The War Against the Past: Fighting for our history

  • 10:00 - 17:00
  • Wednesday 16 October 2024
  • Solvay Library, Leopoldpark Rue Belliard 137 1040 Brussels

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A war is being waged against the past. Whether it’s toppling statues, decolonising the curriculum or erasing terms from our vocabulary, a cultural crusade is underway designed to render the past toxic. The past is condemned as enemy territory and has become the target of venomous hate. What is at stake in provoking such a strong sense of societal shame towards Western history?

Outwardly, the Culture Wars present themselves as mainly about conflicts over moral values touching on sex, abortion, gender and cultural identity, sovereignty, and race. Disputes about freedom of speech, language use and the different dimensions of human communication often target what they dismiss as outdated norms and ideals. Always lurking behind these conflicts are competing attitudes towards the past.

Join MCC Brussels for a groundbreaking public conference to mark the launch of our executive director Frank Furedi’s latest book, The War Against the Past: Why the West must fight for its history. This event will bring together leading academics and cultural commentators to understand the confront the war being waged on Western history.

This urgent conference will confront the cultural forces reshaping how we understand our history. Featuring leading thinkers and commentators, we’ll dive into the key battles over memory, identity, and the future of education.

Sessions:

  • Keynote: The War Against the Past
  • The Battle for Europe’s History: East vs West
  • Decolonisation: The war on Western history?
  • Teaching guilt? The history wars and education

Speakers:

  • Göran Adamson (Associate Professor in Sociology; internationally renowned critic of multiculturalism and diversity)
  • Rémi Brague (Emeritus Professor of Medieval and Arabic Philosophy at the University of Paris)
  • Marie Kawthar Daouda (University of Oxford, Oriel College)
  • Chantal Delsol (Professor emeritus at Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, founder of the Hannah Arendt Institute)
  • Réka Földváryné Kiss (European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, Chairman of the Committee of National Remembrance in Hungary)
  • Lawrence Goldman (University of Oxford, lecturer in Modern History, regular contributor to The Telegraph)
  • Piotr Juszkiewicz (Head of the Department of the History and Theory of Research on Art at Institute of the History of Art in Poznań)
  • Ferenc Laczó (Assistant Professor at Maastricht University)
  • Jorge Álvarez Palomino (Professor of Contemporary History and Political Thought, CEU San Pablo University (Madrid).
  • Robert Tombs (Professor Emeritus of French History at University of Cambridge, Fellow of St John's College)
  • Miroslav Vaněk, (Leading historian in contemporary Czech history and oral history; former president, International Oral History Association and Czech Oral History Association)

Programme and session descriptions:

10:30
Registration

11:00 – 11:10
Introduction, Katalin Deme, MCC Brussels

11:10 – 11:40
Keynote: The War Against the Past

Frank Furedi, executive director, MCC Brussels; author, The War Against the Past: Why the West must fight for its history

11:40 – 13:00
The Battle for Europe’s History: East vs West?

The war against the past seeks to inflict a state of historical amnesia in society. In Western Europe, a toxic narrative of national and historical shame has all but rewritten history. Heroes and accomplishments are dismissed, and guilt is now often the foundation of national identity. The outstanding achievements, heroism and great accomplishments of the national past are tainted with mistrust in the public memory.

Arguably, these trends are less ingrained in the societies of central and eastern Europe. Fresh from the memory of communism – where rewriting the past was a key plank of communist social control – these societies are less willing to accept the self-loathing project that is sweeping the West.

Why this stark divide? What’s at stake when our collective memory is re-engineered? This panel dives into the clash of East vs. West over the politics of memory, identity, and how we understand our history. Can the West recover its sense of pride, or will it slip further into a state of historical amnesia?

Moderator: Jacob Reynolds, MCC Brussels

  • Chantal Delsol (Professor emeritus at Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, founder of the Hanna Arendt Institute)
  • Réka Földváryné Kiss (European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, Chairman of the Committee of National Remembrance in Hungary)
  • Lawrence Goldman (University of Oxford, lecturer in Modern History, regular contributor to The Telegraph)

13:00-14:00
Lunch

14:00-15:30
Decolonisation: The war on Western history?

Decolonisation was once associated with the project of national liberation. But now, it has become an ideology devoted to the demonisation of the legacy of European civilization. Museums are told to rewrite their exhibits, monuments are defaced, and the cultural legacy of Europe is being torn apart in the name of justice. But is this really about justice—or is it a thinly veiled attack on the West itself?

Why has this ideology gained such a foothold in the institutions of the West? What’s driving the movement, and what does it want to achieve? This panel will unmask the decolonisation agenda and ask: How much of this is about righting wrongs, and how much is about dismantling Western culture for good?

Moderator: John O'Brien, MCC Brussels

  • Marie Kawthar Daouda (University of Oxford, Oriel College)
  • Rémi Brague (Emeritus Professor of Medieval and Arabic Philosophy at the University of Paris)
  • Jorge Álvarez Palomino (Professor of Contemporary History and Political Thought, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid)
  • Robert Tombs (Professor Emeritus of French History at University of Cambridge, Fellow of St John's College)

15:30 – 16:00
Coffee break

16:00 – 17:30
Teaching guilt? The history wars and education

Schools have become ground zero for the war against the past. History lessons no longer teach pride in national heritage—they teach guilt. Children are being raised to apologize for their ancestors, while the narrative of the West is being replaced with a bland, globalized storyline devoid of context or nuance. The European Parliament’s latest push – in a resolution on “historical consciousness” – for "multiple perspectives" only accelerates this trend, pushing national history to the margins. But can we really educate the next generation if we cut them off from their roots? This panel explores how education has become a battleground for historical consciousness. What does it mean for a society when its children are taught to reject their own heritage? And how can we reclaim a balanced understanding of where we come from?

Moderator: Joanna Williams, Visiting Fellow of MCC Brussels

  • Miroslav Vanek (Leading historian in contemporary Czech history and oral history; former president, International Oral History Association and Czech Oral History Association)
  • Piotr Juszkiewicz (Head of the Department of the History and Theory of Research on Art at Institute of the History of Art in Poznań)
  • Göran Adamson (Associate Professor in Sociology; internationally renowned critic of multiculturalism and diversity)
  • Ferenc Laczó (Assistant Professor at Maastricht University)

17:45
Conference Reception

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Image credit: Alexander Adams