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.

List of contents

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
 
Europe 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

About the author

Navid Kermani is a writer and scholar who lives in Cologne, Germany. He has received numerous accolades for his literary and academic work, including the 2015 Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association, Germany's most prestigious cultural award.

Summary

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.

Report

"Among the most thoughtful intellectual voices in German today."
New York Review of Books
 
"Navid Kermani shows us what it means to be a critical intellectual today."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
 
"The most interesting voice Germany has."
Die Welt
 
"When reading Navid Kermani's essays, Kent's line from King Lear comes to mind: "I'll teach you differences." Navid Kermani is a master of differences and an enemy of rash judgments. His analyses of current political and cultural crises are eye-opening and often disturbing in the best sense of the word."
Wolf Lepenies, Rector Emeritus, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
 
"From a considered examination of the proposition that it was the Afghans who brought down the Berlin Wall to a scintillating essay on gender in language, What is Possible Now is a dazzling, provocative and thoroughly engaging survey of our times that is nothing less than essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where we are now and what is still possible."
John Burnside, University of St Andrews

Product details

• Authors: Navid Kermani, Kermani Navid
• Assisted by: Tony Crawford (Translation), Crawford Tony (Translation)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 02.11.2023
• EAN: 9781509557646
• ISBN: 978-1-5095-5764-6
• No. of pages: 262
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Weltpolitik, Politikwissenschaft, Politik, Journalismus, Political Science, Journalism, Middle Eastern Politics, Communication & Media Studies, Kommunikation u. Medienforschung, Global politics, Politik / Mittlerer Osten