PLEA FOR A GENTLE RADICALISM

Robert Misik in conversation with Jagoda Marinić

PLEA FOR A GENTLE RADICALISM

Jagoda Marinić on polarisation and the dangers of a confrontational style.

 Jagoda Marinić is a columnist, author, podcaster („Freiheit Deluxe“), presenter - and one of the brightest voices in contemporary debates, who is not afraid to irritate or even provoke her supposedly „own people“. In „Gentle Radicalism“, she describes how our societies are experiencing a spirit of optimism, a growing self-confidence among minorities and how traditional power relations are gradually being reversed. At the same time, however, she observes an aggressive, confrontational style and seemingly „radical“ milieus that are acting in an increasingly self-referential manner, rejecting potential allies and are barely able to win over people with different views in favour of their concerns. She writes that she has increasingly distanced herself from „the discursive radicalism that often sets the tone today“ - from the tone that „prevails among many of my generation in particular“, „who are committed to democracy and human rights“.

One of the reasons for this was Marinic's practice over the past ten years, during which she set up and managed the „Intercultural Centre“ in her home town of Heidelberg and had to win over the city's society to common concerns. Marinic: „I became gentler along the way.“ Marinic's polemic is not only a plea for a language and tone that bridges divides, but also an account of the local practice of improving society by an intellectual who has thrown herself into the turmoil of action. And at the same time a razor-sharp diagnosis of a time in which the louder and more aggressive the tone, the steeper the thesis, „the closer the book contract“.

Robert Misik, Author and journalist

Jagoda Marinić:
Gentle radicalism. Between hope and change
Fisher Publishing, October 2024, € 21,50