The European Union was originally the creation of failed or failing European empires, even if it now tends to pose as an assembly of innocent little nation states. Facing up to the responsibility for half a millennium of imperialism is painful, but doing so would allow Europe to recognize its unique and auspicious recovery from empire, argues Timothy Snyder in the speech he delivered for Europe Day 2019 at Judenplatz, Vienna.
Regional differences seem to be the common denominator between the players of Project Europe. In an attempt to understand how the European vote is formed, we put some of the underlying issues on the map.
It is not the case that the move towards populism has spoiled democratic hopes in central eastern Europe. The hope was part of the problem from the beginning, in spite of its emancipatory potential, or even because of it. We have to ask: what kind of hope? And hope for what?
Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia are wondering what kind of European Union they will join, if they ever do. Further north, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein remain happy to keep their distance, even if the Brexit discussion has caused discontent with the ‘Norway option’ among the country’s Eurosceptic left.
The smugness of some Irish commentary on Brexit is ill-advised, writes Maurice Earls. Brexit is not an aberration but the expression of a deep-rooted cultural attitude – one that won’t simply disappear under the wheel of progress. Failure to grasp this could prove dangerous for the European Union.
As a bruised apple attracts flies, human thoughtlessness draws algorithms. Digital beings encourage our false beliefs, exploit our anxieties, and then use us as alibis for what they have done. Timothy Snyder examines what Turing said about the digital threat to a human future.
Francis Fukuyama’s argument that far-right identity politics were pioneered by the left has been criticized as blame-shifting. But this is a partial reading, he counters: identity politics are inherent to the democratic ethos and rooted in modernity itself. Understanding their use by the far-right enables us to form a response.
‘O’r Pedwar Gwynt’ finds its place; ‘Wespennest’ claims climate for culture; ‘Krytyka’ appeals for constitutional democracy; ‘Osteuropa’ debates elitism and protest; and ‘Soundings’ critiques #MeToo.
‘Il Mulino’ calls on all Europeans; ‘Dublin Review of Books’ advocates a clean break; ‘Esprit’ hears first hand from whistle-blowers; ‘Index on Censorship’ reports on local news worldwide; and ‘Revolver Revue’ talks about the things that cannot be forgiven.
‘Merkur’ publishes an alternative explanation of eastern Europe; ‘Vikerkaar’ excavates the Estonian everyday; ‘Kultūros barai’ says the Soviet past belongs to Lithuania; ‘New Humanist’ discusses nationalisms, antibiotics and health apps; and ‘Atlas’ disapproves of cultural snobbery and the return of cynicism.
When the Cold War came to a sudden end thirty years ago, the two halves of Europe declared in unison their intention to overcome the legacy of the division. Today, the hopes and ambitions of those heady days can be viewed as unrealistic at best. But is talk of a new East–West divide justified? A new Eurozine focal point asks what happened to ’89 in the intervening years.
Internet technologies are being used in ways that raise far-reaching questions about the resilience and sustainability of democratic systems. And they have fundamentally impacted on understandings of the political, transforming democracies from within.
Cultural journals have played a crucial role in the formation of the public spheres in Europe and beyond. Looking at their history helps understand where they are headed. A Eurozine focal point in collaboration with the Working Group on Periodicals Research.
Fake news has become big news. Post-truth is the new paradigm. Respect for facticity is becoming, by all accounts, a commercial anachronism. And behind it all, the spectre of an illiberal international waging ‘info-war’ against western democracies.
Journals met in Vienna for the 29th time: 2018 was a twofold anniversary: 35 years since the first European Meeting of Cultural Journals in 1983, and 20 years since the foundation of Eurozine as an online publication
Eurozine monitors upcoming funding opportunities on the international level relevant to cultural journalists, such as translation funds, mobility grants and project funding.
