Petr Fischer: Was That a Crisis?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: October 1, 2020, 16:00 – 18:00
What did Czech society, and the entire world, go through in the initial months of the Covid-19 threat? What did we learn about ourselves?
Petr Fischer, one of the few Czech journalists capable of precisely and quickly identifying events and revealing the meaning of gestures and speeches, closely monitored and interpreted government measures, politicians’ moves and the response of citizens from the moment that virtually all states stepped on the brakes.
His book Byla tohle krize? (Was That a Crisis?) is a collection of dazzling essays in notional dialogue with philosophers from Derrida to Žižek, with politicians from Hamáček to Merkel, from Camus to Houellebecq, that capture a change that impacted each one of us and sparked debate over what should and can we do as mankind.
What is correct? What is normal? What is moral? Not only have these questions not gone away – they have become more pressing.
The sociologist Tereza Stöckelová and the computing expert and social media analyst Josef Šlerka will discuss the social, political and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic with writer Petr Fischer. The author of the book’s foreword, the legal philosopher and sociologist Jiří Přibáň, has also promised to attend, if circumstances allow him to travel from the UK to the Czech Republic.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Novela bohemica publishing house.