----------------------------------------------------------- EUROZINE NEWSLETTER 02.2007 ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article of the month: Blogging, the nihilist impulse 2. New partner: 2000 3. Eurozine Review 4. New articles
----------------------------------------------------------- 1. ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: BLOGGING, THE NIHILIST IMPULSE ----------------------------------------------------------- "This has got to be the single most interesting essay on blogging that I've ever read. I think every blogger should read this again and again and again until their brain stops exploding." Thus wrote science fiction author Bruce Sterling in his influential blog "Beyond the Beyond" after Eurozine published media theorist Geert Lovink's "Blogging, the nihilist impulse".
Lovink's essay, first published in German in "Lettre internationale", sets out to formulate a theory of weblogs that goes beyond the usual rhetoric of citizens' journalism. Instead of merely looking into the emancipatory potential of blogs, or emphasizing their counter-cultural folklore, Lovink sees blogs as part of an unfolding process of "massification" of a still new medium:
"According to the utopian blog philosophy, mass media are doomed. Their role will be taken over by 'participatory media'. The terminal diagnosis has been made and it states: closed, top-down organizations no longer work, knowledge cannot be 'managed', today's work is collaborative and networked. However, despite continuous warning signs, the system successfully continues to (dys)function. Is top-down really on its way out? Where does the Hegelian certainty come from that the old-media paradigm will be overthrown? There is little factual evidence of this. And it is this state of ongoing affairs that causes nihilism, and not revolutions, to occur."
According to Lovink, it is this nihilism that allows bloggers to turn futility into a productive force:
"Blogs bring on decay. Each new blog is supposed to add to the fall of the media system that once dominated the twentieth century. This process is not one of a sudden explosion. The erosion of the mass media cannot easily be traced in figures of stagnant sales and the declining readership of newspapers. In many parts of the world, television is still on the rise. What's declining is the Belief in the Message. That is the nihilist moment, and blogs facilitate this culture as no platform has ever done before. Sold by the positivists as citizen media commentary, blogs assist users in their crossing from Truth to Nothingness. The printed and broadcasted message has lost its aura. [...] As a micro-heroic, Nietzschean act of the pyjama people, blogging grows out of a nihilism of strength, not out of the weakness of pessimism. Instead of time and again presenting blog entries as self-promotion, we should interpret them as decadent artefacts that remotely dismantle the mighty and seductive power of the broadcast media."
Geert Lovink BLOGGING, THE NIHILIST IMPULSE
This article is available in English and Danish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-02-lovink-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-02-lovink-da.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 2. NEW PARTNER: 2000 ----------------------------------------------------------- The journal "2000" was launched in April 1989 as one of the first new magazines of the reborn free press in Hungary. It is now one of the most influential in Hungary, regularly featuring poetry, short stories, and drama, along with a broad social focus on the former Soviet bloc.
Read more about "2000", the newest Eurozine partner journal, including its current issue: http://www.eurozine.com/journals/2000.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 3. EUROZINE REVIEW ----------------------------------------------------------- Would you like to know more about the latest issues of Europe's leading cultural journals? The Eurozine Review is the perfect source. This biweekly presentation of the Eurozine partner journals' newest issues offers a more detailed look at current themes and articles in our more than 60 partner journals in 33 countries.
To subscribe to the Eurozine Review, simply visit our newsletter page and sign up: http://www.eurozine.com/newsletter.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 4. NEW ARTICLES ----------------------------------------------------------- Thierry Naudin PORTOBELLO ROAD. A LONDON DISTRICT IN THE "VIRTUAL" ERA From immigrant district to faux-bohemian ghetto, the cultural strata that formed the unique identity of London's Portobello Road have been destroyed. 01.02.2007
This article is available in French: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-01-naudin-fr.html
Burkhard Müller THE CONCEPT OF GOD - AND WHY WE DON'T NEED IT In these newly religious times, it no longer seems superfluous to rearm the atheists with arguments. When push comes to shove, atheists can only trust their reason. 31.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-31-bmuller-de.html
Truls Lie HOW TO STIFLE THE OPPOSITION Those who wield power choose to torture their opponents to the point where they are driven to strike back. Gotcha! 30.01.2007
This article is available in English and Norwegian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-30-lie-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-30-lie-no.html
Abdesselam Cheddadi THE QUESTION OF TOLERANCE IN ISLAMIC SOCIETIES Today's Muslim societies must consider afresh the question of tolerance, and ask why they find themselves mired in indecision and resentment, says Abdesselam Cheddadi. 29.01.2007
This article is now available in Italian as well as in French and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-29-cheddadi-it.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-01-cheddadi-fr.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-17-cheddadi-de.html
Klaus Ronneberger THE ART OF NOT BECOMING ACCUSTOMED TO ANYTHING. PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT IN FLEXIBLE CAPITALISM The vast reserve army of workers in precarious employment are the avant-garde of post-Fordism, constantly opening up new avenues of self-exploitation. 26.01.2007
This article is now available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-26-ronneberger-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-10-04-ronneberger-de.html
Michael Wildt BIOPOLITICS, ETHNIC CLEANSING, AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE. A SKETCH Racism as biopolitical selection criterion is a defining feature of modern mass murder. 25.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-25-wildt-de.html
Jacques Sémelin ELEMENTS OF A GRAMMAR OF MASSACRE Intention is a misleading concept when defining genocide. An alternative model is needed "at whose centre lies the imaginary, which forms and reforms the social body according to the measurements of its fears". 25.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-25-semelin-de.html
Olivier Abel IS THE WEST DIVIDED OVER CHRISTIANITY? The main target of Pope Benedict's Regensburg speech was not Islam but Protestantism and the spectres of secular utopia and consumer individualism. 24.01.2007
This article is available in French: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-24-abel-fr.html
Alejandro Cervantes-Carson INTERVIEWING THE EMBODIMENT OF POLITICAL EVIL Arranging an interview with Luis Echeverría, former president of Mexico, leads Alejandro Cervantes-Carson to reflect on the relationship between political crime and bureaucracy. 23.01.2007
This article is available in English and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-23-cervantescarson-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-23-cervantescarson-sv.html
Lev Gudkov RUSSIA'S SYSTEMIC CRISIS. NEGATIVE MOBILIZATION AND COLLECTIVE CYNICISM The Russian public is united only in the view that common goals are "the empty rhetoric of demagogues". 23.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-23-gudkov-de.html
Juan Villoro STALEMATE IN MEXICO. ON A DIVIDED COUNTRY AND ITS DISCONTENTED LEFT In December 2006, Felipe Calderón was sworn in as Mexico's new conservative president. But with accusations of electoral fraud hanging over him, Calderón is the least-supported president in Mexico's history. 22.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-22-villoro-de.html
Staffan Granér HERNANDO DE SOTO AND THE MYSTIFICATION OF CAPITAL Hernando de Soto argues that global poverty could be relieved by giving the poor official ownership of their property. But this argument is more likely to be used to defend the sacred right of private ownership. 19.01.2007
This article is available in English and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-19-graner-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-19-graner-sv.html
Colette Braeckman ON THE WRONG TRACK At the end of 2006, relations between France and Rwanda went from bad to worse. France's attempts to connect members of Rwanda's current government with the 1994 genocide are off track, writes Colette Braeckman. 18.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-18-braeckman-de.html
Axel Honneth JUSTICE AND COMMUNICATIVE FREEDOM. THOUGHTS IN CONNECTION TO HEGEL Rather than the redistribution of resources, social justice depends on recognition, for which Axel Honneth identifies three forms: emotional concern, moral respect, and social esteem. 17.01.2007
This article is available in German and Bulgarian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-17-honneth-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-17-honneth-bg.html
Axel Honneth, Krassimir Stojanov RACISM AS A DEFECT OF SOCIALIZATION. AXEL HONNETH IN INTERVIEW The recognition paradigm is indispensable to an understanding of the origins of racism and to the education of young offenders. 17.01.2007
This article is available in German and Bulgarian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-17-honnethstojanov-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-17-honnethstojanov-bg.html
Josep Lluís Barona SCIENCE, DEMOCRACY, AND THE GLOBAL MARKET Conflicts within the technology sector are increasingly resolved by private "experts", while media coverage of science is tailored to the interests of industry. 16.01.2007
This article is available in English and Catalan: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-16-barona-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-16-barona-ca.html
Boris Cizej LETTER FROM LJUBLJANA The editor of the Slovenian edition of "Le Monde diplomatique" finds that no news is not necessarily good news in a land filled with "lethargic hedonism". 15.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-15-cizej-de.html
Jurij Dobriakov EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND SOUND ART IN LITHUANIA Drone, glitch, clicks'n'cuts... Lithuania has a varied electronic music scene whose influences are global. An overview. 12.01.2007
This article is available in English and Lithuanian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-12-dobriakov-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-12-dobriakov-lt.html
Claus Leggewie EQUALLY CRIMINAL? TOTALITARIAN EXPERIENCE AND EUROPEAN MEMORY Whoever wishes to give European society a political identity will rate the discussion of disputed memories as highly as treaties, a common currency, and open borders. The question is not whether to commemorate, but how. 11.01.2006
This article is now available in French, German, Polish, and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-11-leggewie-fr.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-20-leggewie-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-20-leggewie-pl.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-06-01-leggewie-en.html
Jacob Lillemose MORE FASCIST THAN FASCISM Norwegian "Le Monde Diplomatique" asks whether Slovenian band Laibach's aesthetic is an expression or a critique of neo-fascism. 09.01.2007
This article is available in English and Danish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-09-lillemose-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-09-lillemose-da.html
Petya Kabakchieva EUROLOCAL PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS THE EU. IMAGINING THE EUROPEAN UNION AS A NATION-STATE In Bulgaria, the EU has replaced the nation-state as a symbol of authority. Nevertheless, regional identity won't get lost, since regions "are a configuration of liminalities that overlap and accrue, providing different options". 09.01.2007
This article is now available in Swedish, English, and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-09-kabakchieva-sv.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-11-27-kabakchieva-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2003-08-11-kabakchieva-de.html
Michelle Provoost NEW TOWNS ON THE COLD WAR FRONTIER. HOW MODERN URBAN PLANNING WAS EXPORTED AS AN INSTRUMENT IN THE BATTLE FOR THE DEVELOPING WORLD The new towns built during the 1950s and 1960s throughout the Middle East and Africa by Constantinos Doxiadis provide a warning and an example for democratization in Iraq. 08.01.2007
This article is now available in Lithuanian, English, and Danish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-08-provoost-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-06-28-provoost-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-06-28-provoost-da.html
Martha Nussbaum, Stelios Virvidakis PHILOSOPHY AND PUBLIC LIFE. INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA NUSSBAUM Martha Nussbaum discusses philosophy's influence in public life, the future of political liberalism, and her critique of radical feminism. 05.01.2007
This article is available in English, Greek, and Norwegian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-05-nussbaum-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-05-nussbaum-el.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-05-nussbaum-no.html
Jadwiga Staniszkis REVOLUTIONARY ELITES, PRAGMATIC MASSES. THE POLISH POPULISTS' PYRRHIC VICTORY The new Polish elite feels it has no control over the processes for which it bears political responsibility. Only now is it understanding that European integration and globalization have put limits on its power. 04.01.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-01-04-staniszkis-de.html