beautiful and secretive spaces
of the human race. That's one aspect. But the black cube we are talking
about is a sculpture which has not been built. Only when it has been
built can we look at it and experience it physically."
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