Society

Goethe-Institut education initiatives in the MENA region

Getting behind civil society

News from the Middle East and North Africa often conveys the image of a troubled region characterised by political and economic volatility. But there are many more facets to life in this region than this image suggests, as shown by the projects the Goethe-Institut is running in the region. By Christina Büns
By Christina Büns
Interview with Mahvash Sabet

Lyrical flights

Mahvash Sabet, a leading representative of the Baha'i religion, spent almost ten years in Iranian prisons because of her faith. She was released in September. Sabet turned her experiences during her confinement into poems, which she managed to smuggle out of prison. Interview by Keyvandokht Ghahari
By Keyvandokht Ghahari
″Christmas and the Qu′ran″

When love comes down

″Christmas and the Qu′ran″, Karl-Josef Kuschel′s scholarly examination of the Christmas story in the light of the New Testament and the Koran, digs deep to deliver a message of hope. Lucy James read the book
By Lucy James
Pew Research Center study

Islam does not stand in antithesis to the West

A study by the Washington-based Pew Research Center says the number of Muslims living in Europe is set to increase. But this is no reason to conjure up the spectre of an Islamisation of the West, says Loay Mudhoon
By Loay Mudhoon
Refugee integration in Germany

A future made to measure

Integration in the workforce and a sustainable business idea: the Frankfurt dressmakers' studio offering prospects to refugee women – and becoming the go-to place for the region's start-up labels in the process. By Esther Felden
By Esther Felden
Non-fiction: Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger"

The embittered majority

In his book "Age of Anger: the history of the present" the Indian author Pankaj Mishra sees global distortions as the result of a birth defect in European modernity. Stefan Weidner read the book
By Stefan Weidner
Interview with Mauritanian human rights activist Biram Dah Abeid

"Time to end Arab racism"

Today in Mauritania, children are still being born into slavery. Not only that, they will remain slaves for the rest of their lives. It is the most prevalent and most extreme expression of Arab racism in North Africa, says human rights activist Biram Dah Abeid and it is time to consign it to the past. By Claudia Mende
By Claudia Mende
Debating secularism and religion in the Islamic world

No threat to faith

Jordanian journalist Mousa Barhouma criticises the recurrent Arab tendency to equate secularism with apostasy and heresy. In his view, Islam does not prescribe any specific form of government
By Mousa Barhouma
Interview with historian David Motadel

Hitler′s Muslim stop-gaps

During the Second World War, tens of thousands of Muslims fought on the side of the National Socialists. In interview with Nastassja Shtrauchler, historian David Motadel examines the attitude of Hitler and the Nazis towards Islam and Muslims. Interview by Nastassja Shtrauchler
By Nastassja Shtrauchler
″Remembered Future″ interfaith project

Using religion to stop religious wars

In Germany, refugees from Syria, Iraq and Yemen may end up living next door to compatriots who were on the other side in the civil war. How can those who have fled their homeland also leave its conflicts behind them? Susanne Kaiser presents the project "Remembered Future"
By Susanne Kaiser
African asylum seekers in Melilla

A loser's game

Most of the refugees arriving in Melilla, a Spanish exclave in Northern Africa, are Syrians, Yemenis and Algerians. Few of them hail from sub-Saharan Africa. Why is that? Santiago Saez reports from Melilla
By Santiago Sáez
Women′s rights in the Arab world

The key to change

Occasionally periods of social regression and progressive developments occur simultaneously. After all, among the many catastrophic reports emerging from the Arab world there are also a few glimmers of hope – for women. Report by Mey Dudin
By Mey Dudin