Qantara Startseite Englisch - Dialogue with the Islamic world
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Education in SyriaReturning pupils face language barrier
Eleven-year-old Ali spent six years in Germany. Now back in Syria, he is struggling with Arabic, his native language, as the new government appears overwhelmed by the task of reintegrating returning schoolchildren.
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Syria's economyAusterity and liberalisation won't rebuild the country
Syria's government is pursuing economic growth through liberalisation, foreign investment and cuts to state spending. These moves benefit the new elite but won't lift the majority out of crisis.
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Religion in the armed forcesMilitary imams to be introduced in Germany
From 2026, Germany's Bundeswehr will recruit chaplains for Muslim soldiers, responding to calls from Islamic associations that go back over two decades.
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One year after AssadThe road to a new Syria
A year ago, rebel forces ousted Syria’s Assad regime. How has the country changed since? Leading experts weigh in.
Politics
More about Politics-
Assad's Syria"Our documents reveal how state terror was organised"
Human rights activist Hassan al-Hariri risked his life to gather evidence of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime. One year after Assad's fall, he still sees major shortcomings in Syria's process of coming to terms with its past.
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Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad"Our very existence is seen as a provocation"
Plestia Alaqad’s reporting from Gaza in 2023 reached millions worldwide. Now based in Australia, she reflects on fleeing her home and living with survivor’s guilt while representing Palestine to the international media.
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Pankaj Mishra on Germany, Israel and Palestine"An anarchic, nihilistic world"
The West, particularly Germany, has instrumentalised Holocaust remembrance to justify state violence, argues Pankaj Mishra. A conversation on suppressed colonial histories, Western complicity in Gaza and Germany's role in the erosion of international law.
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Anti-Erdoğan protestsTurkey at the crossroads
The March arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has sparked widespread protests demanding his release and fresh presidential elections. Successful or not, the protests point to a changing face of Turkish society.
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Two years of war in SudanA fractured nation on the brink of partition
Two years in, Sudan's war shows no signs of resolution. As both sides push to establish rival governments, civilians bear the brunt of the violence, and national divisions threaten to become permanent.
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UGTT in crisisThe decline of Tunisia's most powerful trade union
Plagued by internal divisions, Tunisia's UGTT union is losing the political influence it gained after the 2011 revolution. What is behind the crisis—and how has President Kais Saied capitalised?
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Civil society since the Arab SpringEurope must support the agents of change
Civil society organisations in West Asia and North Africa face widespread repression. But instead of supporting activists on the ground, European policymakers continue to prop up autocratic regimes.
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Erdoğan rival Ekrem İmamoğluDetained but defiant
Days before he was set to secure his official presidential candidacy, Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption and terrorism charges. A relative unknown until he won Istanbul's mayoralty in 2019, how did he become Erdoğan's greatest rival?
Society
More about Society-
Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi"Intersectional long before the term was coined"
A seminal feminist text by Nawal El Saadawi has been translated into English and German for the first time, over five decades after it first appeared in Arabic. Publisher and translator Sophie Haesen explains why it should be essential reading worldwide.
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War crimes in SyriaThe starvation of Yarmouk on trial
A new trial of Syrian war crimes suspects has opened in Koblenz, Germany. It's the first since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, and the first ever to charge starvation as a war crime.
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Women's rights in SyriaToo early for confidence
At the end of February, the highly anticipated National Dialogue Conference took place in Damascus. Did the meeting meet expectations? Karim El-Gawhary talked to women's rights activists on the ground before and after the event.
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Musician Michael Barenboim on Gaza"Nothing justifies genocide"
Violinist Michael Barenboim, leader of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, calls for an arms embargo against Israel and argues that the German media has failed in its responsibilities. He tells Qantara how he balances art and activism.
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Forensic expert in Syria"Opening the graves is not a priority"
In Syria, families of those who disappeared under Assad are desperate for answers. But before bodies can be identified, countless files, photos and videos must be gathered. "There is a bureaucracy of the dead," says forensic scientist Luis Fondebrider.
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Volleyball in GazaPlaying without fear
An amateur women's volleyball team in Gaza is offering displaced people a sense of peace amid the destruction. The women on the team dream of a lasting end to Israel's war on the enclave.
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Syrian architects' group Syrbanism"For a just reconstruction, the people must have a voice"
Since 2017, Syrbanism has been connecting architects and urbanists across the Syrian diaspora. In the wake of Assad's fall, founders Edwar Hanna and Nour Harastani travelled to Damascus to work on their vision of a democratic reconstruction.
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German elections 2025The myth of the "dual national criminal"
In this election campaign, people with "migrant backgrounds" are being depicted as a threat to public safety. The term "criminal foreigners" is being widely used, and candidates are calling for the revocation of dual citizenship. But these arguments have no basis in fact.
Culture
More about Culture-
Architecture in LibyaReclaiming a vanishing colonial heritage
As Benghazi’s Italian-era architecture slowly disappears, an exhibition brings together architects and artists rethinking the city’s history — reassessing the colonial past without celebrating it.
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Cherien Dabis's "All That's Left of You"Palestinian identity on screen
In "All That's Left of You", Cherien Dabis intertwines a three-generation family saga with the history of Israel and Palestine, placing her within a growing movement of filmmakers negotiating Palestinian identity through cinema.
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Mahmoud Muna, editor of "Daybreak in Gaza""A book about hope, anger and anguish"
Mahmoud Muna is the owner of the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem and one of the editors of “Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Cultures”. The book collects testimonies and stories from over a hundred Gazans, documenting their lives before and during Israel’s ongoing war on the enclave.
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Bilingual children's booksKurdish as a living language
"When I was a child, I felt ashamed of my identity," says linguist and translator Marwan Sheikho. Determined to create a different reality for his own children, he's made his publishing debut with three bilingual Kurdish children's books.
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Science fiction from TurkeyA spark of reality in literary dystopia
Above the clouds lies not just boundless freedom, but also dystopian visions of the future. With his collection "Über den Wolken und andere Geschichten" (Above the Clouds and Other Stories), editor Ünver Alibey shows that science fiction is no longer a solely Western genre.
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Çiğdem Akyols's novel on Germany’s guest workersClear-eyed and unsentimental
In her debut novel, Çiğdem Akyol tells the story of a family caught between Germany and Turkey. The journalist offers an unvarnished portrait of the guest-worker generation and their children and sheds light on their ruthless exploitation in Germany.
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Jewish composer Brigitte SchifferFleeing the Nazis and thriving in Cairo
Many Jewish musicians fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Composer Brigitte Schiffer was one of the few who put down roots in Egypt. In this interview, the German music professor Matthias Pasdzierny charts her unusual story.
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Book “111 Places in Berlin That Teach Us About Islam”Searching for traces of Muslim life in Berlin
The historic Şehitlik cemetery in Kreuzberg, the queer-friendly Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in Moabit, the Muslim community's poetry slam i-Slam: Islam is part of Berlin's history, politics and everyday life.
750th anniversary of Rumi's death
750th anniversary of Rumi's death - Qantara.de
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