Articles

The notion that fiction is a force for moral good derives from the age of revolution. But imaginative empathy does not always translate into egalitarian politics, argues Lyndsey Stonebridge. What do we want our books to do that we cannot?

Russia’s younger generation have failed to build upon the democratic achievements of their predecessors of the 1990s. Surveys show a reversion to Soviet-era conformism, whether as passivity and cynicism, or individualism and status obsession.

Pro-Kremlin propaganda spread through social media is causing a shift to the far-Right among Germany’s native Russian population. Nikolai Mitrokhin considers the implications for German politics in advance of the September elections.

Western Ukrainian intellectuals’ tendency to blame the Donbas for the war is based on a longstanding orientalization of the ‘Soviet’ Other. Reminiscences about erstwhile cultural diversity sit awkwardly alongside hostility to the East.

‘There are always more reasons for closing a cultural publication than for striving to keep it alive.’ A tribute to literary critic and novelist Mihály Dés, founder of the Spanish journal ‘Lateral’ and key figure in the Eurozine network, who passed away on 18 May.

The nationalist reaction to the refugee crisis of 2015 casts a shadow over the opening of the House of European History in Brussels. Will the new institution’s role be merely to display the vestiges of a common European cultural heritage?

Belarusians and Lithuanians have scarcely been affected by Europe’s handling of the migration crisis. Yet they too are rediscovering “the Other” in the Muslim refugee, writes historian Felix Ackermann.

Donald Trump is the apogee of a reactionary populism that has been a constant presence throughout US history. The opposition must respond by detaching white nationalism from Trump’s false promise of economic justice.

‘It was as if the notoriously elusive European identity had finally come into existence, but as a nightmarish vision.’ Claudia Ciobanu, a Romanian living in Poland, describes the dilemmas and mixed feelings of ‘the voluntary migrant’, caught between revulsion at xenophobia and sympathy for the ‘losers of transition’.

Emmanuel Macron has won over the electorate with his vision of a ‘new republic’. However, the honeymoon will be brief unless he follows up on his campaign promise to restore social justice. France’s anti-globalist opposition is still split: but for how long?

‘On a deep, cultural level, people actually believe that if you don’t do something that at least mildly frustrates you, then your work is not valuable.’ Anthropologist, activist and bestselling anarchist David Graeber on the police state, bullshit jobs and why people need no telling that capitalism is bad.

Gender has long been applied as a measure of social justice, economic equality and political openness. In the current constellation, however, it is also being deployed as a weapon, wielded by illiberal politicians to attack human rights and the fundamental values of an open, democratic society.

Shocked liberals have cast Trump as an ideological novelty appealing to a new electoral majority: the white working class. This overlooks his conventionality and mistakes rhetoric for reality, argues Michael Kinnucan.

The ‘community of communities’ approach is responsible for the emergence of a tribal sense of identity among third-generation Muslims in Europe, argues Kenan Malik. The reaction to diversity must be political dialogue rather than indifference disguised as respect.

Exemplary urban renewal project or just another hipster hang out? A historical market hall in Berlin now hosting regular farmers’ markets enjoys massive popularity. Except among the locals, that is.

Trump’s recent military adventures had the world worried, but it wasn’t clear if that was the result of an over-zealous press or genuine amateurishness on the part of the US president. At any rate, the randomness of the past month suggests he is not completely comfortable in his job.