Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 1 2026

Now there are only three days left of the old year, and this week a new year begins. It is time to look back a little, also in an attempt to understand why so many things are currently moving in directions that are initially confusing. To do this, I need more lines than our readers are normally expected to read – but perhaps this time of reduced news is also a time when people have more time to read. I would like to talk about two apparent antipodes – one, Ernst Bloch (1885-1977), a Marxist philosopher whose explanation of fascism as a phenomenon of asynchrony was taught to me at school, and the other, Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), who, knowing this, asked me after my election as president of the student council whether everything had been correct in the election and only congratulated me when I said yes.

Today, we perceive the world and our immediate surroundings as something very complex, fragmented to the point of division and unforgiving in the debate over an issue that is no longer about the best argument and a common perspective, but about power, which is expressed either through media dominance or through algorithm-controlled emotional amplification. Some try to penetrate the emotional layers of others through reason and rationality in order to take them on a shared journey. And that is precisely the crux of the matter when one considers what Bloch meant by asynchrony: in short, not all people live in the same time at the same time. In the Weimar Republic, highly industrialised, modern ways of life coexisted in society alongside pre-modern, traditional and authoritarian ways of thinking. Objectively living in the modern age, but emotionally with a set of values that does not want to be carried over into the new era. Applied to today, this means that we live with global networks (economic and communicative), use AI, speak several languages, travel, and yet there is a fear of globalisation and the loss of established role models. The latter may also be the reason for the sometimes clan-like isolation of people from other cultures in our countries. This can also lead to the world being perceived as confusing, fast-paced, identity-dissolving or morally contradictory, which in effect leads to people taking refuge in explanatory patterns that counteract these feelings. Both the AfD and the Left Party in Germany have understood how to tap into this emotional level and have thus achieved election results that many commentators of all kinds explain inadequately and with a tendency to tabooise. Politics that attempts to calm these feelings with purely rational action is bound to fail. Those who respond only with facts miss the level at which the problem arises. Fears of social decline are also fuelled by definitions from the social sphere, such as the poverty line, even though there are sufficient safety nets in place, particularly in Germany. Anyone who uses terms such as homeland and nation today is often met with scepticism by the public. The change in language that has developed from well-intentioned egalitarian thinking, which is perceived by many people of all genders and orientations as a violation of their own ways of thinking and as patronising, also contributes to the reinforcement of asynchrony. This brings us to Hannah Arendt, for whom the dissolution of traditional orders in conjunction with ideological polarisation were causes for the emergence of totalitarian rule, regardless of political signs. Signs of this can currently be observed in the USA. Similar work is being done in some back rooms in Europe. Europe is a highly complex entity, but due to its structure, built on centuries of war between its member states, and its cultural and linguistic diversity, it is extremely difficult to convey change to people with great reluctance as a model for the future, even though it is sorely needed right now. Perhaps we need to consider Bloch and Arendt together to understand why people become radicalised and political communication turns into manipulation. Insight as the first step towards improvement – that would also be a wish for the new year.

Nothing new in Mar Al Lago – or is there? No showdown à la White House and continuation of talks between Trump and Zelensky. Europe is merely a spectator and is expected to bear the security burden. In the end, the aggressor will be given the land he has usurped. Creating peace without weapons is relegated to the realm of utopia by reality. Meanwhile, China is surrounding Taiwan and overcoming its enormous internal contradictions through state ideological leadership and the resulting totalitarian violence in the pseudo-democratic guise of the People's Congress. But Shanghai and Hong Kong are places where contemporary art fairs are held, generating millions in revenue.

Shortly before the end of the year, Arnulf Rainer, whose paintings covered up realities to create new ones, died at the age of 96, and Brigitte Bardot, who first contributed to changing the role of women as a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s and later as an animal rights activist, died at the age of 91.

Stefan Kobel's commentary on the press over the last six months, which focuses on galleries, does not fit in with the hoped-for spirit of optimism for the new year. But here, too, the motto ‘Write what is!’ – said to originate from Rudolf Augstein at a time when there were still two German states – applies.

We wish everyone peaceful days until the turn of the year and a happy New Year.

Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn