----------------------------------------------------------- EUROZINE NEWSLETTER 11.2007 -----------------------------------------------------------
1. Article of the month: From "big character posters" to blogs. Facets of self-expression in China 2. Changing places (What's normal, anyway?) 3. New articles
----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: FROM "BIG CHARACTER POSTERS" TO BLOGS. FACETS OF SELF-EXPRESSION IN CHINA ----------------------------------------------------------------- China has embraced the Internet with a vengeance. From an estimated 630 thousand users in 1997, the online population had grown to 137 million by the end of 2006. The first blogging services were introduced in China in 2002 and boomed after 2005 following a crackdown on Internet forums that year.
Could the Internet, and blogs in particular, play the role in China that samizdat performed in communist societies in eastern Europe? The question is useful, writes Martin Hala, in deconstructing common misconceptions about the Internet's potential political impact, as well as the nature of online censorship and self-censorship in China.
China's metamorphosis since the mid-1990s makes the Chinese Internet different from samizdat, writes Hala. The average Chinese person may be cynical about the communist party, but is serious about the country's new standing in the world. This new pride is quite unlike prevailing attitudes in pre-1989 eastern Europe.
"Chinese netizens [...] are certainly not happy with official censorship, but even itchier about western criticism of it. They feel that the western focus on censorship somehow diminishes their achievements in working hard to expand, often at some personal risk, the room for free expression on the Chinese Internet."
While blogs may not be changing Chinese politics, by introducing entirely new forms of self-expression and social interaction, they are gradually transforming society from within. "Anybody who has lived through the decline of communism in eastern Europe", Hala notes, "will appreciate what the loss of power over the cultural sphere means for the future of a one-party system."
Martin Hala From "big character posters" to blogs "Facets of self-expression in China"
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-25-hala-en.html
----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. CHANGING PLACES (WHAT'S NORMAL, ANYWAY?) -----------------------------------------------------------------
Writers fleeing from fascist or communist dictatorships have come to form our concept of the experience of writing in exile. However, authors have been forced or have chosen to go into exile throughout literary history. Speaking on a panel on "Writing in Exile", at the 20th European Meeting of Cultural Journals (Sibiu, Romania, 21-24 September), novelist and broadcaster Zinovy Zinik spins a web of intermeshed émigré biographies and fictions spanning two centuries; theorist Seloua Luste Boulbina discusses how Assia Djebar turns the tables on the post-colonial reader; and poet and novelist Chenjerai Hove recalls two incidents typical of the censorship that forced him into internal exile; and how, in exile outside his home country, he discovered new creative perspectives.
Read more about the conference and selected papers form the panel "Writing in Exile": http://www.eurozine.com/comp/focalpoints/normal.html
----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. NEW ARTICLES -----------------------------------------------------------------
Seloua Luste Boulbina BEING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SIMULTANEOUSLY "Exile, literature, and the postcolony: On Assia Djebar" The writing of Assia Djebar turns the tables on the post-colony, so that the question now is not, "Can the subaltern speak and write?", but "Can the non-subaltern hear and read?" 02.11.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-11-02-lusteboulbina-en.html
Chenjerai Hove A JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS Chenjerai Hove left Zimbabwe after falling foul of the Mugabe government. Here he recalls two incidents typical of the censorship that forced him into internal exile; and how, in exile outside his home country, he discovered new creative perspectives. [more] 31.10.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-31-hove-en.html
Zinovy Zinik ANYONE AT HOME? "In pursuit of one's own shadow" Speaking at the Eurozine network conference 2007 in Sibiu, Romania, Zinovy Zinik traced the history of the shadow as metaphor for exile through Evgeni Shwartz's play "The Shadow" back to earlier fables by Hans Christian Andersen and Adelbert von Chamisso. The sum effect: a web of émigré biographies and fictions spanning two centuries of political change. 31.10.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-31-zinik-en.html
Thomas Speckmann THE IMPERIAL TEMPTATION "French foreign policy: rhetoric and reality" Contrary to belief, French and American political traditions have much in common. Both countries make global missionary claims; both are unaccustomed to pluralistic decision-making processes; and both find it hard to resist imperial temptations. 30.10.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-30-speckmann-de.html
Eurozine Review "THE BLOODY BOND OF SYMPATHY" "Merkur" rakes over the embers of the "Deutsche Herbst"; "Mittelweg 36" compares two wars without fronts; "Arena" talks about free speech fundamentalism; "Glänta" is on drugs; "The New Presence" reviews the history of the UN; "dérive" examines the changing place of industry in the city; and "Springerin" takes stock of the documenta 12 magazines project. 30.10.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-30-eurozinerev-en.html
Hilary Tsui THE DEMOLITION OF STAR FERRY PIER "Urban reclamation versus cultural heritage in Hong Kong" Hong Kong has branded itself as "Asia's World City", yet by demolishing historical features to make way for shopping malls and tourist kitsch, it is becoming just another Asian megalopolis. 29.10.2007
This article is available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-29-tsui-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-29-tsui-de.html
Audrius Dauksa ON PARADOXES, PRINCIPLES, AND ILLUSIONS "The self-regulating market", "democratic capitalism"... Audrius Dauksa is not convinced. The gap between rhetoric and reality is plain to see: so why aren't politicians looking? 24.10.2007
This article is available in English and Lithuanian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-24-dauksa-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-24-dauksa-lt.html
Siegfried Kohlhammer THE CULTURAL BASES FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS Why are there rich and poor countries? The relative prosperity of immigrant groups internationally suggests that it isn't geography, climate, or economic policy that decides the success of a country, but culture. 24.10.2007
This article is now available in Lithuanian and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-24-kohlhammer-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-11-02-kohlhammer-de.html
Jean Meyer MEMORIES AND HISTORIES: THE NEW SPANISH CIVIL WAR The pact of silence that has existed in Spain over the Civil War and Franco era is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. A boom in publications on the subject seems to bear out Manuel Azaña's comment that "burying the dead is a Spanish national pastime". 22.10.2007
This article is now available in Hungarian and French: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-22-meyer-hu.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-16-meyer-fr.html
Claus Leggewie BETWEEN NATIONAL CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS SUPERMARKET "Muslim organizations in Germany and the problem of representation" In Germany, "cultural Muslims" have challenged the authority of conservative Muslim organizations to represent "the" Muslim community. The problem of representation has to do with the German state's corporatist approach to negotiation, which is ill-suited to the changing religious landscape. 19.10.2007
This article is available in German and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-19-leggewie-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-19-leggewie-en.html
Jan-Werner Müller EUROPEAN MEMORY POLITICS REVISITED European commemorative culture is an integral component of the post-national process. But how can a "European memory" be justified if we aren't to refer to a continental, quasi-national entity? 18.10.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-18-jwmuller-de.html
Eurozine Review MR MOHAMMADI'S SMILE "Esprit" sheds light on the failure of anti-terrorism; "Le Monde diplomatique" (Berlin) watches the sun set on the American century; "Index on Censorship" reports on reporting the Middle East; "Le Monde diplomatique" (Oslo) casts doubt on Michael Moore's method; "Ord&Bild" goes to France, via Québec; "Akadeemia" warns against confusing law with ethics; and "Revolver Revue" wonders if there's ever been a demonstration in favour of contemporary architecture. 17.10.2007
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-17-eurozinerev-en.html
Philip S. Golub THE SUN SETS EARLY ON THE AMERICAN CENTURY The "American Century" only began 60 years ago. But it seems already to be over, with the disaster of Iraq forcing some of the United States' ruling elites to realize that its hegemony has been severely weakened. 16.10.2007
This article is available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-16-golub-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-16-golub-de.html
Marlène Laruelle RENAISSANCE BY DECREE "Nation building in Central Asia" Unlike the European post-Soviet states, where popular movements struggled for national independence, nation building in Central Asia came from above. In order to glorify their own nation and to legitimize the regime's rule, those in power are neglecting the problems of the recent past. 15.10.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-15-laruelle-de.html
Karl Schlögel ARCHIPELAGO EUROPE Instead of two homogeneous European regions -- "the East" and "the West" -- there are now fragments, enclaves, and islands. From Baden-Baden to Bucharest, Majorca to Moscow, Karl Schlögel experiences Europe as a series of distinct yet connected spaces. 12.10.2007
This article is available in German and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-12-schlogel-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-12-schlogel-en.html
Märt Väljataga LITERARY PERSPECTIVES: ESTONIA "Waiting for the Great Estonian Novel" While the Great Estonian Novel has yet to be written, the range of fiction in Estonia is sufficiently wide to serve as an indicator of the post-communist country's hopes and fears, anxieties and obsessions. 10.10.2007
This article is now available in Swedish and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-10-valjataga-sv.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-30-valjataga-en.html
Erich Klein THE PATRIARCH OF MUSCOVITE CONCEPTUALISM "On the death of Russian artist Dimitri Prigov" The Russian artist and writer Dimitri Prigov is dead. Erich Klein, his friend and German translator, remembers one of the most important poets of the late and post-Soviet era. 18.07.2007
This article is now available in Hungarian as well as in German, English, and Swedish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-10-klein-hu.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-07-18-klein-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-07-18-klein-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-07-18-klein-sv.html
Dmitrii Furman ORIGINS AND ELEMENTS OF IMITATED DEMOCRACIES "On political development in the post-Soviet space" Throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union, regimes have established themselves behind a democratic facade while concentrating power in the hands of a president. Contrary to their purported stability, all contain the seeds of their own downfall. 09.10.2007
This article is now available in English as well as in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-09-furman-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-11-13-furman-de.html
Volker Hage BURIED FEELINGS "German authors' handling of the Allied bombing in World War II" W.G. Sebald claimed that the Allied bombing was hushed up in postwar German literature. Not entirely true, responds Volker Hage: there are a number of novels outside the canon in which the experience of the bombing comes to light. 08.10.2007
This article is now available in Hungarian as well as in English and Russian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-08-hage-hu.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-06-07-hage-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-06-01-hage-ru.html
Pierre Nora REASONS FOR THE CURRENT UPSURGE IN MEMORY Over the past quarter century, social structures have undergone a sea change in their traditional relationship to the past. Pierre Nora examines the roots and causes of "memorialism". 08.10.2007
This article is now available in Hungarian and Lithuanian as well as in French, German, English, and Russian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-08-nora-hu.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-08-nora-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-04-19-nora-fr.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-04-19-nora-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-04-19-nora-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-04-27-nora-ru.html
Antoni Simon THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF ANTI-CATALANISM In order to understand modern Catalan nationalism, it is necessary to examine the emergence of "anti-Catalanism" in Castilian Spain during the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. 05.10.2007
This article is available in Catalan and English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-05-simon1-ca.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-05-simon1-en.html
Ana María Sanjuan VENEZUELA: THE SYMBOLIC AND THE REAL REVOLUTION "Achievements, shortcomings, challenges" The Venezuelan government has not achieved the change of economic paradigm it promised. Measures against poverty do not affect structural income inequality, while improvements in political participation operate within the logic of an authoritarian political system. 03.10.2007
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-03-sanjuan-de.html
Richard Rorty DEMOCRACY AND PHILOSOPHY Moral insight "is a matter of imagining a better future, and observing the results of attempts to bring that future into existence". Richard Rorty, who died on June 8, was one of the most public of public intellectuals. In the recent ten-year anniversary edition of Kritika & Kontext, he outlined the anti-foundationalist premise of his philosophy. 11.06.2007
This article is now available in Belarusian as well as in German, English, Italian, and Slovak: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-10-03-rorty-be.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-07-06-rorty-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-11-rorty-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-07-06-rorty-it.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-11-rorty-sk.html
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Eurozine Newsletter: 2007-11-02 | 11/2007