Orwell Day

Wishing to return the homage that George Orwell paid to Catalonia, the CCCB has been holding Orwell Day every year since 2013. This initiative, organised by local scholars of Orwell’s work together with the CCCB, aims not only to uphold the relevance of his legacy as a journalist and, in particular, as a critical thinker but also to ensure that his message is kept up to date through contemporary voices which also struggle against dogmatism and authoritarianism while striving to defend freedom of expression.

Hito Steyerl, Nausikaä El-Mecky and Maria Alekhina

Art and Freedom

The philosopher and video-essayist Hito Steyerl and the art historian Nausikaä El-Mecky and the activist Maria Alekhina speak about art and freedom today in a conversation that will be followed by a performance of Mourning for Narcissus by the artist Pari Banu.

Patricia Evangelista and Patrick Radden Keefe

Reporting on a Reign of Terror

Patrick Radden Keefe speaks with the Filipino investigative journalist Patricia Evengelista on the risks of critical journalism in political contexts that threaten freedom of expression.

Tom Burgis and Patrick Radden Keefe

Corruption, Kleptocrats, and Cuckooland

Patrick Radden Keefe speaks with the investigative journalist Tom Burgis about the power of elites to omit or misrepresent their stories in official narratives.

Patrick Radden Keefe

Fragile Truths

In this opening lecture of the “Fragile Truths” cycle, Patrick Radden Keefe will speak about how disinformation threatens democratic quality, the challenges faced by investigative journalism, and the importance of writing about the wealthy and powerful.

Geert Lovink and Joana Moll

Democratising the Internet

The researcher Geert Lovink analyses with artist Joana Moll the power of seduction of the big digital platforms and suggests ways to escape from this. What risks does the present digital model entail for the future of democracy? What form will the Internet of the future take?

Memories without a place

Aitor García Solé, Marta Marín-Dòmine and Queralt Solé Barjau

The Civil War and the Franco dictatorship were two of the most important events in contemporary Spanish history. However, there are no large museums that are concerned with explaining them to the new generations, and the history is dispersed and conserved in a range of museum institutions around ...

Cas Mudde

The Far Right Today

Tthe political scientist Cas Mudde presents the main conclusions of his book The Far Right Today (in Catalan, Ultradreta, Saldonar, 2020) and will discuss these issues and recent political events in Spain with the political scientist and expert on nationalism, Umut Özkırımlı.

A morning with Cas Mudde

Battling the extreme right

The dangers of immigration, hate towards feminist movements and gender and sexual diversity, or scepticism towards democracy, are just some of the toxic messages the extrem right propagates. Political scientist Cas Muddle dissects the present-day rise of right-wing extremist movements, offering ...

Rebecca Solnit

Writing, a gesture of hope

American writer and activist Rebecca Solnit talks about the influence of George Orwell's work on her career as an essayist and reveals a new, more optimistic and hopeful look at the legacy of the writer of 1984.

Andrei Kureichik

Voices for Freedom

Journalist and playwright Andrei Kureichik talks with writer Marta Rebón about the repression and political persecution of Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime following the dramatized reading of his play Voices of New Belarus.

Orwell in Aragon

Salvador Trallero and Antonio Escartín

Salvador Trallero and Antonio Escartín, experts in the civil war and George Orwell's figure, travel through images of the places in Aragon where the British writer passed through and talk about the task of recovering his legacy.

Ali Smith

Making political writing into an art

Writer Ali Smith and filmmaker Sarah Wood talk with journalist Anna Guitart about their audiovisual piece Why We Write (2021), in which Smith pays tribute to the figure of Orwell and reflects on the shared vocation of making political writing into art.

Ben Mauk and Manel Ollé

The Ubiquitous Eye: Digital Surveillance in Xinjiang

As part of the 2021 Orwell Day, the journalist for The New Yorker Ben Mauk, one of the few people who has been able to investigate the regime of digital surveillance deployed in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, and Manel Ollé, expert on modern and contemporary China talk about the role of technology in future social control.

Dorian Lynskey and Jordi Puntí

The Present Relevance of "1984"

The cultural journalist Dorian Lynskey speaks with the writer Jordi Puntí about the influence of the book 1984 in the contemporary cultural imaginary and its impact in the new generations.

Marta Peirano and Peter Pomerantsev

Technology, Digital Surveillance, and Disinformation

The journalists Marta Peirano and Peter Pomerantsev, with the researcher Liliana Arroyo as moderator, speak about how the dream of a free and emancipatory Internet has given way to a system of surveillance and manipulation that operates without democratic supervision.

Orwell through New Eyes

Andrea Lucio, Jordi de Miguel i Oriol Quintana

The recent publication of books and essays on George Orwell clearly show that interest in the writer and his work is as keen as ever. Participants in this panel discussion - young local journalists and researchers - talk about the relevance of Orwell’s legacy and the need to pass it on ...

Masha Gessen

Imagination and Democracy

In the framework of the Orwell Day, the journalist Masha Gessen defends imagination as a necessary tool for reviving the ideal of democracy and countering the assaults of totalitarianism.

Antonio Monegal and Manel Ollé

Verdad y ficción en la distopía totalitaria. De Orwell a Bandi

George Orwell's classic novel about totalitarianism 1984 recently returned to the best-sellers list. The unlikely victory of Donald Trump, the rise of the far right in Europe, and a blurring of the lines between reality and fiction seem to have revived the ghosts of the past. ...