Class has not disappeared. Instead, a more fragmented global class structure has emerged alongside a more flexible open labour market. This prompts Guy Standing to forge a new vocabulary capable of describing class relations in the global market system of the twenty-first century.
The minimalist stories and comics of Etgar Keret have won many readers in Israel, Poland, Hungary, China, the United States and a dozen other countries. In late October 2012, Keret visited Riga, where he met with the readers of his book of short stories, The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories. Later he entertained a smaller audience at the residence of the Israeli ambassador.
Nicholas Bradbury made his literary debut this year with the novel “Market Farm”, a reworking of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” for the free market era. He talks here about influences for his satirical take on the current financial crisis and potential grounds for hope for the future.
Social movements give validity to the rearguard, to the intellectual construction of a model that resists both attacks and criminalisation, writes Juan Luis Sánchez. And as hundreds of people continue to be made homeless every day in Spain, the demonstrations can be expected to continue.
Today, the same arguments once used against Jews, and then against South Asian and Caribbean immigrants, are now raised against Muslims and east Europeans. However, Kenan Malik finds some comfort in reviewing the facts of the matter. He then tackles the illusions.
Harsh measures imposed on Cypriot political and financial authorities to address bank failures reveal, once again, that the entire architecture of the EU is in tatters. The geopolitics surrounding the Greek Cypriot crisis is pulling the EU further apart and into the unknown.
“SabitFikir” editor Elif Bereketli contends that digital forms are not yet capable of replacing literary journals, at the same time as setting her sights set on a project based exclusively on social media. In a harsh climate for many forms of writing and publishing, innovation is key.
Zarife Biliz of “Iyi Kitap”, which specializes in children’s and youth literature, challenges journals to stop printing unimpressive pieces by renowned authors and instead give voice to a variety of authors selected with more editorial attention, and be more inclusive.
Ali Cakmak of “Duvar” believes there should be public funding not just for journals, but the publishing industry in general. The abstract concept of freedom of expression would then become a reality. Meanwhile, the impact of digital media is hugely significant but difficult to gauge.
If millions of students in Turkey were offered cultural journals, it could transform the sector. But culture is threatened, not least by a crude desire to secure popularity, argues Turgay Fisekçi of “Sözcükler”. The result: sclerosis and, in the end, the same writers appearing in the same journals.
Even if journals are interested in current affairs, they should go to the root of the matter and present alternatives, writes Turgay Özçelik of “Kültür Mafyasi” – a journal that began online and just launched a print version: “We need to shed light on what mainstream media choose not to see”.
Hakan Sarkdemir cites the lack of a professional distribution network as the biggest problem for Turkish journals. That said, being visible and selling well; selling well and being read well; being read well and having many readers: social media aside, these are not the same thing.
Murat Yalçin of “Kitap-lik” asserts that culture and the arts thrive on individual awareness and thought, not collective sensibilities. Thus every journal has learn to cherish its knowledgeable readers – for which there are no simple formulas based on “responsibility”, “mission” or service.
Osman Deniztekin introduces a survey of Turkish journals that “Varlik” conducted in autumn 2012. Like their European counterparts, Turkish journals need public support. However, they are far more wary of risking their independence by receiving government funding.
Mustafa Aydogan, editor of “Edebiyat Ortami”, explains why he thinks the moral support of governments is healthier than their financial support where journals are concerned. As for the quality of journals, diversity of content is crucial. Thus, every journal creates its own readership.
Amid international concern over government reforms that endanger democracy in Hungary, Hodonyi and Trüpel discover a political renaissance in Hungarian civil society. Ahead of elections in Spring 2014, this may well be an antidote to the EU’s “political half-heartedness” on the matter.