Panel Talk: Faschismus in Europa

During this year’s festival, three Portuguese-language productions are sharing a historical resonance: 25 April 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese revolution of 1974. The so-called »Carnation Revolution«, a peaceful coup led by some members of the Portuguese military, not only ended the longest-lasting dictatorship in Western Europe: it also heralded the end of the continent’s last fascist regimes and the beginning of a new wave of democratisation. But, half a century later, what remains of those hopes and utopias? What prospects do they still hold at a time when, across Europe, authoritarian, neo-nationalist movements and regimes are gaining in prominence, seeking to undermine our democracies in ever more radical ways? When racist and anti-Semitic hostility, violence and contempt for humanity are again on the rise? Which historical continuities are becoming visible and which break with the past? Above all: What can and must we do to counteract all of this?