Slate: Traveling America in Search of Community

In an age of increasing social media–driven isolation, what does community look like in America?

That’s the question photographer Alec Soth and writer Brad Zellar set out to answer when they started roaming the country in 2012. Over the next two years, the pair traveled together for weeks at a time, showing up at dances, festivals, and other intimate gatherings to look for signs of social life. In Soth’s exhibition and book, Songbook, which was published by Mack in December, he shows what they discovered—a mix of nostalgia and strangeness that feels distinctly American. [...]

The pair began their journey near Minneapolis, where Soth lives, and traveled all across the country, from upstate New York to Silicon Valley to Colorado. Inspired by the approach of Sherwood Anderson’s protagonist in the classic short story cycle Winesburg, Ohio, everywhere they went, they introduced themselves as reporters from a made-up local newspaper called the LBM Dispatch, which, eventually, they ended up publishing for seven issues. While the Dispatch has the look of an actual newspaper, Soth’s distinct photography collection, Songbook, strips away that documentary material for a more lyrical approach. 

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Quartz: A radical fringe group refuses to admit the German Reich is over, and it’s getting violent

In Germany, the Reichsbürger movement, which translates as “citizens of the Reich” or “imperial citizens,” has been around since the 1980s, in some shape or form. Until recently, members of this fragmented, leaderless group were dismissed as a collection of unsavory but obscure losers. Among other things, many of them believe Germany is an American colony run by Jews, and that the upstart right-wing political party Alternative for Germany was in fact set up by chancellor Angela Merkel (herself is a “Jewish Freemason”). Holocaust denial, anti-immigrant feelings, and neo-Nazi leanings are prevalent. [...]

This month, Germany’s head of domestic intelligence, Hans-Georg Maassen, said the “Reichsbürger scene” now numbered around 10,000, mostly middle-aged white males. Between 500 and 600 of those were known right-wing extremists, many of whom have gun licenses. Maassen said the community was becoming increasingly radicalized, mainly via social media, and showing “a considerable willingness to employ violence.”

Police have carried out a number of raids on members of the Reichsbürger movement in the past year. Recently they launched coordinated searches in North Rhine-Westphalia, confiscating guns and ammunition and arresting two. Peter Fitzek, a Reichsburger and and self-declared “King of Germany,” was just jailed for three years for setting up an illegal bank and embezzling €1.3 million ($1.4 million) from the 600 people who gave him their money.

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Foreign Policy: Is Turkey Still a Democracy?

The spat with Germany and the Netherlands is just one example. On a range of issues — from the state of Turkey’s democracy to the Turkish role in Syria to Turkey’s extradition request for the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of planning last summer’s coup attempt — Western countries have refused to adopt Ankara’s views.

Ankara is partially responsible for its own alienation. Consider last week’s trip to Turkey organized for more than a dozen American journalists from outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal by Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek. The event was billed as a chance to meet with the country’s top officials, including President Erdogan, to hear their narrative of the coup attempt and why the United States should extradite Gulen.

The meetings, however, failed to materialize, and reporters were treated to a four-hour meeting with Gokcek himself. The majority of reporters left the meeting in protest. During the talk, Gokcek failed to present a single piece of evidence implicating Gulen in the coup and instead laid out his own conspiratorial worldview. [...]

Government officials, however, contend that the package would actually enhance the separation of powers in Turkey by dividing parliament’s existing powers with the office of the presidency. Parliament would maintain the power to approve the president’s budget, ratify international treaties and declarations of war, and overrule a presidential decree through legislation.

The legal merits of the constitutional changes aside, government officials also portray a “yes” vote as a victory against their domestic opponents — most prominently, the supporters of Gulen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the state.

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Politico: Le Pen’s Dutch bummer

The Dutch were in a tetchily Euroskeptic mood in the days after Britain’s Brexit vote, with nearly half saying they wanted out of the EU. But the anti-Brussels mood has since cooled. A poll by TNS Nipo for Deutsche bank in February showed a whopping 79 percent of Dutch voters did not agree the Netherlands would be better off outside the EU. [...]

Le Pen should take note. The Dutch vote marks the second time in a year that a Euroskeptic candidate came up short on polling day. Last December, far-right candidate Norbert Hofer lost Austria’s presidential run-off. His supporters blamed arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage for suggesting that Austria would hold a referendum on leaving the EU if Hofer won.

Given that polls in France show a rising majority in favor of EU membership, and an even higher share in favor of staying in the euro, Le Pen is trying to tone down her own Frexit proposal. Yet she, too, is branded with the Euroskeptic seal, and her efforts to change tack with a plan that would somehow combine a revived franc with a single European currency have left voters confused. [...]

While voters rate the National Front president very highly on metrics such as “sincerity,” “desire to change” or ability to “understand them,” nearly two thirds of voters said that she was “worrying,” according to an Elabe poll conducted in February. The scandal-tainted Fillon also rated highly on the worry-meter, while Macron registered lower at 41 percent, according to the poll.

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Politico: 3 takeaways from the Schulz coronation

On Sunday, at an extraordinary conference of the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin, Schulz was formally made party chief and named the SPD candidate in the coming election, winning 100 percent of the vote. [...]

The goodwill among the party faithful follows a wave of good news that is known as the “Schulz effect” among Social Democrats in the German capital: Less than eight weeks after it was announced that Schulz rather than Gabriel would challenge Merkel, the SPD have gained more than 10 percent in polls, coming within striking distance of the chancellorship. [...]

Schulz offered a glimpse of how he wants to present himself as a candidate: Pro-EU, taking a clear stand against nationalism and populism, and showing respect for his political opponents. In short: to campaign as the anti-Trump. [...]

Schulz is a more emotive speaker than Merkel and often brings up his own back story to connect with voters. On Sunday, he spoke at length about his upbringing as “the fifth child of simple and very decent people.” He spoke about overcoming an alcohol problem — and how the party saved him. “I had lost my direction in life and my life was about to go off course. But then, I got a second chance … thanks to the [SPD youth organization] Jusos in my hometown.”

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