Abstracts for Lettre Internationale, Denmark 11 (2006)

Multiculturalism?

Amartya Sen
Chili and Freedom

Race riots throughout the world are adding fuel to fire already burning, and immigrants and natives alike find it still harder to live with one another. Offering an Indian perspective Amartya Sen considers the concept of multiculturalism and its many problems – in a multiethnic Britain, in India with her many religions as well as the rest of the global village.

Latin Power

Rigmor Kappel Schmidt
Latin America – Between Exploitation and Autonomy

The great Latin American commotion: Is the indigenous population of Latin America, that has been playing the role of the marginalized outsider in the globalized world for so long, striving for a political and moral recovery of the region?

Maurice Lemoine
On Whose Side is the Bolivian Army?

It might seem as if Bolivia manages to fight any and every possible prejudice regarding the country: 180 coups d’état since the independence in 1825, a problematic relationship to the US and severe difficulties controlling the production and distribution of narcotics. This time however, things might be turning out differently.

Carlos Monsiváis
Rituals of Chaos

Monsiváis captures the rhythm of the metropolis. The individual is in focus, but only to be multiplied by a million. The masses are seen from above as forming near–fractal forms and patterns.

Sergio Gómez &
Alberto Fuguet
The Land of McOndo

Latin America is much more than magical realism. The McOndo manifesto published by two young writers attempts to change the conception of Latin American literature – respectfully it seeks to overcome the supremacy of magical realism.

Sergio Gómez
Strange Oral Customs

Short story from the anthology McOndo. An example of new Latin American literature – la Nueva Narrativa Chilena.

Thoughts on the City

Andreas Trier Morch
A Decaying House

With no one claiming ownership and practically bursting with art, the art house in St Petersbourg is facing an uncertain destiny. Photo documentation of a house falling apart.

Mads Holst Jensen
“Leipz Vegas” – with Chinese Characters

“What are we to do with shrinking European cities?” Outsourcing the production of answers to China might be useful in interpreting this phenomenon. Though the answer is still blowing in the wind, the uncomprehending attitude of the Chinese towards the question implies that shrinking cities are a symptom of the shifts and changes in the new world order.

Ivan Vladislavic
City of Light

Being drawn to the subterranean hide–outs of the homeless, struck by the vulnerability of your security guard, straying into a strike, that suddenly errupts into violence and utter chaos. Being privileged and white in Johannesburg does not necessarily entail that you have to assume the part of the unattached spectator (extract from the yet unpublished novel Portrait with Keys).

Weblogs and Nihilism

Geert Lovink
Blogging – the Nihilistic Impulse

Freedom of speech in its absolute form leads only to unbearable isolation. The countless possibilities of the Internet have created a media characterized by cynicism and loneliness.

Gianni Vattimo
Peace and Freedom – and the Postmodern Condition

If we are to avoid the clash of civilizations, the rigid faith in objectivity and absolute truths must be replaced by an ironic attitude towards our own suppositions and truths. The Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo advocates countering the violence with self–irony.

Football God

Juan Villoro
Maradona’s Left Foot

One of the great icons of football history, Maradona, was a genius when playing, but outside the field his life is an odd mixture of drug abuse, fits of rage, melodrama and kitsch.

Correspondence

Morten Vestergaard & Morten Runge
Out of the Darkness

For the first time in 46 years the people of Congo will be participating in free and democratic elections. In spite of later years’ progress the country is still plagued by corruption of the political system and there is a widespread fear of yet another civil war, should the elections turn out to be less than free. Nevertheless, the inhabitants continue to believe in the improvement of their everyday lives after the 30th of June.

Takeyuki “Gaku” Tsuda
“Japones” in Brazil – “Gaijin” in Japan

A large minority of Brazilians of Japanese descent has returned to their mother country only to find themselves even more estranged than before. Back in Japan, return immigrants have a hard time being Japanese.