"Das wird man ja wohl noch sagen dürfen – Meinungsfreiheit und Demokratie"

In the organizer's words:

State elections in the East:
Major series of talks by PEN Berlin

With: Monika Maron & Eva Menasse | Moderator: Jan Feddersen | Extra guest: Sebastian 23

PEN Berlin is organizing a series of talks in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg under the title "Das wird man ja ja noch dürfen sagen - Meinungsfreiheit und Demokratie": 37 events, from Annaberg to Perleberg, from Ilmenau to Zwickau, with 118 participating writers and journalists, publicists and artists from Pinar Atalay to Juli Zeh, from Dirk Oschmann to Monika Maron.

According to the perception of many, freedom of expression is not in good shape in Germany either. Although there has never been more freedom and opportunities to express criticism and be heard than today, the number of people who feel restricted is growing. But if you take a closer look, you will see that this is not simply a case of two population groups facing each other. Rather, those who complain today about "narrow corridors of opinion", "bans on thought and speech" and "cancel culture" will themselves be trying to define the limits of what is permissible tomorrow, depending on what is at stake. This makes social dialog very difficult - and this is where PEN Berlin comes in.

The two panelists not only want to talk to each other, but also to the audience. Freedom of opinion is not freedom from contradiction; but even the feeling of restricted freedom of opinion makes social dialog more difficult. Because those who believe they cannot speak freely themselves are also much less willing to listen to their counterparts.

You can find out more about the background to this series in our press release; an overview of all contributors and venues can be found here.

PEN Berlin - We have our say

Seat reservations will be held until 18:10, after which chairs may be passed on directly.