Politics

Fifty years ago, an article by Heinrich Böll entitled "A Plea for Meddling" appeared in the New York Times. In it, Böll pleaded to intervene in all countries of the world when it comes to helping political prisoners and obtaining their release.

Imme Scholz and Jan Philipp Albrecht have formed the new board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation since the early summer of 2022. In their joint conversation, they discuss the role of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in times of green government participation, war and climate crisis. And about Heinrich Böll.

The veiling experiences of two LGBTI+ women in Turkey open questions about the discursive constructions of femininity, masculinity, piousness, LGBTI+ secularity, and how these are used in political rhetoric.

On 25 October, one year on from the mass demonstrations in the country, the Chilean electorate voted by an overwhelming majority of more than 78 percent in favour of a new constitution and of 79 percent for an assembly comprised solely of citizens to write this constitution.

Questions of environmental and climate policy remain relevant even during a pandemic, as the protests and debates about the stimulus package to fight the crisis show.  The German states have taken on a deciding roll regarding questions of implementation – which started already during the negotiations for the climate package. The Greens contributed the most to the climate package's increased substance. 

Viktor Orbán has been successfully playing a big power game in the last decade, punching far above his weight. But his image as a negative hero in the Western World has clearly backfired now, with Orbán using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to complete his authoritarian regime. Orbán’s moves are not purely the domestic political problems of Hungary – an authoritarian state within the EU could be deadly dangerous for the entire project. Germany has a very important role to play in the current situation.