In its editorial, the daily notes that "Many teachers, being pragmatic, have found a considerable ally in the young sorcerer. Many note that the first volumes of the saga, i.e. hundreds of pages, have given children a taste for reading. ... Following French teachers, English teachers recommend J.K. Rowling as reading material and have created exercises based on the original text. ... Why snub a pleasure and refuse to share a passion? Those who fear that reading among the young may be limited to Harry Potter should recognise the obvious: those who never read will never know the adventures of the little sorcerer. But there is nothing stopping them from being tempted into reading them and more." (21/07/2007)

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"Harry Potter the concept, the brand, the franchise, is now well and truly ended, give or take the odd multi-million pound-earning catch up film", writes the art and literature critic Peter Aspden. "Ms Rowling has decreed that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be the seventh and last book in the series and who can honestly blame her? It must be hard, unless your heart is really set on earning that second billion dollars to keep focused on a broom-flying pubescent with ocular issues. A worldwide readership of 325 million is probably enough to keep your self-esteem buoyant. ... But can we believe her? We have been here before. Bored authors of popular works have decided to quit while their creations were cherished by their adoring publics, only to recapitulate later. ... Will Harry Potter return? I see the eighth book in the series coming out in the 2030s. ... I'm sure J.K. Rowling has it in her to write the definitive novel of mid-life crisis." (21/07/2007)

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Wieland Freund examines the interaction between new and old media and marvels at the power of the Harry Potter books. "Although it owes part of its great success to a media alliance (as opposed to rivalry between media), 'Harry Potter' remains a book. This is the real miracle. So taking its success seriously means first of all reflecting on our place in history. Have we really lived through the television era to witness now the dawn of the Internet era? Or are the steps we're making in fact much smaller, the historical leaps we both fear and desire much less defined than one would have us believe? The decision about the 'Iconic Turn', the image's bid for absolute power, has yet to be made. 'Harry Potter' is a child of the Gutenberg era." (23/07/2007)

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In an interview with Julia Encke, sociologist Wolfgang Sofsky talks about how the anti-terrorism laws currently under discussion in Germany pose a threat to freedom and the private sphere. "We've had anti-communism and we've had prescribed anti-fascism but we haven't had vigilant anti-totalitarianism. Although we've had two totalitarian regimes on German soil, we have failed to develop a special sensitivity to threats to our freedom. ... [Among ultra-conservatives] freedom is an idyll guaranteed by the state. The truth is that preserving freedom is a continuous battle. One must arm oneself for the sake of freedom - risk conflicts, fight them and defend them to the end. This is a never-ending, strenuous task. We should say goodbye to our delusions about security. There is limited security, but ultimately no one can protect us against the next terrorist attack. This is why we must learn to live with a certain amount of fear. To do this one must recognise the dangers rather than denying them." (23/07/2007)

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Workaholism is the driving power behind modern capitalism in Europe, writes Dušan Jovanović. The 35-hour-week that the French fought so hard for back in 2000 has no future, he concludes. "Today work, hobbies and leisure are melting into a combination of duty, suffering and pleasure. ... A person who works a 35-hour-week isn't suited to independent work or intellectually demanding professions because being a lawyer, manager, stockbroker, academic or consultant still requires the willingness to work a 70-hour-week. ... Sociologists hold the view that societies in which the traditional division between working time and leisure remains intact will be left behind, because they prevent the formation of a broad class of workaholics to boost the economy. The latest insight is that capitalism needs workaholism. ... Without it we would continue to be a socialist economy with state-owned property and people who hate their jobs and even go so far as to sabotage them." (23/07/2007)

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All available articles from » Dusan Jovanovic

Cultural columnist Alan Riding notes the fading of intellectuals as independent voices in public debate. "What might be called Western 'classical' culture has lost enormous ground to popular culture and its accompanying celebrity fever. Even that fixture of the Paris Left Bank, the public intellectual, has almost disappeared. Harold Pinter still rages against the United States, Gunter Grass still beats his drum, but few writers under the age of 60 seem to feel it their duty to lead public debate. ... With the entertainment industry largely apolitical, a handful of movie and rock stars, Sting, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Bono and Bob Geldof among them, have stepped forward to support worthy causes. ... Certainly, culture's recent record of influencing politics and connecting with society has not been great. And that is our loss. The passage from 'arts and society' to 'arts and entertainment' has brought fame and fortune to some and little enlightenment to the rest of us." (21/07/2007)

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Zbynek Petracek warns of the dangers of the West's panic mongering following the landslide victory of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic party in Turkey's parliamentary elections. "When the [conservative] People's Party in Spain or the Christian Democrats in Germany win the elections, there's no talk of a new Inquisition. But when Erdogan's party wins in Turkey, the ominous predictions are quick to follow. Both in the opposition and in government, Erdogan's party has done all it can to reform the country and guide it towards EU values. But there's still no end to the debate in Europe about whether Islam is at all compatible with democracy. ... It would be more reasonable to give Islamic democracy a chance and then pronounce judgement." (23/07/2007)

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Guido Rampoldi analyses the victory in Turkey of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) which has had its leadership renewed in the legislative elections held on Sunday July 22nd. "It is the other Turkey that has won: the Turkey of the petit bourgeoisie, the shopkeepers and thus the moderates. And if this middle class is far from the Kemalist project, it is not as fanatic as is being said either. The form of Islam it represents is Turkish, the supplest of all. This middle class's distrust of the Kemalist State, wisely interpreted by the AKP, allowed it to stimulate the lazy Turkish economy. There has been an enormous increase in foreign investments, the GDP is growing as fast as Asia's and the stock exchange is thriving. And salaries have almost doubled. Islam is not the winner of these elections, but rather a government with a good record." (23/07/2007)

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Yves Leterme, Belgium's future Prime Minister, made a blunder on Saturday July 21st, the Belgian national holiday. When journalists asked him to sing the Belgian national anthem, 'Le Barbançonne', he sung the French national anthem 'La Marseillaise'. "One can hardly imagine Nicolas Sarkozy singing 'God Save the Queen on Bastille day, any more than Angela Merkel breaking into 'Fratelli d'Italia'. Such a thing could only happen here, in this country marked by multiple borders and fluctuating identities", comments Bénédicte Vaes. "This is not some Belgian prank. It might be interpreted as a subliminal message to the French. The man who previously represented the Flanders region is having some difficulty donning his new federal get-up. This July 21st it felt as if Mr. Belgium was on an official visit abroad, in the Kingdom of Belgium." (23/07/2007)

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Last week it was revealed that current Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, worked as a historian for the Bulgarian security service when he was young. Christo Christow comments. "'I admit that I worked for the state security. Please forgive me.' Not once in the past 17 years have we heard such a confession when it was about people having worked for the totalitarian regime's repressive apparatus. ... Here in Bulgaria, publicly exposed agents and informants always claim they acted out of love for their home country or for the sake of national interests, and thus have nothing to be ashamed of." He adds that over the past 17 years of the difficult process of transition, "Bulgarians have witnessed enough manipulation and seen enough files. And now we are once again witnessing how a fact that pertains to our head of state was long kept secret, and therefore turned into the manipulation of the entire Bulgarian society." (23/07/2007)

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Great Britain has suffered from serious flooding over the past few days. The daily comments. "The National Audit Committee found last month that defences in some parts of the country are not in a satisfactory condition. That is clearly something that needs to be put right. Another official responsibility is to regulate the level of new building on flood plains. Yet the Government proposes to construct 200,000 more homes in the South-east, many on land prone to flooding. The Government has a stark choice. It must either invest vastly more in flood defences, or ensure that these homes are built elsewhere. ... But most important, the Government must push through a global treaty to bring down global carbon dioxide emissions from industry and transport. In the long term, this is our only hope of protection." (23/07/2007)

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After four years in deficit, the music festival 'Montreux Jazz', which drew to an end on Saturday July 21st, has found a budgetary balance, with 57,000 tickets sold. Arnaud Robert recalls that "It was a wild bet against the odds. To save three million euros (on a budget of 16), by reducing rather than patching up the project. ... While the number of summer events is growing exponentially and artists' fees are frequently doubled, the Montreux challenge appeared to be a losing battle. However, the festival's foundation committee, along with secretary general Mathieu Jaton convinced the boss to focus on its assets: exceptional acoustics; evenings of entertainment envied across the five continents and, above all, a jealously guarded address book." (23/07/2007)

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The Spanish Justice has seized all remaining copies of the latest issue of the satirical magazine 'El Jueves' which has a front page featuring a caricature of the crown prince having sex with his wife. The daily considers that "The representation of the Princely couple is indeed outrageously coarse, but it is difficult to admit that it is 'injurious', in the sense defined by article 490 of the Penal Code. ... The banning of publications in the era of the Internet and new technologies is a perfectly useless and counter-productive attempt protecting the so called flouted rights. How now to prevent the flood of reproductions of the banned caricature in the face of the current number of computer supports that are beyond control ? The decision taken by the law is contributing to what it wants to avoid, adding publicity to the caricature." (21/07/2007)

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In an interview with Marta Strzelecka, sociologist Andrzej Szpociński of Warsaw's Collegium Civitas calls for a debate about the decline of good manners in Internet forums. "Initially, prosperous people used the Internet, but since status stopped mattering the composition of this community has changed. Now people with certain psychological traits take part in the discussions. Some of them have the need to participate in political life. This life is frustrating, so they try to find a vent for their emotions. ... One could say it would be a good thing if people were properly educated before they were allowed to use the Internet. Naturally, this is impossible. But we must try to teach them certain things. ... We must start talking and writing about pig-headedness, impertinence and stupidity on the Internet. We must ridicule and make fun of these flaws." (23/07/2007)

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Eleven people have died over the past few days in Romania owing to temperatures soaring above 40 degrees. British political expert Tom Gallagher makes an unusual suggestion: over the next few weeks Bucharest's pensioners should be housed in the parliamentary buildings, which are fitted out with air conditioning. "This way, members of parliament can prove they have understood what elected representatives really are: persons who are at the service of the people when they're suddenly confronted with danger. ... The heat wave proves once again that the state is in need of sweeping reforms or it will remain a club for incompetents which fails to react to crises no matter what tragedies are unfolding behind the scenes. The state institutions are primarily occupied with their own privileges and creating a series of regulations that will guarantee the continuation of their own Kafkaesque existence. It's not only the pensioners who are suffering as a result." (23/07/2007)

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