Populism, extremism and euroscepticism are haunting Europe, creating a tense atmosphere in which fear, hate, anger and anxiety generate a climate of European Angst. The current rise of radical parties, such as AFD in Germany, UKIP in Great Britain and FN in France, indicates a drastic change in European societies and politics – and the more momentum these populist parties and movements gain, the more clueless the established political, cultural and legislative institutions seem to be.
Why is this happening now? And how are we dealing with it? The Goethe-Institut together with the European Movement International and other partners aim to shed light on these questions in a unique way, holding a two-day conference in which 40 students, who were already selected in an open call in September, will have the chance to interact with leading voices on these issues. The conference will leave the comfort zone of liberal consensus by inviting controversial thinkers, thus creating a space for passionate debate, for reflection and in-depth analysis.
Among the participants are the writers and philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Didier Eribon; author and journalist Elif Shafak; and Nobel Prize winnerHerta Müller.
European Angst is an initiative of the Goethe-Institut, in collaboration with 4 members of EUNIC, BOZAR and with the European Movement International. The media partner for this event is EU Observer.
The AGENDA is available here.
If you would like to register to attend the conference as an audience member, you can do so here.
