Süddeutsche Zeitung, 01.09.2005

"It is always justifiable when writers categorically refuse to participate actively in an election campaign", writes Tanja Dückers in answer to Eva Menasse's complaint about the "opportunistic diffidence on the part of today's writers" in the current election campaign. Taking a look at the young writers who have been recruited into the ranks of the SPD, Dückers concludes they seem to have no visions of their own. "There is no longer even the faintest whiff of that spirit of rebellion or desire for change that once brought people flocking to the SPD or the Green Party. The Kosovo War, the Hartz IV reforms to unemployment and social security benefits, cuts in social services, they support the whole package. Writers for Hartz IV! - that's what today's young rebels are saying."

Tomas Avenarius writes uneasily about the steady growth of radical Islam of Egypt. In his view even the country's intellectuals have made a pact with it. Sayyid Al-Qimni for example, lecturer on the sociology of religion at Cairo University and "known in Egypt for his sharp-tongued critique of Islamic zealots", had promised not to write any more after receiving a death threat. But no one is getting upset. Avenarius explains what makes Al-Qimni so dangerous to the Islamists: He argues in a religious way. "Only Islamistic argumentation can still engender dialogue. Western rationale and critique, whether from outside or from within, has long fallen on deaf ears. The audience simply no longer has the necessary argumentative synapses. People who argue the Islamist point of view feel they have a monopoly on truth. They simply don't take note of non-Islamic arguments. The fact that al-Qimni suggests that Islam is not necessarily divine prophecy, but rather the result of political reckoning, makes things even worse for the Islamists. Al-Qimni says Muhammad set himself up as a prophet to unite the Arabs, and in that way to make them the cornerstone of a world empire."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 01.09.2005

The Turkish public attorney's office is threatening to try Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk (Snow) for slander of the Turkish nation, which could result in a two to three year prison sentence, reports Hubert Spiegel. The charges were brought after an interview Pamuk gave to the German Weltwoche newspaper in February in which he called the Turkish genocide of the Armenians by its name. Spiegel comments: "Orhan Pamuk endorses the EU entry of his homeland. Now aside from the threat to his person he must be particularly hard hit by the painful irony that it his because of him that Turkey's hopes of entrance will be reduced significantly. Because who in Europe is now going to back the accession of a country that persecutes its most important poet for speaking historical truths?" See our feature "The Turkish trauma", an interview with Orhan Pamuk.


25 years of Solidarnosc...

Die Zeit reprints a very moving article published in the Polish paper Gazeta Wyborcza by editor-in-chief Adam Michnik (more here), in which he looks back on the founding of Solidarnosc 25 years ago: "Things weren't easy for us – the security apparatus poisoned our lives with arrests, maltreatment, extortion and bans on people exercising their professions. They collected incriminating evidence against us, invented compromising material and divided us with lies and intrigues. A lot of people couldn't take the pressure. They got out, broke down or left Poland. Nobody at the time would ever have thought that years later when there was no more security service, people's police or even any Soviet Union, the secret service archives from those days would be used by political opportunists today, and that the beautiful time full of beautiful people would turn into a quagmire of denunciations. Because the bloodless Solidarnosc revolution in Poland really was beautiful – it was a carnival of freedom, patriotism and truth. It brought out the very best in people: altruism, tolerance, noble-mindedness, and openness to others. It was creative, it gave people back their dignity and didn't feed on the need for revenge. Never before and never afterwards was Poland such a congenial country."

Writing in Die Welt, Political scientist Piotr Bura is concerned about the legacy of Solidarnosc. The republican spirit and willingness to compromise it showed in 1989 are increasingly coming under conservative fire. "The third revolution, which its initiators prefer to call the 'moral revolution', is aimed at the 'third republic' (the post-communist period) as much as the communists. It is a sad paradox that of all people, the most outspoken defenders of the 'third republic' today are former communists. The 'moral revolution' should free the corrupt state from the ex-communists and bring to public life the promise of a new start. The advocates of a 'fourth republic' often cite the USA as a role model, with its powerful president and efficient public attorney's office. This strong state should be backed by the introduction of the death penalty and the idea of a 'super attorney's office' with extraordinary competencies and an exceptional position in the constitutional system."