The rise of Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, the Brexit referendum, the election of Donald Trump and the strong performances of Norbert Hofer and Marine Le Pen — they cannot be interpreted as anything but an illiberal trend of the recent few years.

On 23 September 2017, Anton Shekhovtsov, Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), and author of the book Russia and the Western Far Right, discussed the current situation and drew parallels to the cultural and political developments in the 1970s and 1980s that were marked by a “silent counter-revolution” of the Right against the post-materialist “silent revolution” of the Left. Margaret Childs, Editor-in-Chief of Metropole, moderated the conversation. Watch the full debate:

Cover Picture: French far right leader Marine Le Pen (left) and Austria’s right wing party leader Heinz Christian Strache (right) listen to the Dutch Geert Wilders during the press conference of a convention of European nationalists, in Milan, Italy, 29 January 2016. Photo: © Antonio Calanni / AP / picturedesk.com

Vienna Humanities Festival

The Vienna Humanities Festival, organised by the IWM, Wien Museum and Time to Talk, is a series of around 40 Events (in German and English) which took place from 22 till 24 September 2017 for the second time at the Wien Museum, TU Wien, Evangelische Volksschule and Radiokulturhaus.

The topic of 2017 “Revolution!” ranged from Russia in 1917, the 1968 movement and the Fall in 1989, to the most recent upheavals in the Arab countries and in the Ukraine.