Populism. What's in a Name? - cancelled
This talk has been cancelled. Ernesto Laclau unexpectedly passed away on April 13th 2014.
Reasonable populism
Ernesto Laclau is a remarkable voice in contemporary political philosophy in Latin America and the Anglo-Saxon region. He is also a prominent observer of populism, a political doctrine about which he developed a controversial theory. According to Laclau, populism is “simply a way to do politics”. And so the Argentinian asks himself, in post-Marxist terms, whether a reasonable form of populism is conceivable, instead of writing it off as a dangerous political diversion. Laclau examined the forces that drive populism and their relationship to our democracy. He advocates a leftist populism that can mobilise the critical power of the masses against the ruling powers. On the eve of the elections in Belgium, the Kunstenfestivaldesarts and Passa Porta invite Ernesto Laclau to come and elucidate his positive plea for a progressive populism. Topical.