“The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world—and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end—is being destroyed,” Hannah Arendt wrote in 1967 in her essay Truth and Politics. In a later interview, she said: “A people that can no longer believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.” That was in 1974.
What strikes us today is that even decades before the internet and social media and well before hoax became an all-purpose catchword, millions of people could be manipulated in this way. In the old days all that was needed to spread lies on a massive scale was the radio and, later, the television as well as something that is deeply entrenched in the dynamics of human emotions and human societies.
This is what Central European Forum 2024, to be held in Bratislava and other Slovak cities, will be about. The discussions will focus on the interconnections between our thinking and lies, between thinking and invective, as well as between lies, brutality and suffering. In other words, the link between lies and the collapse of civilisation – a state when no one believes anything anymore, when every rule has been obliterated except the one dictated by fear.
Programme
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
16:00 CATCHING UP WITH SUPERMAN
Daniel Ariely, not only on how easy it is to lose one’s mind.
Moderator: Kristína Tormová
Venue: Kácéčko, Kamenné námestie 1/a
19:00 Opening of 16th edition of the Central European Forum
Venue: Stará Tržnica (Old Market Hall), Námestie Nežnej revolúcie
19:10 HUMILIATION – A CASE HISTORY
On homophobia and the vulnerability of democracy.
Guest speakers: Séan Hewitt – Michal Hvorecký.
Moderator: Karolína Klinková
20:00 LET’S DO SOMETHING!
On Europe, seemingly or really at a loss, and on the public, seemingly or really at a loss.
Guest speakers: Natalie Nougayrède – Timothy Garton Ash – Milo Rau.
Moderator: Michal Havran
21:20 UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN DICTATORSHIPS
On the globalisation of lies.
Guest speaker: Anne Applebaum.
Moderator: Matúš Kostolný
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
16:00 WELCOME
Andrea Puková and Marta Šimečková look back at 16 years of the Central European Forum
16:10 POST-PEASANTS AND POST-PROLETARIANS
On meritocracy, justice and the future of European democracy.
Guest speakers: Juraj Buzalka – Didier Eribon.
Moderator: Chris Keulemans
19:15 HELL ON PARADISE STREET
Stanislav Aseyev named Honorary Central European 2024.
Moderator: Tomáš Forró. Excerpt read by Táňa Pauhofová.
Laudation: Jana Juráňová. Award handed over by Ivana Šáteková
20:15 HOW TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL
On zones of violence, the loneliness in their midst and whether it really is worth surviving hell.
Guest speakers: Agnieszka Holland – Fania Oz-Salzberger – Stanislav Aseyev – Lukáš Jeník.
Moderator: Chris Keulemans
With simultaneous Slovak – English interpreting.
Free entry.
For more information please visit: Central European Forum – Central European Forum (ceeforum.eu)
Cover picture: © Peter Župník
