Monday 29 August, 2005

25 years of Solidarnosc

The Polish independent trade union Solidarity was founded 25 years ago, on August 31, 1980. In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Reinhold Vetters takes a rather clouded view of the celebrations: "Polish sociologists assume that the goals and values that Lech Walesa and his colleagues fought for at the time no longer have much meaning. For Pawel Spiewak, for example, social fragmentation, egoism, extreme careerism, an aversion to politics and lacking civic engagement are predominant. Many Poles feel as though they were strangers in their own land, and emigration is once more on the rise. Political scientist Marcin Krol sums up the situation with the comment that Poland's tragedy does not consist in dilettantish politics, a dysfunctional economy and a dearth of highways. The real tragedy is that there is no social solidarity."

Writing in the tageszeitung, Warsaw sociologist and journalist Slawomir Sierakowski comments on the events in Gdansk 25 years ago: "In the days of communism there was a joke about the rulers' hypocrisy. They said: 'In general, prices have remained the same. It's true, you have to pay more for bread, milk and meat. But in exchange locomotives have become cheaper.' The gains that came with independence in 1989 are reminiscent of the story about the sinking price of locomotives. Unfortunately, almost no one at the 25-year anniversary of the Polish August is talking about that. People seldom remember the millions of defeated victors."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 29.08.2005

This year's Ruhrtriennale theatre, dance and music festival has got off to a dramatic start, reports Christine Dössel, who writes that the collaboration between director Andrea Breth and set designer Christian Boltanski on the scenic installation "Nights Below Ground" in Essen's Kokerei Zollverein was anything but harmonious. "There will not be any further collaboration between Breth and Boltanski. Not after the uproar Mr. B caused at the post-premiere reception when he got up on a chair and furiously announced that working with Ms. B was downright 'awful' and that 'I never want to see her again'. Yet the ensuing silence and the festival directors' resentment at their guest's unseemly behaviour didn't change the fact that although the cooperation between B & B appeared so difficult, it was, artistically speaking, actually a very fruitful collaboration. The audience regards such things in a far more laid back manner since they care more about the results."


Berliner Zeitung, 29.08.2005

On the newspaper's front page, opinion editor Arno Widmann suspects aesthetical correctness behind a decree by György Mitnyan, mayor of Budapest's 12th district, that only women with "pretty legs" may wear miniskirts in his administration. "Is György Mitnyan not familiar with the charms of those short, sturdy mallets that stake out their terrain with such resolute naivete? Has he never lain in lust between the fat columns of a woman of bulk?" Widmann has the following rejoinder: "No, we want to see all legs, at least all legs that want to be seen. They remind us how wonderfully arousing thin and thick thighs, slender and fat ankles, bony and blubbery legs can be if we only catch them – or if they catch us – at the right moment."


Saturday 27 August, 2005

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 27.08.2005

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch politician, author and colleague of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh, speaks out against taboos surrounding Islam in Dutch society: "Hushing up a problem is not a solution. For example, the reserve of the Dutch establishment can prevent problems like the extremely low social participation, the high rate of school drop-outs, domestic violence and militant religious fanaticism in the Muslim milieu from being openly discussed. If you want to ease social tensions you have to break with the taboos that cover up these subjects."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 27.08.2005

Kazuo Ishguros' new novel, "Never Let Me Go" has just hit German book stores. It's about cloned young people who are cultured as living organ donors, explains Angela Schader who met with the author. "The novel's paradoxical element lies in the fact that the protagonists are allowed to grow up in a privileged milieu. They are not banished to become valuable human material, but rather are encouraged to be individuals and develop their creativity. At no moment, however, do they consider breaking free from their destined career path, which by the second or third organ donation will bring their demise. Does this not contradict the mental autonomy which we associate with developed, creative personalities? That might be one of the metaphor's weak points, concedes Ishguro: 'But was Germany not the most cultivated, most well-read nation in Europe, with great composers, great philosophers, a great literary tradition - and what happened? They all joined in. They all obeyed and did barbaric things. That's exactly one of the questions which interested me in this book: What is art good for? Wherefore creativity? I don't know whether it really has any practical use.'"