Invitation to Central European Forum

All Central European Forum 2013 discussions will be loosely linked by an overarching theme: the crisis of the concept of “citizen” and of the specific Central European variety of representative democracy. While pluralism has been widely accepted in this part of the world, democratic institutions have suffered a rapid decline and loss of credibility. “This will never be the West,” one of this year’s participants, Karel Schwarzenberg, observed a few months ago. Is there something fundamental that prevents Central European citizens from creating democracy?

Each November since 2009, on the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Central European Forum has provided some of the most inspiring intellectuals from the East and the West with a platform for discussion. Our goal is to trigger authentic conversations that will not only generate an exchange of information and ideas but also create a common discourse and raise new issues shared by all the participants.

Now in its fifth year, Central European Forum will be held at a new venue that is pregnant with symbolism. The Pisztory Palace in Bratislava is a place that embodies the history of Central Europe in the 20th century, having served as Hitler’s Embassy during World War II and as the Lenin Museum under communism. The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition of Peter Župník’s photographic portraits of previous years’ participants, a presentation of the Slovak translation of Timothy Snyder’s book “Bloodlands”, discussions at schools and a special first screening of Slavoj Žižek’s film, “The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology”, at the Pisztory Palace cinema.