What can Europe still represent in the disorder of the present? And what if its political fragility contains a resource that has yet to be named?
On 25 March 2026, for the launch of Europa2057 at the Sala della Protomoteca in Campidoglio, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, brings a radical question to the centre: what can Europe still represent in the disorder of the present?
Between the return of war and the crisis of democracies, Europe appears fragile, contradictory, often unable to recognise its own political force. For Žižek, it is precisely in this fragility that the possibility of rethinking its role opens up.
Europe still has the possibility of building a different idea of freedom and coexistence: a space defined by what it makes possible, rather than by the borders it defends.
What does it mean to stake on Europe today as a political project still open?
Probably pointless to ask with a Žižek, but tl;dr?
Europe still has the possibility of building a different idea of freedom and coexistence: a space defined by what it makes possible, rather than by the borders it defends.
The way through is to make Europe into a thing that stands for a universal freedom. Failure will risk being consumed by US and Russian fascism spreading as franchises in Europe.
Of course it will never happen as Europe, like the US and Russia depend on exploitation for their material well being. Most people in Europe won’t give up all of their comforts to be a more just society.
I’m very cynical though… I hope I proven wrong.
Thanks for adding a summary to the post.
BRICKS multiculturalism, you torture your people, we do it our own way, we are lost.
