The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines gives much-needed hope. But if the drug industry keeps being devoted exclusively to profit, inequality and mistrust will cost lives in poorer countries, and eventually also in the wealthy western world.
Articles
‘A decisive effort is necessary’
Heritage, Brexit and the British state
The case for Brexit may amount to more than pure fiction. But there is no denying it is rooted in a revivalist narrative of British history. Whether the perceived enemy be Europe, the welfare state or migrants, the right has been waging the same battle since the 1980s.
It may seem utopian, but granting rights to inanimate beings could break the institutional deadlocks of environmental policy making. Not only that, ‘a parliament of things’ could eliminate the inequalities inherent in our anthropocentric approach to politics.
What went wrong with reunification?
Il Mulino 5/2020
‘Il Mulino’ focuses on German reunification: including Jana Hensel on why 1990 wasn’t celebrated in the East, and Naika Foroutan on the Basic Law’s unfulfilled guarantee of pluralism. Also: Andreas Voßkuhle on the Federal Constitutional Court’s PSPP ruling.
Recommended topics
Roots in nature
The pathogen and the politics of biodiversity
People are starting to notice nature’s invoices: forest fires burning koalas, plastic in the oceans, but the loss of biodiversity freefall has not yet fully broken through onto the political agenda. The pandemic now highlights the connection between human health and the mismanagement of nature and wildlife.
Disaster capitalism
Beirut urgently needs a people-centred recovery
Urban redevelopment is a priority after the devastating warehouse explosion in Beirut’s port left many homes uninhabitable. However, it should not follow the city’s post-war property grab, says Mona Fawaz, whose reflection, written soon after the blast, argues for a people-first approach.
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Genetics, race and the methodology of differentiation
Whilst twenty-first century research into molecular genetics seemed to promise an end to outmoded racial stereotypes and typologies, it actually managed to revive discussions about biological differences among a number of geneticists. On the DNA of these debates and their implications for the future.
The erosion of democracy wasn’t gradual; the writing was on the wall. It was the public understanding that lapsed. The recent Trumpist attempt to overturn an election now ends the fantasy that American democracy is distinct. Political junkie Claire Potter weighs in.
Eurozine review
Radical new Dutch essayists
Dutch Review of Books 6/2020
‘Dutch Review of Books’ publishes the winner and runners up of the Joost Zwagerman Essayprijs 2020. Also: the rightwing media campaign against the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema; on Nazi collaborator and Yad Vashem-honouree Hans Georg Calmeyer; and millennial fiction.
What went wrong with reunification?
Il Mulino 5/2020
‘Il Mulino’ focuses on German reunification: including Jana Hensel on why 1990 wasn’t celebrated in the East, and Naika Foroutan on the Basic Law’s unfulfilled guarantee of pluralism. Also: Andreas Voßkuhle on the Federal Constitutional Court’s PSPP ruling.
The realm of the senses
L’Homme 2/2020
‘L’Homme’ asks what happens to gender relations when the sensorium is upset by war, intercultural contact or changes in consumption. Also: harrowing accounts of sexual violence in locked-down India, alleviated by spontaneous expressions of solidarity.
Focal points
Is the term ‘fascism’ applicable to an authoritarian politician like Trump? Does the label ‘anti-fascist’ gloss over crucial controversies surrounding the term? And is Weimar a useful comparison when thinking about anti-democratic tendencies in the US, in the EU and globally? A new focal point in collaboration with Public Seminar.
Like sustenance and sex, society can’t be reproduced without shelter. That is why today’s housing crisis is so central. Contributions to this focal point look at both the winners and the losers of the crisis: the people profiting from the financialization of housing and those reimagining the right to the city.
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.
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 division. Today, the hopes and ambitions of those heady days may seem unrealistic. But is talk of a new East–West divide justified?
Eurozine Network
Eurozine monitors upcoming funding opportunities on the international level relevant to cultural journalists, such as translation funds, mobility grants and project funding.