In an increasingly uncertain and totalitarian world we need dissidents, people who disagree with the official religion or political hegemony, and dare to oppose the powers that be. Author and journalist Gal Beckerman has written a guide for everyone who wants to learn how to be secure in their own values and principles, even when it costs you. His book How to Be a Dissident introduces the reader to some of the most central dissidents and independent thinkers from the last century; from Hannah Arendt to Aleksey Navalny, from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o to Edward Snowden. Beckerman also outlines 10 important qualities for aspiring dissidents.
Gal Beckerman is a staff writer for the Atlantic, and author of the critically acclaimed books The Quiet Before and When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone. Beckerman will open this year’s festival with a short talk, highlighting some of the 10 central qualities for dissidents, before meeting Norwegian writer and historian Jonas Bals for a conversation about standing up to power, and what history can teach us.
The event will be in English.
