What is Possible Now - 33 Political Situations

Navid Kermani is one of the outstanding public intellectuals of his generation. Not one for drawing hard and fast conclusions, his style of thought is probing, observant, often straying from well-trodden paths and always peering beyond the present moment to trace connections and grasp the bigger picture.

Well known for his prize-winning novels and major works of non-fiction, Kermani has also gained widespread acclaim as a journalist, displaying a rare political sensitivity which manages to illuminate what politicians fail to see and to seek out solutions where all appears hopeless. This volume brings together his brilliantly perceptive writing from the last thirty years, on topics ranging from terror in the Middle East to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As a record of Kermani's uniquely compassionate curiosity, this absorbing book is a welcome antidote to the confusion and despair that stalks global politics today.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Preface

1. Islam versus Islam

The Judgement against the Egyptian Quran Scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

2. The Thousand Voices of Silence

The Situation of Artists and Intellectuals in Iran

3. Sympathy for the Satan

After the Attacks of 11 September

4. The Soft Words of Violence

After the Beginning of the War in Afghanistan

5. What Alternative?

Before the War in Iraq

6. Right Again, Sadly

The Attack on the Synagogue in Istanbul

7. Strategy of Escalation

On the Hostages in Beslan

8. Good Thing You're Educating Me...

Confusion in the Integration Debate

9. Desperation and Enthusiasm

After the French Referendum on the European Constitution

10. Hate Pictures and Hysteria

The Dispute over the Muhammad Cartoons

11. Relying Only on Strength Makes Israel Weaker

On the War in Lebanon

12. We are Murat Kurnaz Before Foreign Minister Steinmeier's Testimony to the Bundestag Investigative Committee

13. The Message of Cologne

The Discussion on Building a Grand Mosque

14. Death on Wednesday?

The Trial of Ayatollah Boroujerdi in Tehran

15. Rejection of Europe

The Swiss Referendum on the Prohibition of Minarets

16. State Without a People

The Recent Mass Protests in Iran

17. Allianz Lecture on Europe

18. Triumph of Vulgar Rationalism

The Outcry over Martin Mosebach and the Ban on Circumcision

19. Too Late for Good Conscience

The Civil War in Syria

20. Farewell to the Middle East

The 'Islamic State's' March on Baghdad

21. Stop the 'Islamic State'!

The Threat of Genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other Ethnic Groups in Iraq

22. The European Ideal is Sinking

The Mediterranean Sea as a Mass Grave

23. At Our Children's Cost

Eur ope after Brexit

24. What We Can Do in This Situation

After the Attacks in Ansbach, Würzburg and Munich

25. The Weight of Two Sacks

In Search of the Last Blind Spots of Progress in China

26. The Laughter of Nasrin Sotoudeh

Iran on International Human Rights Day

27. For Three Dollars a Day

After the West's Withdrawal from Afghanistan

28. No Programme but Politics

The Chancellorship of Angela Merkel

29. Afghanistan? Already a Non-Issue

German Apathy Towards the World

30. The Price of Justice

The Disappearance of the Generic Masculine in German

31. War as a Means of Politics

After Vladimir Putin's Announcement of a Russian Troop Deployment to Donbas

32. Through the Night

Ukraine at War

33. Woman Life Freedom

The Uprising in Iran, July - December 2022