Dominic Johnson comments on the violence against foreigners in South Africa: "In Italy these days the Roma are being persecuted, while in South Africa the same is happening with immigrants from Zimbabwe. Xenophobic pogroms have apparently become socially acceptable. ... Naples has seen mobs pillaging Roma camps. ... Who would have thought that calls of 'foreigners, out!' could one day unite Africa and Europe? ... In countless nations of the world political power struggles are being fought with the demagogic instruments of ethnic, religious and geographical divides. ... What can be done against this reign of xenophobia? The political consensus according to which the mere presence of 'foreigners' is a problem in itself which requires a solution must be broken." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Dominic Johnson

The Spanish newspaper El País comments: "The wave of xenophobic riots is primarily aimed at immigrants from Zimbabwe, who number between one and three million - no one knows for sure. One of the least acceptable positions of President Mbeki - who let us not forget is the head of state of a regional power - is his benevolent attitude to the tyrannic regime in neighbouring Zimbabwe. The South African ANC government - formerly a liberation movement - not only holds a protective screen over the abhorrent dictator. Its indifference regarding the suffering north of the border which brought about this mass migration is one of the chief causes of the current riots. And these riots are doing major damage to the reputation for tolerance that South Africa is seeking to acquire." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Migration, » Africa

William Gumede writes in the Independent about the violent attacks on foreign refugees in South Africa: "Long-standing official denial of xenophobia is at the heart of the terrible violence. ... For years, warnings ... that the regular attacks in townships, rural towns and inner-city slums on foreign Africans will soon escalate have been ignored by the South African government. ... Up to now South Africa has not developed any effective policy to deal with the largest mass immigration into the country – not only from Africa, but from the hotspots of Asia and Eastern Europe – in modern history. ... Making South Africa's infant democracy, institutions and leaders more responsive and accountable must be part of the solution to the problem of xenophobia." (21/05/2008)

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"As soon as the sun goes down and night falls over Johannesburg, the hunt for foreigners resumes. ... Jeppestown, once a rich neighbourhood and pulsing business centre, is now in the hands of organised gangs. The South African gangs [consist] mostly of Zulus, the country's ethnic majority. ... President Thabo Mbeki is calling for peace. ... But suspicions are growing that the revolts have been incited by a sector of the booming South African economy. It is striking that neither Pakistanis, Chinese nor Indians - all of whom have been located here for many years - have come to any harm." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Migration, » Minorities, » Demographics, » Africa
All available articles from » daniele mastrogiacomo

The conservative newspaper criticises the confusion caused by competing leadership candidates in the French Socialist Party: "We are told that Madam Royal and Bertrand Delanoë are in a race to chair the party. The image is accurate. ... This long race will certainly be no walk in the park, even if both candidates have a good deal of stamina." The author fears that the race will harm the party: "In any case, both politicians are determined to belie La Fontaine's famous fable and win at all costs. As a result, both have taken on the role of the hare, rather than that of the tortoise. It remains to be seen whether the Socialists will not be the first victims of this farce." (19/05/2008)

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Two historians who work for Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) have accused the former freedom fighter and Polish president Lech Walesa of having collaborated with the communist secret services. Norman Davies, the British historian and expert on Poland, defends Walesa in a commentary: "Those who are once again attacking Lech Walesa's good name must not realise how they are damaging Poland's reputation abroad in doing so. People in the West, in particular, are not aware of the complex nuances of Polish politics. For this reason I hold the view that attacks against Lech Walesa are a deeply unpatriotic act. ... As far as I am aware, Walesa himself admitted to moments of weakness in his autobiography. And anyone who can remember those times knows that no one - not even Walesa - was 100 percent clean. This is because in the system of the time everyone was subject to certain restrictions and was again and again left defenceless against the totalitarian state. To attack someone because he suffered moments of weakness in such a system is very unfair." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Norman Davies

The attacks against Roma in Naples leads Misha Glenny to examine the role of the Camorra and point to "the failure of successive Italian governments to confront the local mafia. ... A mob attacked the camp, driving away 1,000 Gypsies living in and around railway arches. According to witnesses, members of the local Camorra family encouraged local people to join in the mayhem. ... The depiction of the Roma as the wellspring of crime has proved a useful diversionary tactic for the Camorra in advance of today's cabinet meeting. It has deflected attention from the real source of social chaos in the city: the Camorra itself. ... The European Commission is currently weighing up draconian penalties against Bulgaria for its failure to deal with organised crime and the influence it wields over public life. But when it comes to Italy, Brussels has always applied double standards." (21/05/2008)

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The nurses' strike continues in Sweden and Denmark, triggering a debate about the welfare state in both countries. "We think it is only natural that people receive an appropriate salary for vital work", three young politicians write in the Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten. "Education must pay off in a modern society. The fields of work in which women with university degrees work and which deal with matters of life and death do not receive the same respect as male-dominated professions requiring an equivalent level of education, for example programmers or IT experts. ... We can no longer accept that professions that are predominantly exercised by women continue to be governed by outdated standards. ... In an international comparison Sweden is a country where women have equal rights, but this does not seem to be the case when it comes to how we regard different professions and education. Is a woman's knowledge less valuable than a man's? Is knowledge of people's needs worth nothing? We want a society that does not distinguish between the sexes when it comes to appreciating merit." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Social Policy / Employment, » Health Policy, » Sweden
All available articles from » Niklas Wykman, » Jytte Guteland, » Magnus Andersson

Noemí Padrón-Fumero writes in El País: "Each year nine million tourists visit the Canary Islands, while just a couple of thousand immigrants arrive by boat. Nevertheless, the immigrants' arrival is labelled an invasion. We condone a scandalous dehumanisation of the immigrants. ... The EU ... puts the number of those who have lost their lives trying to reach the Canary Islands by boat at 10,000. ... The borders of the EU discriminate in an injust and unjustified way against people according to their origins and their papers. The result is an appalling change in the colour of the sea. While for tourists the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are clear and blue, the colour of the borderline is blood red." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Noemí Padrón-Fumero

Andrei Postelnicu comments on statements by German President Horst Köhler, who a few days ago described the international finance industry as a "monster": "Even Silvio Berlusconi won his mandate as prime minister on the strength of his campaign message about how irksome capitalism is - the very same capitalism that has made him a rich man. And Nicolas Sarkozy is persevering in the Gallic tradition of 'remoralising' global capitalism. ... Without intending to write a treatise on the need to adjust to capitalism, these remarks are nonetheless surprising. With the exception of Germany, none of Europe's economic nations are in a position to offer their citizens anything more than stagnant living standards. So politicians are doing what they often do: blaming external factors for their own inability to introduce reform. ... In this context there is the danger that because of the anti-capitalist voices echoing across Europe, domestic politicians may once again slow down the process of reform, whether economic or judicial." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Andrei Postelnicu

Fanasis Lirtsogiannis comments in To Ethnos on the effects of consumerism on democracy: "A few years ago one definition of the individual was the totality of his social relations. ... Today this definition probably requires revision, and the individual defined by the sum of his consumer expenditures. ... Developments in modern Western democracies show that social life is chiefly based on the production, and especially the distribution and consumption of wealth. This development has taken on such enormous proportions that it is impossible to demand of citizens in a democracy that they renounce this ideal. ... The consumer is the undisputed king. The result is that consumerism and individualism have caused social cohabitation and democracy to atrophy." (20/05/2008)

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Commenting on the sale of Greece's state-owned telecommunications company OTE to Deutsche Telekom, Christos Messinis writes in the Greek daily Ta Nea: "Do not attack the Germans. ... Who installed the first telephones in Greece and organised the first imperfect telecommunications systems? The Germans. ... Who buys our agricultural products and contributes to the fact that we have an export economy of sorts? The Germans. ... Who cultivated the classic sciences and trained modern Greece's most important philologists? The Germans. ... And finally, who ensured Greece's integration into the EU? The Germans, through Helmut Schmidt. ... It would have been nice if we could defend our interests more adeptly in the negotiations with Deutsche Telekom. ... But our bond with the Germans does not consist only of catastrophes and disasters. There are a thousand other important things." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Christos Messinis

The economic newspaper Les Echos joins in the current political debate about the 35-hour-week in France: "An economic impact that is difficult to assess and one of the world's most complex labour laws: one can hardly say the 35 hour week, which yesterday celebrated its 10th anniversary, is a complete success. ... Its defenders talk of a major social achievement, but companies have absorbed the extra costs at the price of increased productivity and stagnant salaries. Nonetheless, it would not be feasible to abolish this legal limit on working hours. Such a step would lead to insurmountable practical problems. Moreover, it would represent a break with France's social history that seems neither possible nor sensible." The author agrees with the government's argument that the answer can only be more flexible working hours: "The only solution is to continue promoting work as a value and relying on the most effective principle: 'Those who work more earn more'." (20/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Social Policy / Employment, » Labour market / Services, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » France
All available articles from » Dominique Seux

The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes about the international film festival in Cannes: "Thirty thousand people from the film branch come here every year, and anyone who does not is either sick, dead, or has changed profession - which amounts to the same thing. ... Everyone is here, negotiating, talking, drinking and partying - and occasionally, but only occasionally, they go to the cinema. Five thousand journalists and photographers run around among them, seriously hoping to be the only one, or at least the first, to see something, hear something or take pictures of something that no one else has already done. And because by nature journalists are not particularly imaginative, they always congregate where everyone else is - which is why they all see the same, write the same and take the same photos. And because this is very strenuous and very, very frustrating, they have to talk a lot and drink a lot and party a lot afterwards. And then they write about how exciting the whole thing is, because no one wants to hear the truth anyway: that Cannes is an ugly, built-up place on the Côte d'Azur which for ten days each year pretends real life is not always somewhere else." (20/05/2008)

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Art historian Pál Szuromi reflects on the incorporation of kitsch into contemporary culture: "It is bad enough that we are constantly bombarded with infuriating sentimental rubbish by countless TV stations and confronted with piles of tasteless junk every time we go to a department store or market, but now we are facing an onslaught of Chinese trash. True, we could just cut ourselves off from the world, or simply close our eyes from time to time. But even if we do this we cannot ignore the fact that over the past few decades a worrying 'age of kitsch' has set in. .... There can be no doubt about it: what we are seeing now is a Babylonian confusion between quantitative and qualitative culture. The only shimmer of hope I can see is the development and refinement of our visual skills. After all, in the words of Alfred de Vigny: he who is capable of seeing does not waste time. What may seem like inactivity to one person is observation and reflection for another." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Pál Szuromi

Goffredo de Marchis reports on the takeover of the newspaper L'Unità, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party founded in 1924 by Antonio Gramsci: "The Unità era is over. Nothing less than the future of the paper was at stake, which is closely linked to political debate within the Democratic Party of the Left (PD). Among the aspirants hoping to take over the paper was the Angelucci family, who control the leftist newspaper Il Riformista. But their candidature was frowned upon both by the paper's editorial staff and by Walter Veltroni [leader of the PD]. Finally Renato Soru won out. The new owner is President of the Region of Sardinia, a businessman and owner of [the Internet service company] Tiscali. ... The communication apparatus evolving around the PD has gained an additional voice. ... The editorial staff is delighted, and hopes for multimedia synergies with television, radio and Internet in line with the new boss's affinities." (21/05/2008)

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Tony Halpin writes from Moscow: "The arrival in Moscow of up to 50,000 Chelsea and Manchester United fans for today's Champions League final represents the greatest cultural exchange between Britain and Russia in modern history. ... Russians have been reared on classical images of England as a land of good manners. ... Most of the English fans are likely to disappoint locals eager to debate Shavian philosophy. Instead, Russians keen to practise their schoolbook English may get a crash course in the finer arts of swearing and street slang. ... At a time when political relations with London are at their chilliest since the Cold War. The Kremlin and Whitehall are both hoping 'football diplomacy' will lead to a thaw. So the fans ... hold the future of Anglo-Russian relations in their hands." (21/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Tony Halpin