*** Diversité et culture - Diversity and Culture. CulturesFrance (La Documentation française, 124 rue Henri Barbusse, F- 93308 Aubervilliers cedex. Fax: (33-1) 40156800). Book also available at http://www.culturesfrance.com ). "Penser l'Europe" series. 2007, 188 pp. ISBN 978-2-35476-012-0.
What a good idea of CulturesFrance's to publish this new series under the editorial responsibility of the French Foreign and European Ministry's 'Centre d'analyse et de prevision'! Firstly, because each title in the series is published in a bilingual English and French edition. Secondly, because it was created with a view to further debate on ideas about Europe by looking at issues such as European identity, the integration process and contemporary political and cultural challenges. Thirdly and finally, through the clear high quality of the European experts brought together in this issue and, even more so, by the immense interest and utility of the ideas developed from and around the challenges of diverse expression of culture and languages, an issue which no European aware of the bad feelings around Europe and its member states that can be discerned these days could fail to be interested in.
In truth, this publication is far too meaty to be described in anything approaching an accurate and fair likeness. The following lines should therefore be considered as no more than impressionistic strokes which can never do justice to the book. Semiotic expert, linguist, psychoanalyst and author Julia Kristeva opens the waltz with a hymn to diversity with delicate and elegant sparkles of wit. Professor at the 'Institut Universitaire de France' and lecturer at Paris 7 University, this writer of Bulgarian origin starts from the principle that multilingualism is the foundation of cultural diversity. She launched a heartfelt cry that 'there is an element of matricide in the abandonment of a native tongue'. A new human species is emerging, in her eyes, the 'polyphonic person', the multilingual citizen of a multinational Europe, but she also hears the word 'France' in the French world for suffering', namely 'souffrance'. This leads her to gently chastise those French people who, because they prefer pleasure to reality, continue to believe themselves to the masters of the world or a great power at least. All the same, through examples of diversity that are the French social model and the model of French secularism, Julia Kristeva believes that France 'is, after all, the primary upholder of a model of liberty bred in Europe and needed by the world'. Why? Impossible to resist the pleasurable temptation of quoting the psychoanalyst's verdict: "The French personify both the discontent of the underclass (that of Robespierre and Hugo) and the brazenness of a nation which takes pleasure (from Rabelais to Colette). Is this a hindrance? Within the European area, it can be an opportunity, so as not to die celebrating the end of history with market deals"… Krzsztof Pomian reassures her a few pages later, after providing an erudite decryption of European diversity over the ages which brilliantly demonstrates that European is synonymous with diversity and will remain so. This scientific director of the European museum in Brussels believes that the mechanisms that guarantee the reproduction of cultural differences exist both in history and in the environment, in genetics and in the culture of the European peninsula, which leads him to proclaim loud and clear that 'the vision of the uniform grey future is a powerful literary conceit but it is intellectually unwarranted'. Professor at Cambridge University, philosopher and essayist George Steiner cannot stand American monoglottism but points out, in a devastating manner, that 'the other languages, which are fighting for their lives, are not doing a good job of defending themselves,' apart perhaps from Spanish. He considers diversity on the global stage. He explains that the world has entered the age of the immigrant, the refugee and the homeless and again entrusts us to the worst, saying that 'when you look at the night sky, you see that he stars are turning yellow like the stars the Jews had to wear during the Second World War'. George Steiner says that 'young people must be given the opportunity to be mistaken,' and 'if education cannot instil creative energy in young people, what is its purpose? If they cannot be taught that all that is left for them is Wall Street and the City' of London. Statements that are polls apart from the politically correct notions in favour in the circles of power, but the philosopher expands further, going as far as arguing, like a modern day oracle, that 'there are probably lessons that Europe can still teach, spiritual lessons, lessons in irony and tolerance. Europe can perhaps become a sort of laboratory of humanism, a private and personal humanism, in an attempt to save what we can of the landscapes of the past. In a world beset by murderous fundamentalism - that of the American South and Middle West and that of Islam - Western Europe can have the privilege of promoting secular humanism'.
Saving the best until last, the author of these lines decided to devote most the collection to the cosmopolitan vision of Europe supported by Ulrich Beck, professor at the Sociology Institute in Munich, based on the observation that it is 'national irrealism' that is Europe's problem. The interest and utility of the other contributions prevent him from doing so, due to lack of space... I would simply add that this erudite and enthusiastic immersion in a concept which has inherited the Cynics and Stoics of Antiquity will enrich you with equally as much intellectual nourishment as I have described for the previous contributions. How better to convince you of this than this counterpoint to George Steiner's incantation: "Europe is a mass grave upon which the new Europe made an oath… In its elevation of pessimism too permanent despair, postmodernity joins hands with nationalistic Europe. Both demy the possibility of struggling against the horror of European history by radicalising the idea of Europe"…
Michel Theys
*** FRANCOIS FORET (Ed.): L'espace public européen à l'épreuve du religieux. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, CP 163, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - Fax: 6503794 - e-mail: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http: //www-editions-universite-bruxelles.be). "Etudes européennes" series. 2007, 259 pp, €24. ISBN 978-2-8004-1393-8.
In this book following on from an academic conference, which is the temporary result of intellectual and personal paths undertaken by France, Scotland and Belgium between identity and public arenas, between the world of faith and the domain of free-thinking, between the sacred and the profane, between the West and East of the EU, an international team of experts systematically analyses the process of re-formation of relations among religions and policy that is currently underway. This collection of essays is based around three big issues - what is the modern public arena and how can religion incorporate itself into it; what religion does to Europe; and what Europe does to religion. François Foret, researcher at the 'Institut d'études européennes' of the 'Université libre de Bruxelles', explains that the focus is placed on European integration as the backdrop and possible determinant of spiritual evolution of a section of the continent which is politically atheist in the sense that that political decisions are taken as if God id not exist, but where, all the same, religious references remain present in other ways. The first part of the book looks at Europe between secularisation and re-conversion of religious resources, with sociologist Jean-Paul Willaime (of the Sorbonne) making an in-depth analysis of the ultramodern re-configuration of religious matters in Europe, and his colleague Claude Dargent (of Paris VIII University) shows that in the geographical continent of Europe, the role of religion is subordinate to the role of regional culture. The second part considers convergence and contrasts in historical religious Europes (French secularism being tested by Catholicism and by Europe; Catholicism compared with the public arenas and democracy in Spain and Italy; Protestantism in Europe; Jews in Medieval Europe; and the Romanian Orthodox Church faced with the decriminalisation of homosexuality. The third part of the book is entitled 'God in Brussels'. In it, Bérengère Massignon (of the 'Institut catholique de Paris') describes the contribution of European religious and secular structures to the emergency of a public European arena, while François Foret and Philip Schlesinger (of Glasgow University) conclude by looking at religion in the legitimisation of the European Union.
(PBo)
*** STEPHAN ALBRECHT, REINER BRAUN, THOMAS HELD (Eds.): Einstein weiterdenken - Thinking Beyond Einstein. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). 2006, 516 pp, €36-40. ISBN 3-631-55228-9.
This impressive volume contains the proceedings, in English or German, of a conference in Belrin in 2005 where more than 600 leading scientists and politicians met to discuss Einstein a hundred years after the publication of his theory of relativity and the fiftieth anniversary of his death, under the title 'Scientific Responsibility and Peace in the Twenty-First Century'. The conference also paid tribute to Joseph Rotblat, a great thinker of Polish origin, who was one of the eleven signatories of the "Einstein-Russell" manifesto and was the only scientist to withdraw from the Manhattan Project that led to the production of the atom bomb in the USA. Founder in 1957 of the "Pugwash" movement of scientists working for peace, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Rotblat died at the moment when it was suggested that tribute should be paid to Einstein at this conference in Berlin. The volume opens with the speech Rotblat prepared under the title 'A world without war - Tribute to Einstein's action for global peace".
As Prof. Wolfgang Liebert recognises in the description of the conference, it is not possible to resume the full diversity of the nine forums that were held with a total of more than 30 contributions. But he stresses the importance of thinking beyond Einstein because the scientific world and its role in science and politics on the planet have changed from what they were in Einstein's day. Technoscience dominates the contemporary world and globalisation gives new responsibilities to the people who have to think up the future. This book helps develop such a vision and is warmly recommended to anyone asking themselves questions about this domain. Like Prof. Liebert, who writes at the end of the introduction that we will not find the meaning of our action in the world in the theorems and potentialities of science or in the laws of the market We must look at ourselves in a radically different way. We can certainly admit that we desire peace, justice and a decent life for all. Easy to say, but more difficult to turn into reality in practical life. Maybe the role of our science is only marginal in this aim but calling on the knowledge and corresponding possibilities of our science could be a preliminary vision of this future, he adds. In this connection, thinking beyond Einstein might be the first step towards an awareness of humanity extending beyond ourselves.
(GFr)
*** CAROLINE NAÔMÉ: Le renvoi préjudiciel en droit européen. Guide pratique. De Boeck & Larcier (4 Fond Jean-Pâques, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. Tel: (32-10) 482500 - Fax: 482519 - E-mail: commande@deboeckservices.com - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). "JLMB opus", No. 4. 2007, 299 pp, €63. ISBN 978-2-8044-2709-2.
Cornerstone of the EU legal order, explains Caroline Naômé, at the start of this book, speaking about the reference for a preliminary ruling, in other words the request for interpretation or validation of a measure under EU law that is sent by a member state court to the European Court of Justice. This is both a complicated and a delicate procedure. This book draws on a course for Belgian legal practitioners and legal trainees and has been designed as a practical guide for people who have to enter such proceedings, both lawyers and judges. In order to ensure the cart is not set before the horse, the author, who is a clerk at the Court of Justice, starts by explaining how the European Court of Justice is organised and how it operates, sticking to areas of utility to practitioners. The following chapters explains points which should be understood in terms of legal foundations and legal procedures, all backed up with examples of cases taken to the Court (both cases which were ruled upon and those which were rejected). As is often the case for this type of book, each paragraph is numbered for ease of reference.
(FRo)
*** The Federalist Debate. Papers for Federalists in Europe and the World. Einstein Center for International Studies (26 via Schina, I-10144 Turin. Tel/Fax: (+39-011) 4732843 - E-mail: federalist.debate@libero.it - Internet: http://www.federalist.debate.org ). 2007, No. 3, 64 pp. Annual subscription: €15.
The contents of this issue of The Federalist Debate is particularly rich, including a dossier on Spinelli's constitutional approach which prints a speech that Spinelli himself made to the European Parliament three months before his death, essays by John Pinder, Paolo Ponzano (re-situating the 1984 draft treaty) and Chris Layton (on Spinelli with regard to global federalism). Other articles include one by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa on "Economy and Politics" and another by Bruno Boissière who answers yes to the question of whether Denis de Rougemont's federalism is still contemporary.
(MT)
*** The Federalist. A Political Review. Edif (5 via A. Volta, I-27100 Pavia. Internet: http://www.thefederalist.eu ). 2007, No. 2, 76 pp. Annual subscription: €35 (Europe), €50 (elsewhere).
Published under the auspices of the Luciano Bolis European Foundation and the Mario and Valeria Albertini Foundation, this publication close to the Movimento Federalista Europeo so dear to Altiero Spinelli's heart is not exactly bathing in optimism, explaining in the editorial that: "It cannot be denied that the euro is a major triumph for the Europeans, but on its own it is not enough to avert the threat of disintegration which hangs so heavily over today's increasingly divided and important European Union". Far from resigning themselves to this, the editors recall, to relight the flame, the heritage left behind by the European activist, and founder of this revue, Mario Albertini. This issue includes an essay by Mario Albertini illustrating the historical and cultural roots of European federalism.
(MT)