Conversation with Pankaj Mishra

In his most recent book, Bland Fanatics: Liberals, Race and Empire (in Spanish, Fanáticos insulsos. Liberales, raza e imperio, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2020) he writes, “The barbarians, it turns out, were never at the gate; they have been ruling us for some time.” The rise to power of excluding populism, from the United States to India, opens the question of how to renew the commitment of politics to democracy and equality. If this is to be possible, Mishra says, we need to construct a political culture that is not based on the unequal view of the world that is the legacy of European colonial history and liberalism. What are the limits of western democracy? How can we learn from other traditions of thought that have contributed different viewpoints on how to coexist in equality?

Joining Pankaj Mishra will be the journalist and writer Agus Morales, editor of the magazine 5W and EFE correspondent for six years in India and Pakistan; the philosopher Joan Vergés, director of the Ferrater Mora Chair of Contemporary Thought and expert on the history of political liberalism; and Carme Colomina, research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and expert on disinformation and global politics. The session will be moderated by the journalist Isabel Galí, editor of the International Section of TV3.

Pankaj Mishra participates in the session via videoconference.