Articles

A great poet and novelist, one of the most important female writers in Croatia, influenced a generation – even if she was sometimes bewildered by her impact.

Three opposition journalists from Turkey, Russia and Hungary talk to Eurozine’s editor-in-chief about repressive regimes, personal risk, migration, the role of the media and the future of their profession in the digital age.

The rapid dismay of Hungarian universities has upset international observers recently. However, the illiberal vanguard state doesn’t hold a monopoly on academic pressure. In this conversation, Hungarian critic Anna Gács and German historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger discuss political interventions, cancelling and more.

Public displays of dissatisfaction against leading politicians make for striking headlines, especially when they expose a blatant inability to discuss key topics. Racism in France, hidden by a colour-blind society on both the left and the right, benefits Le Pen’s self-professed defenders of the Republic. So how can race and immigration take a more positive centre-stage position?

Wildlife conservationists often have to risk their own safety to protect endangered species from armed gangs. The market value of Asian elephant tusks, for example, entices certain impoverished locals into poaching. And at the crux of this perilous and twisted Anthropocene reality lies an increasingly aggressive animal’s fight for survival.

Use of high-tech surveillance is on the rise: in a moment when controlling the spread of COVID-19 is paramount, a global regime of technologically enabled exclusion has been bolstered. But what might be the long-term implications of accepting being tracked before we even move?

Those forced to flee from conflict, persecution, violence or human rights violations need protection; recognition of their plight is an ongoing struggle. And the causes of forced migration are growing. What now defines ‘survival’ – that all important refugee watchword – may indeed need reconsideration.

When political points can be scored by tearing up children’s books that are deemed too tolerant, what is a writer to do? Should they become an activist?

A Russian, a Turk and a Hungarian, all journalists, walk into a bar … well, an online talk, actually. Irina Borogan, Ece Temelkuran and György Kerényi spoke about censorship and repression, the impossibility of exile and the performance of care.

In a controversial yet peaceable move, the Spanish government has pardoned nine jailed Catalan leaders. José Miguel Arenas Beltrán, more widely known as the Spanish rapper Valtònyc, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for insulting the monarchy and ‘glorifying terrorism’ in his lyrics. He is still on the run from the Spanish authorities.

Scapegoated early on in the pandemic, Roma communities do not get the full support they need to participate in vaccination campaigns. Distrust of inaccessible health care systems, built to exclude minorities living outside the mainstream, is a major obstacle.

Faced with government inaction on climate change, young people are increasingly engaging in civil disobedience. For those as yet unable to vote, the act of collectively removing the French president’s portraits from town halls is strikingly symbolic. Are such interventions a youthful rejection of politics or a new form of civic engagement?

For many, place of birth is an identity keystone. That first point of arrival seems assured, an irrefutable fact. But there are those made to feel foreign in their home country. Race, often seen as evidence of difference, forces many Black people to undertake personal journeys into identity politics.

Jihadist attacks have sent sporadic tremors through European societies for over 25 years. The ferocity of terrorist acts has also stunned Muslim communities. Now social networking provides a platform for dissenting Islamic voices critical of cultural and religious norms that fail to counter violent radicalisation or serve to indulge it.

World sporting events intrinsically emphasize national allegiance. When real-life rivalries mix with on-pitch competition, football, the ‘beautiful game’, can quickly turn ugly. With various leaders investing heavily to rank up populist points for political gain, who might be the ultimate winners behind any fanaticism once the postponed championships kick off?

Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine could be one of the most effective jabs available. Yet, its media coverage in the West has revived Cold War stereotypes. Vladimir Putin has also triggered suspicions. Nevertheless, the medical legacy from the Soviet era has prepared researchers precisely for such emergencies.