Mesut Özil’s departure from the national football team continues to shake up the German political scene. Özil had quit the team after a row over a picture taken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In an open letter to German media, sponsors, and the football association, Özil cited racism and disrespect as the main reasons…
Several weeks after his controversial photo shoot with Turkish President Erdoğan, Germany international football player Mesut Özil has broken his silence. In the aftermath of an early exit from the World Cup, it had above all been Özil who had been blamed for the team’s poor performance. The racially charged recriminations against Özil mostly focused…
Austria has long been among the fore-runners of the right-wing populist wave in Europe. Since late 2017, the country has been ruled by a government bringing together the traditional conservatives of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). Led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, this coalition heralds the final arrival of the…
“Liberté, egalité, Mbappé!” After France’s World Cup victory, the French slogan was rewritten to celebrate a winning goal by a 19-year-old player from the Paris suburbs who is donating his World Cup fee to charity because, he says, it is such an honor to play for his national team. As Myriam Francois wrote, “Sunday was an important…
The renowned evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist, Richard Dawkins, has sparked controversy after tweeting ‘Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding “Allahu Akhbar.” Or is that just my cultural upbringing?”
