#rp24 speaker Jagoda Marinić: Gentle radicalism – how social movements can become firewalls

Those who want to preserve democracy must no longer remain silent, Jagoda Marinić recently warned in her column in Stern magazine:

The time for trivialisation is over. The time when news after news about the extreme right were accepted with a shrug [...]. This will not disappear by itself, it must be fought. All those who still do not act are opting for the abolition of democracy.

At re:publica 24, the columnist, writer and podcaster will address questions such as how we can move away from outrage culture and “clicktivism” towards real social change. Do we need a return from the digital to the analogue? Do we need a “march through the institutions 2.0” - or are protest and transformation more effective in structures outside of political parties and administration? How did the social changes of the last ten years influence political engagement? Who is actually physically present in critical situations, what (physical) spaces need to be created, and who do we allow to be radical?

Jagoda Marinić writes columns and articles for Stern magazine. She also founded the Intercultural Centre in Heidelberg and helped design the International Welcome Centre for the municipality. In 2016, she published her book "Made in Germany. Was ist deutsch in Deutschland?" (Made in Germany. What is German in Germany?), in which Jagoda Marinić explores Germany's identity as an immigration country. In her 2019 essay book "Sheroes. Neue Held*innen braucht das Land" (The country needs new heroines), she demands that Germany should no longer be on the sidelines of the most important feminist debate in recent decades. In 2024, her novel about immigration "Restaurant Dalmatia" will be reissued. This year, she will release her book "Sanfte Radikalität" (Gentle Radicalism) about social change and the question of what is still possible in the digital age – instead of ever widening emotionalised gyres of outrage.

In 2022, she was awarded as Journalist of the Year in the category “culture" by Medium Magazin. For her podcast "Freiheit Deluxe" (Freedom Deluxe), she meets up every fortnight with special guests to talk about freedom and free spaces, for example the US author Siri Hustvedt. In her podcast, Marinić sets new accents in each episode to comment on the contradictions of our time. On the TV station “arte”, she hosts the talk programme "Das Buch meines Lebens” (The Book of My Life) in which she reflects about the most important books and life of international guests such as US actress Diane Kruger and Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

At #rp24, we look forward to Jagoda's plea for democracy, attitude and mobilisation.