A literary and discussion evening from the Literatura na Hradě series
The crises we are going through force us to consider what kind of society we are and whether we have anything to rely on if we want to meet these crises. In public debates we encounter various analyses of Czech society: we are labelled a divided, fragmented, narcissistic or over-sensitive society; in other contexts people speak of a liquid, accelerated, opportunistic or exhausted society. The documentary research that resulted in the book Odolná společnost examined, through interviews with influential actors in various areas of public life, what capacities we have for being a resilient society. Instead of an academic exposition of the concept of “social resilience”, or a broad public opinion survey, this research chose a different approach. It focused on a detailed mapping of practical knowledge about what works in Czech society, what is available but would be worth developing further, and what we need to change if we want to avoid two extremes in relation to crises: either falling into powerlessness in the face of them, or replacing crises with a struggle for the domination of some over others.
These topics will also be the subject of the lecture, at which the author of the book, Alice Koubová, will be joined by one of the respondents, the Government Commissioner for Human Rights, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, and the journalist Erik Tabery.