On Tuesday the 12th June 2018, The Red House talked to the well-known Bulgarian journalist & moderator, Peter Volgin, about his growing left-wing critique of liberal positions.
More information on the Istanbul Convention & the discussion of its implementation in Bulgaria can be found via the following links:
1) Full Convention text 2) Balkan Insight article 3) New Eastern Europe article
Bulgarian speakers can also access a full-length recording of the debate by clicking here.
About the discussion:
Peter Volgin is a Bulgarian writer and radio moderator who is well-known for his radio shows Out of Control, Smoke on the Water, Deconstruction and 12 + 3 as well as for numerous articles in both print and electronic media, especially in the magazine A-Specto
In his publications, Peter Volgin has gradually become more and more critical of what is often described as global liberal elites and the liberal status quo, attacking these from left-wing positions and defending the new political forces, which themselves are often described as populist.
This conversation with Peter Volgin will, therefore, aim to look at his own personal ideological trajectory and to try to gain a better understanding of the sources of so-called contemporary populism.
To find out more, watch the video highlights at the top of the page.
If you’ve enjoyed this event, you can also take a look at our media section below, where you can find out how to access all Time to Talk media platforms with their wide selection of debates in different formats.
About the series:
Radical changes are taking place within our political landscapes. In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Germany and the United States, new anti-elite parties and candidates with little to no experience within classical politics are gaining broad support, winning elections and, in general dictating, the political agenda. Their positions are varied, leaning both to the left and the right, but they all claim to champion a common criticism of traditional elites who have lost touch with the concerns and interests of the so-called ordinary voter. These new players have been met with a great deal of opposition amongst the political establishment and are often defined as populists, with public appeals for their exclusion from politics. After decades of scepticism and apathy amongst voters, confrontation and passion are, however, returning to the core of political life in Europe. Yet, while this also has its positives, the negative side of this development is the trend towards conflict-based identity politics and the ever-narrowing space for dialogue it creates.
In this series, Time to Talk centres seek to analyse without prejudice the ideological displacements in contemporary societies and the to find out which origins a series of prominent public figures believes these changes to have. Why, for example, are politicians and intellectuals who were actively engaged in the first years of democratic change in the former Eastern bloc countries now turning against the suddenly omnipresent conceptualisation of a European elite? What turns a convinced pro-European into an advocate of Brexit? Which recent changes have made such ideological shifts possible? What does it cost to leave the comfort zone of your own reference group, and does such behaviour constitute a new form of dissidence? Are we seeing the end of liberalism’s hegemony and the end of the “end of history”?
Participants:
Speaker:
Peter Volgin is a Bulgarian journalist, author and radio moderator. Since 1993, he has worked for Bulgarian National Radio’s Хоризонт [Horizon] station as a producer and an anchor for radio shows such as Out of Control, Smoke on the Water, Deconstruction and 12 + 3.
Peter has an MA in Bulgarian philology from the University of Sophia and has been published in a number of genres, with literary and journalistic books amongst his oeuvre. He also writes articles for the magazine A-Specto and other Bulgarian print and digital media outlets.
Moderator:
Iliya Valkov is a political journalist and professor of crisis communication at Sofia University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Iliya has an MA in Sociology and a PhD in crisis communication and works as a political consultant and analyst as well as in collaboration with a number of Bulgarian print and electronic media outlets. His interests include crisis communication, social movements and relations between media and business.
Time to Talk media:
English-language video highlights of the discussion can be found at the top of the page and Bulgarian speakers can also access a full-length recording by clicking here.
To access our full debate archives and to keep informed of media content from all other TTT debates, take a look at/follow us on our media platforms, where we regularly publish recordings and inform our followers about upcoming debates
Furthermore, you can stay informed about all recordings and live streams from The Red House by subscribing to their YouTube channel, which you can reach by clicking here.
Acknowledgements:
The Red House‘s Ideological Trajectories: The New Dissidents series of discussions is part of Time to Talk‘s Understanding the Populist Turn: The Ex-Debates series and has been supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundation Institute in cooperation with the OSIFE of the Open Society Foundations.
