The use of memory politics in Europe and in Canada - Dr. Piotr Oleksy
Dr. Piotr Oleksy, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, contributing to the interview series " Expert Voices on Memory Politics" realized with the financial support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Kanada and Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. The interviews were recorded during the October 2022 conference "Addressing the Past - Shaping the Future".
In this video, Dr. Oleksy compares the use of memory politics in Europe and in Canada. According to Oleksy, in recent years, talking about history and memory in Europe has become a problem for democracy, since it is connected to the problem of the ‘dignity of the majority’ and it is driven by resentment. By comparison, in Canada, memory culture is driven by the idea of reconciliation and this also has an impact on democracy, since it broadens democracy’s reach. Nevertheless, for Oleksy, memory politics presents a risk in that populist politicians will always try to exploit the feeling that the ‘majority’s dignity’ is in danger to achieve their own political goals.
Finally, commenting on the renewed interest in the history of the 20th century as a tool for politics, Dr. Oleksy notes that in Poland, around 20 years ago, people used to think of the East as an area where the question of identity driven by memory was crucial for social and political life. By contrast, the West was perceived as the area where social and political life was driven by the question of development, of the redistribution of goods and economy. According to Dr. Oleksy, now this seems to have changed, in that Western countries also look like they have been affected by a similar resentment, as it is visible, for example, in mottos like “make America great again”.
EUCAnet (Europe Canada Network) is a hub for experts primarily located in Canada that work on European and Canadian current issues from a transatlantic perspective. These experts offer commentary and expertise and are available for media interviews and public talks. We are a public outreach platform – that makes scholarly knowledge available and meaningful to the public in times when the need for evidence based knowledge and public debate is crucial. Our goal is to foster the Canada Europe Transatlantic Dialogue with the aim of supporting the process of informing public policy making.
Focus on : European Studies, Transatlantic Studies, Global Studies, Issues of Democracy, Populism, Memory Politics, Migration.
Official Site: http://www.eucanet.org
