Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Political message or provocation? It is important to consider these two factors prior to a cartoon's publication. Acording to Khalil, a cartoonist of Arab origin, responsibility plays a major role in this consideration. Esther Felden spoke to Khalil about the attack in Paris and its consequencesMore

Abderrahmane Sissako's film "Timbuktu" portrays the nightmarish horror of Islamist rampages and at the same time invokes gentleness as a source of resistance. The compelling story is captured in masterful imagery by the cameraman Sofiane El Fani. By Hans-Jörg RotherMore

In the West, where Egyptian authors have long been seen as forces for good, the reaction to the fact that some of the country's most renowned writers seem to have abandoned the struggle for immediate democracy and the rule of law in favour of supporting military rule has been greeted with shock and dismay. Marcia Lynx Qualey explores the possible reasons for this developmentMore

Aboud Saeed started his Facebook blog on the war in Syria with the words "I am the smartest guy on Facebook". Today he has the highest number of possible friends and thousands of followers. His status updates have been published and translated into several languages. Ceyda Nurtsch spoke to the Syrian bloggerMore

The "A Bird is not a Stone" crowdfunding campaign may not have gotten as much press as British scientists seeking to fund a moon landing through online donations, but it certainly made a ripple among Arabic literary translators. The success of this campaign showed that crowdfunding can be an important tool in bringing Arabic literature into European languages. By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

David Broza is one of Israel's most popular and best-selling recording artists and a long-standing supporter of the peace movement in his country. His latest album "East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem" features artists from Israel, Palestine and America and was recorded in a Palestinian-owned recording studio in East Jerusalem. Richard Marcus listened to the album and spoke to the artistMore

Last October, the organisation Netzwerk politik|atelier organised a one-day poetry slam workshop entitled "Slamming für 2020" in Bonn for emerging talented poetry slammers from the Arabic-speaking world and Germany. At the end of the workshop, the participants presented their future visions of how people can live together on both sides of the Mediterranean. By Fabian PiankaMore

In conversation with Maria Santacecilia, the star conductor and co-founder of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, analyses the consequences of the aggravated Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its effects on his orchestra, which celebrates its fifteenth anniversary this yearMore

In the first half of the twentieth century, about 75,000 Jews lived in Egypt. With the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, their lives in Egypt became increasingly difficult and many emigrated to Europe. Kamal Ruhayyim believes that Jewish Egyptians were an important part of the Egyptian community and wrote a book to keep their memory alive. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the English translation of the first book in Ruhayyim's trilogy "Diary of a Muslim Jew"More