"If I don't say what I think, what's the point of being mad?"

A conversation with Catalan philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventós

"If my philosophy has been of any use to me, it's been to situate my monstrous condition within an order of general discourse." The Catalan philosopher and former MEP explains why he finds reactionaries more interesting than liberals and what he means by the "non-Fichtean ego". [more]

The historical origins of anti-Catalanism

In order to understand modern Catalan nationalism, it is necessary to examine the emergence of "anti-Catalanism" in Castilian Spain during the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. [more]

The Armenian genocide: Issues of responsibility and democracy

An interview with Susan Neiman and Andreas Huyssen

Two public intellectuals discuss the role of the public sphere in guiding a politics of memory in relation to Turkey's fraught Armenian issue. [Catalan version added] [more]

Distorted vision

The imperviousness of the Castilian market to cultural output in Catalan

Catalan cultural products are seen as a political instrument rather than a response to genuine demand. As a result, it is easier for a Catalan author to get published in German or Dutch than in Castilian Spanish. [more]

The virtual frontiers of Europe

Are countries that adhere to Enlightenment values and institutional norms, but that are not geographically part of Europe, also to be considered European? [more]

The unwinnable war

An interview with Zygmunt Bauman

In the East, impoverished masses are lured into anti-Westernism; in the West, the State seeks to regain its legitimacy via the War on Terror. A vicious cycle of global insecurity is underway. [more]

Neighbourhoods

Opening address at the 18th European Meeting of Cultural Journals

For Orhan Pamuk, "neighbourhood" implies openness to neighbouring cultures but also provincial mistrust. Cultural journals' role, he says, should be to encourage non-conformity. [French and German versions added] [more]

Science, democracy, and the global market

Conflicts within the technology sector are increasingly resolved by private "experts", while media coverage of science is tailored to the interests of industry. [more]

Intelligent design and the assault on science

Sanctioned by the slogan "teach the controversy", creationism's latest variant - the theory of intelligent design - is gaining a foothold in education in the US and worldwide. [more]