#rpTEN Speaker Carolin Emcke: Write Where It Hurts
Journalist Caroline Emcke pushes boundaries. Reporting from war torn countries and crisis regions, she investigates how violence affects people and discusses underlying philosophical problems, through essays and commentaries.
Complicated and divisive topics are central to Carolin Emcke's writing. She has reported from civil wars, refugee camps and hospitals housing civilian casualties from so-called surgical strikes. She also sheds light on issues ranging from debates about Islam in Germany to same-sex rights, discussed by the German Parliament. Many of her topics can be complex and confusing.
Furthermore, the media is increasingly accused of no longer wanting to convey the so-called “simple truth”. Instead, they are brandished as the “lying press”. Why is objective reporting so often unsuccessful and why do so many journalists and reporters tend towards subjective perspectives? Emcke offers a unique views on these issues.
Armed with a PhD in philosophy, she provides powerful, contemporary analysis on globalisation, theories of violence, testimony, photography and cultural identity. Today's extremely complicated and nuanced issues require precision to counter the obtuse and the coarse. Emcke once wrote: “I want writing to be an effort. I want it to be hard work. In long-term observations, I like how points of view can change and how learning can become part of the story.” History is the same as the present, in that we can't choose it. It has chosen us. Much of her writing deals with this involuntary nature, as well as epistemic, emotional or ideological barriers to sensitivity and empathy. Her recent publications reflect on Germany's Red Army Faction (2008), human freedoms and desires (2012) and testimony and justice (2013).
What text, image and film formats are capable of imparting extreme experiences? “Writing needs to be tender enough to resist oversimplification”, says Emcke.
Historian Valentin Groebner, with whom Carolin Emcke curated the Berlin Haus der Kulturen der Welt exhibition “Narrating War”, lauded the journalist: Reporting has to be about immediacy, not “purity”. We are moved by events, sucked into them, contaminated by our emotions and lose our objectivity. Sometimes we even lose our composure.
The printed weekly edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung does not facilitate direct discussion and often her weekly column takes a good week to settle in. So instead, the theatre series “Streitraum” creates a space for more immediate discussion of controversial topics. The monthly event is organised by Emcke in Berlin's Schaubühne theatre and invites scientists, authors, artists, politicians and others to engage with the public.
We hope that #rpTEN will also provide space for exciting discussions to take place. Clearly, there's enough to talk about. In the mean time, Carolin Emcke gave us an initial retrospective and thoughts about the future:
2015 was, in many ways, an exciting year. As we approach its end, what is your “journalistic” conclusion about 2015?
“Excitement” is perhaps more positive than what I felt about this year. The political radicalisation and the increasingly aggressive dissolving of boundaries in the public sphere (be it through the AfD, Pediga or violent groups, who fuel hate again refugees and dissenters) were, for me, the dominant experiences of 2015.
How will things go in 2016? What developments and/or changes should we see next year?
It will be key to contain the political and military escalations following the attacks on Paris. The mistakes following the “War on Terror”, after the 9/11 attacks, should not be repeated in 2016. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are examples of how the “War on Terror” inflames, rather than diminishes, terrorism in the long-term.
Photo credit: Carolin Emcke