Prof. R. van Voren public lecture “Society and the Individual: on Collaboration, Resistance and Compliance”
Prof. Robert van Voren in his public lecture “Society and the Individual: on Collaboration, Resistance and Compliance” uses his own “career” as human rights activist to explore the boundaries between the positioning of the overwhelming majority of any population – compliance – and the two “extremes”: resistance, or collaboration. In the course of time much of his writings have focused on the crossroads between mental health and human rights and the reasons why individuals on one hand become active participants in mass murder and genocide, and on the other find the courage to say “no” and bear the consequences. He explains how in the course of time his rather black-and-white views mellowed and gradually developed into one of “shades of grey”, realizing that judging afterwards and from outside is very easy but taking decisions on the spot and in times of turmoil is often a very complicated and painful affair. As the German politician and former East-German dissident once said: “There are real perpetrators and real victims, guilty ones and innocent ones and then in between the many others, we – who lived there, busy getting by, more or less decent, more or less clever, more or less cowardly or brave.”
The public lecture will be live streamed because of COVID-19 restrictions on 21st of May, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.
You are welcome to attend the public lecture via YouTube