Birth, death, and sex: the new political battlefields

[IWM]

Wednesday, May 30 2012, 6:00pm - 7:30pm

IWM
Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen
Institute for Human Sciences
Spittelauer Lände 3
A-1090 Wien
T: +43/1/ 313 58
http://www.iwm.at
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Leonidas Donskis
The Dissonances of Memory: Talking past Each Other in Europe[/size]

The center of this talk will be on the new dissonances of memory in Europe.
We are witnessing how a sinister tendency is gaining strength in the United States and Europe. Politicians find themselves preoccupied with two domains that serve as a new source of inspiration: privacy and history.
Birth, death, and sex are the new frontiers on the political battlefields. Since politics is losing its ability to translate our moral and existential concerns into rational and legitimate action for the benefit of society and humanity, and instead is becoming a set of managerial practices and skilful manipulations of public opinion, it is not unwise to assume that a swift politicization of privacy and history promises the way out of the present political and ideological vacuum. This creates new dividing lines and memory clashes over interpretation of such dates as 1945, 1956, and 1968.

Leonidas Donskis is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), a philosopher, political theorist, historian of ideas, social analyst, and political commentator. As a public figure in Lithuania, he acted throughout the years as a defender of human rights and civil liberties. In 2004, Donskis has been awarded by the European Commission the title of the Ambassador for Tolerance and Diversity in Lithuania.

In Zusammenarbeit mit der Botschaft der Republik Litauen und dem Kulturministerium der Republik Litauen

In englischer Sprache, Eintritt frei, Anmeldung unter events@iwm.at