Europe has a long history of religious, political, racist and economical fanaticism that has had disastrous effects on the development of the continent. Today, fanatism is present in the tendencies towards nationalism and populism, religious movements, the call for strong leaders, exclusion of outsiders and minorities, intolerance towards different opinions and ways of life etc.
Castrum Peregrini has initiated a European project on the theme of Fanaticism (FIT) to map the theme and collect and create tools for self-awareness .
As part of the first partners meeting we want to invite the interested public, friends of Castrum Peregrini to participate in a roundtable talk and discussion with Ram Manikkalingam (Universiteit van Amsterdam) and Bert van den Brink (University of Utrecht). Both give an introduction in the subject before they enter into a dialogue involving the public.
Vrijdag, 25 september ’09
20.00 uur
After sunset: Fanaticism!
Ram Manikkalingam is the founder of the Dialogue Advisory Group, Amsterdam and a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam. Until recently, he advised the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva. He was Senior Advisor on the Peace Process to the previous President of Sri Lanka. He has served as an Advisor with Ambassador rank at the Sri Lanka Mission to the United Nations in New York. Prior to this he was an Advisor on International Security to the Rockefeller Foundation. He has a doctorate in political philosophy and a bachelors degree in Physics, both from MIT.
Bert van den Brink is professor for political and social philosophy at Utrecht University. His research interests are in democracy, power, recognition, pluralism, agonism and liberalism. Among his many publications are The Tragedy of Liberalism, State University of New York Press 2000, Reasons of One’s Own, Ashgate 2004 (ed. with Marc Slors and Maureen SIe) and Recognition and Power, Cambridge University Press 2008 (ed. with David Owen).
