Video On Demand: De Balie TV + De Balie Vimeo. Instead of trying to understand voters for populist and nationalist parties, we often tend to dismiss them as racists, xenophobes, and second class citizens. During this programme, we are changing perspectives with one of the most renowned sociologists in the UK, Frank Furedi. In his latest book ‘Populism and the European Culture Wars – he defends the right of the Hungarian and Polish people, to be Christian, to be conservative and above all: nationalistic. Furedi states that the EU imposes the so-called European values on Eastern European countries with a neo-colonial attitude and this is dangerous. The EU should not impose refugee quote on Hungary, this works counterproductive. We can only explain the current populist tendencies in Eastern Europe, by looking into the roots and history of the societies. Interesting, given his left-wing, and atheist background. What made Furedi chance his mind about how we should understand the current populist turn in Europe, and in particular in Hungary and Poland? In which ways does this relate to increasing populism in the rest of Europe? And what does this say about the meaning of our shared European values? Frank Furedi will elaborate on the questions above, and will have a conversation with Yoeri Albrecht (director De Balie).
This programme is part of a programme series on populism across Europe organised by the Time to Talk Network (The European Network of Houses for Debate). This series is supported by The Open Society Initiative for Europe.
About Frank Fuerdi
Frank Furedi (United Kingdom) is a British sociologist and social commentator. He was formerly Professor of Sociology at the University of Canterbury. Using his insights as a professional sociologist, Furedi has produced a series of agenda-setting books that have been widely discussed in the media. He regularly comments on radio and television and has appeared on Newsnight, Sky News and BBC News. Apart from having produced an extensive bibliography, Furedi regularly publishes essays on a variety of issues. His latest book is called: ‘Populism and the European Culture Wars’.