Radio-Nice Club

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  • René Schickele – Zwischen Schwarzwald und Côte d’Azur

    René Schickele – Zwischen Schwarzwald und Côte d’Azur
    Ein Literat im Exil und seine Begegnungen mit der europäischen Bohème

    René Schickele, deutsch-französischer Schriftsteller, Publizist und überzeugter Europäer, verbrachte die letzten Jahre seines Lebens zwischen drei sehr unterschiedlichen, aber für ihn prägenden Orten: dem Kurort Badenweiler im Schwarzwald, dem pittoresken Sanary-sur-Mer in Südfrankreich und der Hafenstadt Nizza.

    Nach der Machtergreifung der Nationalsozialisten 1933 musste Schickele Deutschland verlassen. Badenweiler, wo er in den 1920er-Jahren zeitweise gelebt hatte und im Austausch mit anderen Intellektuellen stand, wurde für ihn zu einem Ort der Erinnerung – ein Rückzugsort, an den er später nur noch gedanklich zurückkehren konnte.

    Das eigentliche Zentrum seines Exils wurde jedoch Sanary-sur-Mer, ein kleines Fischerdorf in der Provence, das in den 1930er-Jahren zu einem Sammelpunkt deutschsprachiger Exilanten und europäischer Künstler wurde. Hier traf Schickele auf eine illustre Gesellschaft: Schriftsteller wie Thomas Mann, Lion Feuchtwanger und Franz Werfel suchten ebenso Schutz vor dem politischen Klima wie Künstlerinnen und Künstler der bildenden Kunst. Auch Erwin Piscator, der Theaterreformer, und Alma Mahler-Werfel gehörten zum Kreis. In den Cafés und an den Uferpromenaden Sanarys wurden politische Fragen ebenso intensiv diskutiert wie literarische Projekte – ein geistiger Freiraum, den die Exilierten dringend brauchten.

    Für Schickele war Sanary nicht nur ein Ort der Zuflucht, sondern auch ein Treffpunkt für den europäischen Dialog. In Gesprächen mit Feuchtwanger oder den Manns vertiefte er seine Vorstellung eines übernationalen, humanistischen Europas – ein Leitgedanke, der sich wie ein roter Faden durch sein Werk zog.

    Später zog es ihn weiter nach Nizza, wo er die milden Winter an der Côte d’Azur verbrachte. Hier verschlechterte sich jedoch sein Gesundheitszustand, und die politische Lage in Europa ließ ihm keine Ruhe. Trotz der bedrückenden Umstände arbeitete er weiter an Essays und Artikeln, in denen er vor den Gefahren des Nationalismus warnte.

    René Schickele starb 1940 in Vence bei Nizza. Sein Lebensweg zwischen Badenweiler, Sanary-sur-Mer und Nizza spiegelt nicht nur das Schicksal vieler europäischer Intellektueller im Exil wider, sondern steht auch für den Versuch, in Zeiten der Zerstörung eine geistige Heimat zu bewahren.

  • Against the worship of warmongering

    He grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where his family still lives today. But since returning from the war, he has been moving back and forth between Washington and the South. In 2011—seven years after returning from Iraq—he finally settled in Savannah because he was afraid that there were too many Arabs on the streets in Washington or Northern Virginia. He sensed them everywhere, felt constantly surrounded by them. His past as a notorious expert in body searches and interrogations in American prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq fuels his fear that he is now threatened with retaliation from every corner.

    His time as an interrogator, first at Bagram prison in Afghanistan and later, even more painfully, at Abu Ghraib—the most hellish place Damien Corsetti ever saw on earth—killed something inside him. “Abu Ghraib: If there ever was a bad place, it was that one. It was just death, fucking death. That place changed everyone who was there. Something cancerous was growing there.”

    Excerpt from “War at Any Cost” by James Risen.

    War at any cost, about greed, abuse of power, and the billion-dollar business of fighting terrorism.

  • Neutrality Studies

    A contribution by Nel Bonilla.

    If you’ve arrived here via my recent interview on Neutrality Studies with Pascal Lottaz—thank you. I’m deeply grateful for your interest in these issues, which, unfortunately, grow more urgent by the day.

    A few words about me and what to expect from Worldlines:

    My training in human geography, migration studies, and sociology informs my analysis of how systems, not just individuals (although individuals are part of this, too, but mostly as part of larger groups), shape global power constellations. I study elite networks, structural and organized violence, and the hidden machinery of geopolitics, sometimes with a focus on how institutions engineer loyalty and conflict.

    At Worldlines, I examine the largely invisible architecture of contemporary geopolitics, the circuitry beneath it, through, for example:

    🔹 Elite Strategy: The institutions, foundations, and revolving-door careers that convert private capital into public policy.

    🔹 How Conflict Gets Designed: Why terms like ‘strategic ambiguity’ and ‘multi-domain warfare’ are descriptive words of blueprints for endless escalation and certainly not about resolving conflicts.

    🔹 Structural Continuities: The persistent hegemonic logic linking Cold War containment to today’s “great power competition” with all its human and political consequences.

    My aim is not to follow headlines, but to understand the long-term processes that drive them. Occasionally, I’ll respond to specific news events, but always through a structural lens.

    Suggested Entry Points
    Here are a few pieces to begin with, depending on your interests:

    Forthcoming
    I’m currently developing a new long-form piece under the working title:
    “Weaponizing Time & Uncertainty”
    It examines how strategic ambiguity is employed to prolong instability, suggesting that global permanent tension is the intended outcome. Of course, this will be explained and laid out in much more detail.

    A note on rhythm and timing
    I’m in the final phase of my PhD dissertation, so major essays appear around every three weeks for now. Once the thesis is submitted, I’ll publish more frequently and include Q&As, research tips, and behind-the-scenes posts. These are historic times, and I believe they warrant a careful and critical record.

    In any case, I’m especially eager to hear from you, dear readers, how does this analysis resonate with your context (wherever you are in the world)? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    https://substack.com/home/post/p-168426706

  • Historical professional coats of arms

    Professional coats of arms, motifs available at https://exlibris-insel.de/en

    Coat of arms and professions

  • Moving Gelatine Plates: The World of Genius Hans

    world_of_genius_hans

    The World of Genius Hans is the second studio album by French band Moving Gelatine Plates, founded in 1968 by guitarist Gérard Bertram and bassist Didier Thibault.

    The World of Genius Hans has one of the most striking covers in rock history. The cover features a pig (or is it a cow?) dressed in a pilot’s jacket, smoking a cigar, with parsley in its nostrils and ears. The unusual cover aptly reflects the intriguing nature of this album.

    The World of Genius Hans’s jazzy avant-garde sound is somewhat reminiscent of early Soft Machine, Supersister and Frank Zappa, but the end result is entirely unique. The music of The World of Genius Hans is quite complex in places, but it is made accessible by a certain humour and warmth typical of the Canterbury scene, yet difficult to describe.

    The best track on the album is the 14-minute title track, which features excellent thematic development and even hints of symphonic prog at times. However, the band remembers to add irregularly regular twists and turns and silliness to the mix, so that it doesn’t get confused with, say, Yes or Genesis.

    The weakness of the album is bassist Didier Thibault’s vocals, which are not particularly impressive. Thibault’s voice is high-pitched and thin. Fortunately, the vocals play a relatively minor role on the album, and a pleasing variety of wind instruments, such as the bassoon, trombone and saxophones, are given more space.

    The World of Genius is not a complete success, but it is highly recommended for listeners who are interested in a slightly more avant-garde take on Canterbury prog.

    Best tracks: ”The World of Genius Hans”

  • Gentle Giant: Three Friends

    gentle giant - three friends

    Three Friends is Gentle Giant’s third album and the band’s first concept album. The theme of the album is three school friends whogrew up and went into different career paths. One became a businessman, another a labourer and the third an artist. The concept is loose, but it does provide some kind of framework for songs that work perfectly on their own.

    Musically, Three Friends is not quite as eclectic and experimental as its predecessor, Acquiring The Taste. On average, the album is a little more rock-oriented and less ambiguous. The arrangements are more straightforward and less rich in instrumentation than before. Of course, even the music on Three Friends is miles away from average rock in terms of complexity.

    With the exception of the drummer, the band’s line-up remained the same as before. New drummer Malcolm Mortimore does a decent job on the album, but he is nowhere near as interesting and creative a player as his predecessor Martin Smith. Smith was apparently let go mainly because he didn’t get along with the band’s unofficial leader, Phil Shulman (saxophones, vocals). Mortimer’s time with the band was short-lived, as he was injured in a motorcycle accident shortly after the completion of Three Friends. Smith was not permanently disabled, but due to touring commitments, GG hired John Weathers to fill in. Things worked out so well with him that Weathers was soon made a permanent member of the band. This was unfortunate for Mortimer, but good news for the band and their fans, as Weathers turned out to be the perfect drummer for Gentle Giant. Mortimer returned to Gentle Giant’s music in the 2000s, playing in a spin-off band called Three Friends, which also featured Gary Green and Kerry Minnear at times.

    The highlight of Three Friends is the powerful, mostly instrumental opening track ‘Prologue’, which introduces the themes of the later songs, and the lighter ‘Schooldays’, which effectively utilises the band’s trademark polyphonic vocals. The versatile ‘Mister Class And Quality?’ is also a great song for the most part, but it is slightly marred by drummer Mortimer’s occasionally tedious drumming.

    The weakest track is ‘Peel The Paint’, where Derek Shulmann’s ‘hard rock vocals’ are a little uncomfortable to listen to, and Gary Green’s electric guitar riffs in the instrumental section and the uninspiring middle section don’t really get you going.

    Unlike the two previous albums, which were produced by Tony Visconti, Gentle Giant did the job themselves with Three Friends. Not necessarily a smart move, as the album sounds somewhat muddier and duller than its predecessor, Acquiring The Taste.

    The cover art is also a bit of a mess, with Rick Breach’s original painting of three vaguely scribbled figures crouching around a seagull being rather creepy. In the United States and Canada, the album was released with a slightly modified version of the debut album cover. A strange decision, to say the least.

    Three Friends is a worthy album, but a slight disappointment after the magnificent Acquiring The Taste. However, Three Friends was slightly more successful than its predecessors and even made it onto the US album charts for the first time. Admittedly, it only reached a modest 197th place.

    Three Friends was the last album featuring Phil, the eldest of the Shulman brothers. Phil Shulman had been something of a leader in the band, but his career came to an end due to an embarrassing incident involving a groupie. In a band like Gentle Giant, such behaviour was frowned upon for a family man, and Phil Shulman left the band to save his marriage.