In an initiative to attract more German native speakers, next year Gustav-Falke Elementary school will offer a special class in which at least half of the students must be native speakers of German and the other students must have excellent language skills. This special class will also benefit from a small class size, English lessons starting in the first grade and an extra science lesson. Currently, 90% of the school’s students have a migrant background which has caused fears among native German speaking parents, who worried their children would not receive a high quality of education there. While several German parents have taken advantage of the school’s new program, the Association for Turkish Parents warns this measure will divide the students in the school; creating an elite class.
Taz.de: Migranten müssen draußen bleiben
November 6th, 2009
Neue Entwicklung im Fall Marwa S., der Angeklagte gesteht:
Spiegel Online: Angeklagter im Marwa-Prozess gesteht
November 4th, 2009
Migazin online: 38 Prozent der Ausländer sind atypisch beschäftigt
October 29, 2009
As of October 2009, job security in Lower Saxony has drastically decreased. Increasingly, workers are forced to search for precarious positions in limited work, part-time jobs, menial jobs, or replacement jobs. Particular patterns have developed with the largest percentage of those in precarious employment represented by non-European Union immigrants. Whereas twenty-five percent of Germans and immigrants from other EU countries are in precarious or insecure jobs, thirty-eight percent of non-EU immigrants are in precarious employment in Lower Saxony. Additionally, non-EU immigrants earn approximately one third less in hourly wages than other workers.
November 3rd, 2009
Zeit Online: Religionsfreiheit siegt über neutralen Staat
October 29, 2009
A recent decision in the Berlin-Wedding school district will allow a sixteen-year-old Muslim student to pray while at school. At the end of April 2009 a referendum was held to vote on Initiative Pro Reli, which would have mandated religion as a part of the Berlin regional curriculum. The initiative was rejected, however, thus maintaining a separation of religion and education. Now debates flair as critics deem this verdict a violation of religious neutrality in schools. Proponents for the freedom of practice argue that every person has a guaranteed right to practice his or her religion, as long as this practice does not interfere with others; hence the student does have the right to practice his religion while at school.
November 3rd, 2009
Artikelsammlung zu Marwa S. und Info über den Prozessbeginn
Spiegel Online: Der Fall Marwa
October 26th, 2009
Spiegel Online: Egyptian Official Calls Museum Behavior ‘Suspicious’
October 20, 2009
Spiegel Online: Nefertiti Gets a New Palace: Revamped Neues Museum Finally Opens in Berlin
New York Times online: When Ancient Artifacts Become Political Pawns
October 16, 2009
Amidst the highly anticipated reopening of Berlin’s Neues Museum, Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, has renewed claims that the Museum’s prized Nefertiti bust was smuggled illegally out of Egypt. After seventy years, the reopening of the Neues Museum symbolizes for some, as Hermann Parzinger, head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and overseer of Berlin’s museums, describes, “the end of the postwar era for the Museum Island. ” Now, during the time of celebration officials must confront this accusation and either validate the authenticity of German rights to the bust or return Nefertiti to Egypt.
October 20th, 2009
Internet Artists Mathias Jud and Christoph Wachter
Thursday, November 19, 4 pm
UC Berkeley, 142 Dwinelle Hall
Moderator: Deniz Göktürk (German and Film Studies)
Focusing on walls on a global scale, internet artists Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud will talk about their various projects such as picidae, Zone*Interdite, and New Nations – focusing on sites ranging from “the valley of the clueless” in Dresden/East Germany to Guantanamo and Chinese internet cafés. They will explicate their approach to internet art as a means of demonstrating the many ways in which the world wide web is regulated by institutional barriers and national laws. This filtered perception of the world is exposed in new modes of interactive installation and exhibition. The discussion will focus on questions of participatory spectatorship.
There will also be a WORKSHOP with both artists on
Friday, November 20, 10-12 am
at BCNM Commons, 340 Moffitt Library
Web page: http://www.wachter-jud.net/work
Press responses:
http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-24589.html
http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/medien/das_bild_als_tarnkappe_1.548485.html
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/picidae102.html
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204619004574318373312061230-lMyQjAxMDA5MDIwOTEyNDkyWj.html
October 18th, 2009