----------------------------------------------------------- EUROZINE NEWSLETTER 03.2007 ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article of the month: Surfing the dragon 2. More trouble for "Arche" 3. New partner: Edinburgh Review 4. New articles
----------------------------------------------------------- 1. ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: SURFING THE DRAGON ----------------------------------------------------------- "The catalogue of Beijing's recent arrests, harassments, procedurally challenged trials, and outrageously long sentences of defendants [...] leaves only the most wilfully optimistic with the hope that, by 2008, Beijing will be running a regime that would no longer make a principled Olympic committee blush."
Writing in the current issue of "Index on Censorship", Eurozine Advisory Board Member Isabel Hilton analyzes the disastrous human rights situation in China in terms of Chinese imperial history; or rather, in terms of the Chinese government's desire to keep that history from emerging in its true light. The major instrument of historical airbrushing, writes Hilton, is the idea of the "peaceful rise" of China.
According to the myth, China, as defined by its present-day borders, has been peacefully minding its own business since 2700BCE. But even a "cursory glance at an historical atlas" reveals that Chinese borders are far from ancient. When the Ming dynasty fell in the seventeenth century, China was about half its current size. China's most recent territorial acquisitions, Tibet (1951) and Xinjiang (1949), continue to provide conspicuous disproof of official history.
"Ever rising prosperity is more of a temporary pacifier than a unifying narrative", writes Hilton. "As the pervasive unrest, obvious to any observant visitor and admitted by the state, indicates, it is effective only with the beneficiaries of China's uneven prosperity. If the economic project falters, it will not even satisfy them."
"Not only must the stories of the 'peaceful rise' and 'harmonious society' camouflage the desire of many non-Han citizens for liberation from Chinese colonialism, with its mass migration of Han settlers and threat of cultural extinction, it must also obscure the desire of many Han citizens for liberation from Communist Party rule, with all the repression and corruption that goes with it."
Isabel Hilton SURFING THE DRAGON
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-08-hilton-en.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 2. MORE TROUBLE FOR "ARCHE" ----------------------------------------------------------- Just one month after resuming operations after a three-month suspension at the end of 2006, Belarusian journal "Arche" has received a second "warning" from the Belarusian authorities. This time, its offence was to publish, without prior approval, three back issues missed during the suspension.
"Arche" editor Valer Bulhakau said that the real reason for the new warning was the publication of articles criticizing government officials. "Arche" plans to publish a new issue on the recent local elections, even though this might result in suspension. "To show our stance and emphasize the barbaric nature of the crackdown on 'Arche', we'll most likely have to shut down."
Eurozine appeals to its partners and readers to publicize this latest attempt by the Belarusian government to stifle the independent media in the country.
----------------------------------------------------------- 3. NEW PARTNER: EDINBURGH REVIEW ----------------------------------------------------------- Scotland's leading journal of ideas, the "Edinburgh Review" publishes essays, short fiction, poetry, and reviews aimed at an educated reading public with an interest in critical thought. Since its inception in 1802, the magazine has balanced a strong Scottish focus with a keen interest in international intellectual currents. Issues in its current international series have dealt with Chicana and Latina, African, and, in the current issue, Indian writers. The "Edinburgh Review" is edited by poet and novelist Brian McCabe.
Read more about "Edinburgh Review", Eurozine's newest partner journal, including its current issue: http://www.eurozine.com/journals/edinburghrev.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 4. NEW ARTICLES ----------------------------------------------------------- Luka Arsenjuk ON JACQUES RANCIÈRE Politics begins when inequality is challenged, according to Jacques Rancière. But if the political subject is by definition the subject of a wrong, how can politics operate outside a victim discourse? 01.03.2007
This article is available in English and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-03-01-arsenjuk-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-03-01-arsenjuk-sv.html
Georg Vobruba EXPANSION WITHOUT ENLARGEMENT. THE EU NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY IN THE DYNAMIC OF EUROPE In order to protect its core, the EU is creating a buffer zone at its periphery. But these states are perceived as a source of problems as much as a solution. 28.02.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-28-vobruba-de.html
Rainer Bauböck WHO ARE THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE? The tension between freedom of movement and national self-determination of citizenship within the EU has the potential to create serious conflicts. 26.02.2007
This article is now available in Italian, English, and Spanish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-26-baubock-it.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-23-baubock-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-23-baubock-es.html
Les Back PHOBOCITY. LONDON AND THE WAR ON TERROR In London post-7/7, the wail of police sirens has become the soundtrack of the "phobocity". But the phobocity is not created by the suicide bombers alone -- politicians and journalists also trade on fear. 18.12.2006
This article is now available in Swedish, English, and Turkish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-23-back-sv.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-11-15-back-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-18-back-tr.html
Irena Maryniak THE POLISH PLUMBER AND THE IMAGE GAME The Polish plumber is a cliché throughout Europe, which even the Polish tourist board has made use of. However, in the UK, the joke veils a growing resentment towards workers from the new EU states. 23.02.2007
This article is now available in Swedish, English, and Turkish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-23-maryniak-sv.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-11-15-maryniak-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-12-18-maryniak-tr.html
Irena Dousková, Leo Pavlát BOTH BELIEVERS AND LIBERALS CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ZEALOTS. AN INTERVIEW WITH LEO PAVLÁT (ABRIDGED VERSION) "I have a feeling that any living Jew is a sort of spokesperson for those who died prematurely, that somehow he or she is an expression of their experience and dreams." Leo Pavlát on the "Jewish character", what it means to "be chosen", and the dangers of relativism. 22.02.2007
This article is available in English and Czech: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-22-pavlat-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-22-pavlat-cs.html
Andrzej Tichy THE SCREAM OF GEOMETRY (MODIFIED EXCERPTS) "How can these cities, villages, and their people exist? How can they stand there selling tomatoes and speaking their language and drying their laundry without considering the infinite number of other places where someone else is standing, selling tomatoes or potatoes and speaking their language and drying laundry?" In Andrzej Tichy's prose fragments everything is juxtaposed. But instead of being relativized, the specificity of these people, places, and experiences slowly emerges. 21.02.2007
This article is available in English and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-21-tichy-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-21-tichy-sv.html
Roy Ben-Shai LIVING WITHOUT. ON THE MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JEAN AMÉRY For their testimonial value, Jean Améry's writings are obligatory reading for anyone interested in studies of the Holocaust. But Améry can and must also be read as philosophy, argues Roy Ben-Shai. 20.02.2007
This article is available in English and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-20-benshai-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-20-benshai-sv.html
Mathias Greffrath BEFORE THE WALLS OF PARLIAMENT George Bush's volte-face on carbon emissions is just one sign that social protest movements have succeeded. So where does oppositional politics go now? 19.02.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-19-greffrath-de.html
Jens Becker, Jascha Keller NETWORK-BASED URBAN POLICY National and transnational networks between cities are expanding in response to regional and international competition. But these are not the solution to real problems of employment policy so much as "superstructural hocus-pocus". 15.02.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-15-beckerkeller-de.html
Hannah Adcock MISS PLUMB "Female missionaries have largely failed to capture the interest of historians. Their modesty has been mistaken for insignificance, their evangelizing for an embarrassing footnote in the story of empire." On the anything but dull life of Isabella Plumb, missionary in India 1882-1925. 14.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-14-adcock-en.html
E. Efe Çakmak, Andreas Huyssen, Susan Neiman THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: ISSUES OF RESPONSIBILITY AND DEMOCRACY. AN INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN NEIMAN AND ANDREAS HUYSSEN Two public intellectuals discuss the role of the public sphere in guiding a politics of memory in relation to Turkey's increasingly fraught Armenian issue. 13.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-13-huyssenneiman-en.html
Asli Erdogan WE LEFT A DEEP INVISIBLE MARK BEHIND US "What are we applauding? We are applauding Hrant, his resistance, resistances, our union, that unexpected solidarity..." Novelist Asli Erdogan describes her feelings of love and loss while marching in protest against Hrant Dink's murder. 13.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-13-erdogan-en.html
E. Efe Çakmak OH BALMY BREATH... A TRIBUTE TO HRANT DINK Murdered journalist Hrant Dink contaminated the pure categories of Armenian and Turk, Christian and Muslim. But how can we make sense of Dink's murder without falling prey to instrumental reasoning that claims that Turkish democracy has also been shot dead? 12.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-12-cakmak-en.html
Julian Petley THE RETREAT OF REASON An attempt to put political correctness right goes disastrously wrong. On PC bashing in the British press and how it has aided the rise of the far Right. 09.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-09-petley-en.html
Ingo Petz AWAKENING THROUGH MUSIC. THE CULTURAL ANTI-ELITE IN BELARUS With the official opposition in Belarus increasingly divided, Europe must support the informal underground that will shape the Belarus of tomorrow. 08.02.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-08-petz-de.html
Hans-Georg Wieck DEMOCRACY PROMOTION AT A DEAD END. EUROPE IS FAILING IN BELARUS European charters for democratic reform have run aground in Belarus. Expressions of solidarity are not enough: Europe needs to adopt the US strategy of promoting the opposition directly. 07.02.2007
This article is now available in Belarusian and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-07-wieck-be.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-10-16-wieck-de.html
Mykola Riabchuk IS THE WEST SERIOUS ABOUT THE "LAST EUROPEAN DICTATORSHIP"? Western civil society should stop tolerating cynical realpolitik towards Belarus and put pressure on their governments to blacklist offending officials. 07.02.2007
This article is now available in English and Belarusian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-07-riabchuk-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-07-riabchuk-be.html
Constance DeVereaux, Martin Griffin INTERNATIONAL, GLOBAL, TRANSNATIONAL: JUST A MATTER OF WORDS? Does a threat to the legacy of the international age lurk in the term "transnational"? 05.02.2007
This article is now available in Lithuanian and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-05-devereauxgriffin-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-10-11-devereauxgriffin-en.html
David MacFadyen VALENTIN'S CARDS. REFEREEING THE DIRTIEST MATCH IN WORLD CUP HISTORY Valentin Ivanov's "Soviet school of refereeing" during the World Cup 2006 was celebrated in his home country, if nowhere else. What does this say about the Russian attitude to rules? 02.02.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-02-02-macfadyen-en.html