Essays
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Terrorism debate"Imagine there's a war and nobody notices"
Against the backdrop of the latest terrorist attacks in Paris, some think we should carry on enjoying our Western lifestyle and ignore the possibility of war. What an illusion! A contribution to the debate by Stefan Weidner
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The Paris attacks and Arab responsibilityAre we accomplices?
The massacres in Paris showed what a catastrophe the Al-Baghdadi "caliphate" represents and how it threatens to drag whole generations into a "clash of cultures". High time for Arabs and Muslims to seek out the roots of the fanaticism and delusion that have spread since 9/11, says the Lebanese journalist Zuheir Quseibati, bureau chief of "Al-Hayat" newspaper
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Post-Arabellion reform deadlockThe logic of power
The Arab world is locked into a huge cycle of violence. At the same time, reformers are isolated - both within the regimes and outside them. Those who advocate violence, on the other hand, sense momentum and are growing in number. And they are convinced that the future will be a violent one. An essay by the Kuwaiti political scientist Shafeeq Ghabra
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Racism in GermanyThe taint of PEGIDA journalism
No one who has written in support of a "culture of rejection" should be surprised by the Pirincci scandal, or that someone might lash out in response. Robert Misik considers the debate
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Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″Internal colonialism and counter-revolution
When an elite ruling class controls state institutions and resources and uses them for its own benefit, this can be called ″internal colonialism″. Such systems exist in their worst form in the Arab world. The Syrian author Louay Safi believes, however, that all signs indicate that the Arab peoples will rid themselves of this colonialism and that the repressive military regimes will be smothered by their own crimes and corruption
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Taha Hussein and the democratisation of education in EgyptThe sea of knowledge
The Egyptian author Taha Hussein warned as long ago as the 1930s that the future of Egypt depended on reforming its education system. His book "The Future of Culture in Egypt" is a plea for an enlightened, democratic and Mediterranean Egypt. By Andreas Pflitsch
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The perception of Islam as the enemyWhen fear creeps in
The sudden rise of the Pegida movement in Germany has shown that many people here obviously have a deep-seated fear of Islam. Khola Maryam Hubsch wonders what it is that makes people fear a threat that doesn't actually exist
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Muslims in GermanyBlocked integration
The case of the cancelled event against homophobia at the Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin is not evidence of the "backwardness of Islam", as many so-called "critics of Islam" are claiming. It is solely an illustration of the fact that conditions in Germany make it incredibly difficult for Muslims to be a self-determined and equal part of our society. By Armin Langer
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France's burka banExcluding the wrong people
We shouldn't be arguing about burkas: we should be abolishing the headscarf bans. They ostracise women who could be building bridges, comments Ursula Rüssmann
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Essay by the Syrian Writer Fawwaz HaddadChildren of a Divided Nation
In his essay, the renowned Syrian writer and novelist Fawwaz Haddad criticises the cynical attitude of the international community toward the Syrian conflict and the dramatic decline of his homeland