Iran
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Roxanne Varzi's novel "Last Scene Underground"
Finding freedom in the catacombs
"Last Scene Underground: an ethnographic novel of Iran" by Roxanne Varzi, an American associate professor of anthropology, tells the story of a group of students in Tehran who want to stage an illegal play underground. Marian Brehmer read the book
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Album review: Trygve Seim′s ″Rumi Songs″
Musical wanderlust
Couching the songs of Rumi in free-form jazz is doubtless a daring undertaking. Yet, listen with an open mind and heart, says Richard Marcus, and you will find this album to be both thought-provoking and emotionally fulfilling
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Ali Abdullah Saleh and the conflict in Yemen
The lure of power
During the Arab Spring President Saleh faced widespread armed protests and was forced to leave office. Thanks to some unscrupulous wheeling and dealing, however, Saleh may yet pull off his bid to return to power. By Neville Teller
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Slavoj Zizek’s exploration of Islam and modernity
A Eurocentric perspective
Unlike most of his published work, Slavoj Zizek′s latest essay on Islam and modernity is not left-wing at all. Rather surprisingly, he is favour of restricting the mobility of refugees within Europe and defends a whole range of Eurocentric attitudes. By Tarkan Tek
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Interview with Hossein Derakhshan
Iran's 'blogfather' turned Internet sceptic
Hossein Derakhshan, a.k.a. Hoder, pioneered the blogger revolution in Iran. Released from prison following a term of six years, he barely recognised what the Internet has become. Interview by Julia Hitz
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Morgenland Festival Osnabruck 2016
From the Balkans to the Levant
The so-called ″Morgenland Campus″, one of the new formats of this year's festival in Osnabruck, opened a week of intensive encounters between young musicians and world stars. Sara-Duana Meyer took a closer look
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Political Islam and violence
A question of power
In his essay, the renowned Shia theologian and philosopher Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari considers the significance of political power and violence in Islamic systems of government
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On the death of Shimon Peres
Stranger than fiction
In the blanket homage to the late Israeli politician Shimon Peres there are significant omissions. One should not speak ill of the dead. But nevertheless, the gushing praise demands further clarification. A critical appraisal by Stefan Buchen
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Poems by young refugees
Holding back the tears
A writing project has turned young refugees from Afghanistan into poets. The creative talents read their work at the International Literature Festival in Berlin, where many listeners found themselves fighting back the tears. By Sabine Peschel
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Oil and development in the Middle East
A two-edged sword
When poor countries started producing oil, they thought that was the key to economic growth and prosperity. Since then, the impact of resource wealth on producing countries has been the subject of endless debate. By Nassir Djafari
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Solving the conflicts in the Middle East
Tracing the fault lines
Simmering for decades beneath the surface of autocratic repression, conflicts such as the Sunni uprisings in Syria and Iraq, Shia unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, not to mention the rancour of the Kurds and Palestinians, are ongoing. The West is partly to blame. By Ishac Diwan
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Iran's stadium ban on women
Excluding the people
Iranian women′s rights activist Darya Safai fights the stadium ban for Iranian women from her exile in Brussels. An interview on her protest during the Olympic Games in Rio, the hypocrisy of international sports organisations and Ali Khamenei′s unreformable regime. By Kai Schnier