----------------------------------------------------------- EUROZINE NEWSLETTER 09.2009----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article of the month: European identity 2. New articles
----------------------------------------------------------- 1. ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: EUROPEAN IDENTITY----------------------------------------------------------- "The question: 'What is European identity?' cannot be answered without first showing that one can speak meaningfully of Europe not only as a continent, or as a Union, but also as a cultural and historical formation." This is the premise upon which Krzysztof Pomian, academic director of the Europe Museum in Brussels, bases a tour of European cultural history starting in the first millennium before Christ.
The cultural unification of Europe, writes Pomian, can be located first in the formation of the "christianitas" in Latin Christendom between the twelfth and the early sixteenth century, and second in the Enlightenment. "Among the lasting results of the second cultural unification was the idea of Europe as a cultural reality, shared since the eighteenth century by a significant part of the elites of a majority of European nations. These elites became more and more convinced that this cultural reality had to be completed by an economic and even a political one. After the First World War, some attempts in this direction were undertaken. However in the climate of violent ideological conflict, mistrust among states, and economic crisis, all failed. Attempts were renewed after the Second World War, and this time they were successful."
Nevertheless, while the historian can define "European identity" in the descriptive sense, "identity" understood as that worth preserving is a question for politics, writes Pomian. "All measures that influence education, collective memory, and the image people have of themselves that they wish to hand down to their successors together form the politics of identity, even if this is not its official name. Such a politics [...] must be made the object of public deliberation and be implemented through democratic decisions."
This article is available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-24-pomian-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-24-pomian-de.html
----------------------------------------------------------- 2. NEW ARTICLES----------------------------------------------------------- Claus Leggewie From carbon insolvency to climate dividends How observing the 2° target may lead to a new global order In order to limit global warming to 2°C, radical decisions will need to be taken. An emissions-trading system based on "benefit-sharing" would offer enormous opportunities to developing countries and provide the key to a new low-carbon global order, writes Claus Leggewie. 31.08.2009
This article is available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-31-leggewie-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-31-leggewie-de.html
Alessandro Ludovico Art with (or without) the market Italy as location for the exhibition "Art, Price and Value" is apt, given modern Italian artists' unique response to the country's priceless artistic heritage and the cultural influence that implies, writes Allesandro Ludovico. 28.08.2009
This article is available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-28-ludovico-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-28-ludovico-de.html
Martin M. Simecka Still not free Why post-'89 history must go beyond self-diagnosis The dissident generation of the 1970s and 1980s produced a body of work unprecedented in Czech history. Yet its monumentality stands in the way of an uncompromised interpretation of the communist past, argues Martin Simecka. 27.08.2009
This article is now available in English, German and Lithuanian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-05-29-simecka-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-27-simecka-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-07-02-simecka-lt.html
Eurozine Review Who bagged the common deckchair? "L'Espill" says gender tests don't do justice; "Transit" debates the politics of diversity; "Wespennest" sets the record straight on '89; "Varlik" questions writers about the Ergenekon case; "RiLi" calls walls the last crutch of declining states; "Le Monde diplomatique" (Berlin) asks what remains of the commons; "Le Monde diplomatique" (Oslo) considers the termination of growth; "Reset" sees culture challenged in the new economic climate; and "Vikerkaar" explains Estonian history's wider significance. 26.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-26-eurozinerev-en.html
Jacques Rupnik The crisis and the end of liberalism in central Europe Even as the state took over large portions of the private banking sector in the US and UK, politicians in central Europe were singing the praises of Anglo-Saxon market liberalism. They are the last orphans of Bush and Cheney, writes Jacques Rupnik. 25.08.2009
This article is available in French and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-25-rupnik-fr.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-25-rupnik-de.html
Bernhard Pötter Sherwood Forest is everywhere Defending what belongs to all of us The management of common property is a social process with a different set of standards to that of the buyer-seller relationship. Yet both have one idea in common: the necessity of trust. 25.08.2009
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-25-poetter-de.html
Martin Hala China through Zhuangzi's third eye Twenty years after Tiananmen, the country is both different and same In the twenty years since Tiananmen, China has risen from the ashes by engaging with the West economically and by manufacturing patriotic consent. But how long can the "rising dragon" continue to be impervious to history? 25.08.2009
This article is now available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-06-03-hala-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-25-hala-de.html
Krzysztof Pomian European identity: Historical fact and political problem An historian can define European identity descriptively, as Krzysztof Pomian demonstrates in a tour of European culture since 1 BC. But the real controversy lies elsewhere, in the political question: what of the European past is worth preserving? 24.08.2009
Timothy Snyder Holocaust: The ignored reality Auschwitz and the Gulag are generally taken to be adequate or even final symbols of the evil of mass slaughter. But they are only the beginning of knowledge, a hint of the the true reckoning with the past still to come, writes historian Timothy Snyder. 24.08.2009
This article is now available in English, Lithuanian and Norwegian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-06-25-snyder-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-11-snyder-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-24-snyder-no.html
Nick Holdstock "A profound lesson in blood" A nation attacked by terrorists or an oppressed minority whose legitimate grievances are brutally suppressed? However one interprets the recent violence in Xinjiang, it was far from unexpected, writes Nick Holdstock. 21.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-21-holdstock-en.html
David Graeber Debt: The first five thousand years Throughout history, institutions have existed to control the potentially catastrophic social consequences of debt. It is only in the current era that we have begun to see the creation of the first planetary administrative system to protect the interests of creditors. 20.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-20-graeber-en.html
Francesco Stella Social irrelevance and self-generated canons Poetry has lost the symbolic power needed to address shared values, writes Francesco Stella, having ceded this to other media such as pop music. 19.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-19-stella-en.html
Marc Hatzfeld France: return to Babel Resisting the norms of an over-regulated language is absolutely crucial, writes Marc Hatzfeld in a celebration of Babel and the true value of linguistic diversity: creative misunderstandings. 18.08.2009
This article is now available in Catalan, English, French and Hungarian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-01-19-hatzfeld-ca.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-12-21-hatzfeld-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-12-21-hatzfeld-fr.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-18-hatzfeld-hu.html
George Blecher Cataclysm, anarchy and knitting US financial experts are talking of cataclysm and anarchy, but what really worries them is nationalization, writes George Blecher. Meanwhile, at street-level, the crisis is having some unusual effects. 18.08.2009
This article is now available in English and Hungarian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-03-26-blecher-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-18-blecher-hu.html
Matt McGuire Literary perspectives: Northern Ireland Shaking the hand of history While the Northern Irish literary tradition is closely bound up with the experience of sectarian violence, contemporary Northern Irish writing defies the assumption that "the Troubles" are all there is to the country's literature. 18.08.2009
This article is now available in English, German, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Turkish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-21-mcguire-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-09-02-mcguire-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-18-mcguire-hu.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-01-14-mcguire-lt.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-01-14-mcguire-tr.html
Nikola Tietze Zinedine Zidane or games of belonging Zinedine Zidane is a figurehead around which young Muslims in France and Germany form a sense of community. The footballer's style of play is a direct expression of the immigrant experience; even the head-butt had an instructive value. 18.08.2009
This article is now available in German and Hungarian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-28-tietze-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-18-tietze-hu.html
Niels. C. Taubert Between Gutenberg Galaxy and World Wide Web A two-tier system has developed in academic publishing on the Internet, with authors increasingly required to contribute to the costs of "prestige" publication. How can open-access improve its academic reputation, particularly in the humanities? 17.08.2009
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-17-taubert-de.html
Rasa Balockaite "Go West..." Myths of femininity and feminist utopias in East and West Working illegally in the West, eastern European women take care of "the logistics of bodily experience", freeing western women to participate alongside men in business, science and politics. 14.08.2009
This article is available in English and Lithuanian: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-14-balockaite-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-14-balockaite-lt.html
Krzysztof Michalski The frailty of the whole The thought of Leszek Kolakowski, who died on 17 July, is inscribed into the post-war memory of Poland, writes Krzysztof Michalski. Throughout the philosopher's varied intellectual trajectory, one theme persisted: that of human frailty. 13.08.2009
This article is now available in German and Polish: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-07-22-michalski-de.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-13-michalski-pl.html
Eurozine Review "If you can't look them in the eye..." "Blätter" proves the relevance of newspapers; "Magyar Lettre" looks India in the eye; "Merkur" answers the propagandists of equality; "Osteuropa" remembers the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact; "Kulturos barai" relocates Europe's centre of mass killings; "Revista Critica de Ciencias Sociais" reads survivor literature; "Akadeemia" sees the funny side to Marxist-Leninism; "Springerin" interviews Roberto Esposito; and "Artistas Unidos Revista" talks to European theatre critics. 12.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-12-eurozinerev-en.html
Stefan Troebst 23 August 1939 A European lieu de mémoire? The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed seventy years ago this month. Though of far-reaching siginificance for the post-war division of Europe, 23 August 1939 is remembered very differently across the continent. 11.08.2009
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-11-troebst-de.html
Rainer Paris Equality A systematic argument "Propagandists of equality" claim that the struggle for equal distribution of resources is essentially the same as the struggle for elementary opportunities for participation. They have a lot to answer for, argues Rainer Paris. 11.08.2009
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-11-paris-de.html
János Háy Indian time and my father "If you always want to end up the winner, if you don't know that being in India already means that you are a winner, you lose." Hungarian novelist János Háy on the new global playing field and the "authenticity of penury". 10.08.2009
This article is available in English: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-10-hay-en.html
Susan Neiman Truth, hope and light The language of morality has been hijacked by the religious Right; yet however shabbily its partisans may behave, argues Susan Neiman, they offer a public conception of goodness the Left forgot how to defend. 10.08.2009
This article is now available in English and German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-07-17-neiman-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-10-neiman-de.html
Michael Billington, Jorge Silva Melo A pertinent and unique voice A conversation with Michael Billington "For me, he is the definition of a theatre critic: alert, sharp, informed, more than an enthusiast". Jorge Silva Melo interviews long-serving "Guardian" critic and Pinter biographer Michael Billington. 07.08.2009
This article is available in English and Portuguese: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-07-melo-en.htmlhttp://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-07-melo-pt.html
Heribert Prantl Newspapers: Are they still relevant? The distinction between "classical" and web-based journalism is false, says the political editor of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung": good journalism is good whether in print or online. 05.08.2009
This article is available in German: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-05-prantl-de.html
----------------------------------------------------------- The Eurozine newsletter is published with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union