Feminists Against the Tyrants
With the global rise of the far-right, women’s rights are increasingly under threat. French author Lauren Bastide remains hopeful: feminism can save the world, but only as a revolutionary project that seeks to improve society at all levels, for everyone.
Together with migrants and people from the LGBTQ+-community, women are among the first to suffer when a society takes an autocratic turn. Abortion rights in the United States are being undermined; in Hungary, women are encouraged through tax incentives to have more children – policy measures expressing the autocratic conviction that a woman’s primary roles are those of mother and wife.
How can feminism oppose these tendencies? And what should feminism look like? French author and journalist Lauren Bastide argues that feminism should not be about corporate slogans and individual success stories, but rather be grounded in global solidarity. In this programme, we’ll explore how feminist values can build new alliances across borders. What solutions does feminism rooted in solidarity and intersectionality provide?
About Forum on European CultureWho’s afraid of art? Now that tyrants are on the roll and more and more people in the West seem to be falling for the autocratic alternative, Forum on European Culture 2025 (June 25 – June 29) brings together international artists, writers, and thinkers to celebrate the subversive power of art and literature.
About the speakersLauren Bastide (1980) is a journalist with a degree in political science and gender studies. In January 2024, she launched Folie Douce, a series of conversations about mental health with artists, activists, authors, and personalities of all kinds. Together, they take the time for the first time to discuss their mental health journeys at length and in depth. In 2016, she created the podcast La Poudre, featuring long interviews with female artists, activists, and politicians. Over the course of its 200 episodes, La Poudre has echoed the #Metoo generation, making its creator a key figure on gender and social issues in France.
Margriet van Heesch, PhD, is a cultural scholar at the University of Amsterdam, specializing gender theory, queer studies, and the LGBTQI movement. She wrote an engaging introduction to the influential work of Judith Butler’s groundbreaking ideas to a broader audience (De Kleine Butler, 2024, Atlas Contact). In addition, van Heesch co-translated Butler’s most recent book, Who’s Afraid of Gender (2024).
