Die Zeit, 24.02.2005

On the political page, Georg Blume gives a portrait of Peking writer Yin Luchuan, who publishes her texts exclusively on her very colourful weblog. "She has had enough of the western style academic jargon of her colleagues, enough of Marx and Mao, Sartre and Camus. For her, it all sounds the same." But she has also had enough of political phraseology. Instead she wants to introduce "the new tones and resonances of everyday life into Chinese literature." Blume quotes Yin's agenda: "Today we are investing Chinese everyday life with new meaning. There are no heroes any more. Anyone who wants to can be a singer or writer. That’s our epoch."

Claus Spahn wonders who could bear the sheer number of VIPs at Katharina Wagner's staging of Albert Lortzing's opera "The Armourer" in Munich. Guests at the premiere included "Bavarian cultural poobahs, distinguished guests from the Richard Wagner associations, conductors Christian Thielemann of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Adam Fischer of the Mannheim National Theatre. And in the box of honour sat the head of the Munich Festival, Katharina's father Wolfgang Wagner with his wife Gudrun." Everyone was expecting a delicious foretaste of the much awaited "Meistersingers" production announced for 2007 in Bayreuth. But the staging by Richard Wagner's great granddaughter "fell apart pitifully under the weight of public expectation. For three whole acts she rides the arduous themes like a wobbly hobby horse. The lighter moments fall away altogether - although granted, the Wagner family was never known for its subtle wit."

Julia Gerlach reports on the United Arab Emirates, where lots of money is being invested in constructing museums and attracting internationally renowned artists. But there are "clearly defined rules and taboos that also hold for the art world. In the Academy of Arts, for example, there are no nude sketches, and images of naked people are not shown in museums. 'And we do not show works that make overt political statements,' says Maissa al-Suwaidi. 'Artists can do what they want. But it goes against our culture to affront people.'"


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24.02.2005

Joachim Güntner recapitulates the current perception of the RAF and concludes: the RAF is not being played down today. On the contrary, even leftist commentators are lamenting its lack of legitimation. The most recent psychograms show the members as apolitical, motivated by a desire for violence and weapons. "'Andreas Baader's power over women lies in the fact that he took their phallic desire seriously,' writes Karin Wieland, who researches intellectual history and masculine self images, in the recent publication by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research "Rudi Dutschke, Andreas Baader and the RAF". For Wieland, this explains both Baader's role as political instigator and the irritating female obsession with weapons in the RAF. All that remains of the founding RAF generation is a ménage à trois. Baader - Ensslin - Meinhof: the story of a bondage. And doesn't Astrid Proll also say that the RAF were actually a LBF - a Liberated Baader Faktion - where everything revolved around one man?"


Die Tageszeitung, 24.02.2005

"It seems to be a current trend in film to dish up stale material as 'new discoveries' - and for publicists to refer to previously unknown documents," writes Barbara Schweizerhof about Marc Rothemund's film "Sophie Scholl - The Last Days", which won two silver bears at this year's Berlinale. "Just like Bernd Eichinger's "Downfall", Rothemund's film tries to rejuvenate the 'Heimatfilm' genre. Whether White Rose anti-Nazi conspirators or Nazi interrogators - they all seem remarkably close and intimate, characters who hide their own internal cleavage behind their sense of duty. These typical, controlled - in both senses of the word - Germans have one thing in common: they were 'actually' not Nazis. In Rothemund's film, Sophie Scholl's path to execution is lined with kind sympathisers. Who could resist Julia Jentsch in her incarnation of the 'girl wonder' with all the classic virtues - diligent, strong-willed, natural - or in other words, upstanding, not too intellectual and with that defensive eroticism which arouses men's protective instincts. Contrary to what the preview suggests, 'Sophie Scholl - The Last Days' does not irritate viewers with an overabundance of historical details."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24.02.2005

Islam specialist and author Narvid Kermani expresses fears about European foreign policy, which he sees as being too friendly with the Iranian Mullahs. In Kermani's view, the American project of a new order in the Near and Middle East is closer to the hearts of most Iranians than the altruistic European overtures. "In European policy we are seeing the rebirth of a monster that has wreaked havoc in the Middle East, and which threatens the security of the West even today: the villain who is not a villain, because he's my villain. If you don't insist on basic common values, if you are willing to deal with the darkest of political forces, you shouldn't be surprised when these forces turn against you one day. If you don't have any moral values yourself, you can't expect them from villains just because they're your friends.”


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24.02.2005

Regina Mönch discusses a proposal by the CDU/CSU parliamentary fraction regarding Turkey's accession to the EU. According to the proposal, "Germany must help reconcile Turkey and Armenia." Mönch asserts that, despite Turkey's considerable progress on many fronts, it shows little sign of budging on this issue. "Anyone who doesn't believe this should have a look at the official website of the Turkish foreign ministry. Granted, the law threatening anyone - even independent historians - with prison if they call the Armenian genocide a genocide has been modified. But now it is a penal offence to talk about this genocide in the context of events that are funded externally or organised by foundations where 'material interest' could be at stake. Rich terrain for arbitrary judgement."