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 nonfiction, Kermani has also written for newspapers and magazines ever since he started working at the local desk of a newspaper at the age of 15.  Reporting from war zones and crisis hot spots, he 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 crisis in Europe and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a record of Kermani’s uniquely compassionate curiosity, this absorbing book is an antidote to the spectre of confusion and despair that stalks global politics today.

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.

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