“Be as courageous as you can” A Discussion on Resistance with Timothy Snyder and Meena Kandasamy

What is the role of resistance in a world where democracy and freedom are at stake? What lessons can we learn from history? Meena Kandasamy and Timothy Snyder discuss these and more questions revolving around the struggle of an active civil society in politically oppressive regimes. They will look into the applicability of Snyder’s lessons in different times and places, with a special focus on the recent developments in Southern Asia.

Meena Kandasamy is an activist, poet, novelist and translator from India. Her writing aims to deconstruct trauma and violence, while spotlighting the militant resistance against caste, gender, and ethnic oppressions. Activism is at the heart of her literary work.Timothy Snyder is an American author and historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Holocaust.

In his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, he explores the power of resistance against dictatorship and authoritarianism. Together with illustrations by the graphic novelist Nora Krug, his lessons are on display in the current temporary exhibition at NS-Dokumentationszentrum in Munich. Mirjam Zadoff, the director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, will host the talk.