USA-Podium: Kultur und Wissenschaft unter Druck

In the organizer's words:

Panel with Astrid Böger, Annika Brockschmidt and Klaus J. Milich.

One year after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, the USA is rapidly becoming an authoritarian state that few in Europe would have thought possible. In addition to an inhumane immigration policy and horrendous tariffs on imported goods, cultural and scientific institutions in particular are under pressure, such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where the president replaced the entire board, appointed himself as chairman and brought the annual honorary awards under his control. But universities have also come under fire, with the conflict with Harvard University escalating when the government massively interfered with academic freedom, threatened international students with deportation and heavily regulated new admissions.

The Americanist Astrid Böger (University of Hamburg), the publicist Annika Brockschmidt (including "Die Brandstifter - Wie Ex-tremisten die Republikanische Partei übernahmen", Rowohlt) and the Americanist Klaus J. Milich (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire), who teaches in the USA, discuss the state of US culture with the USA expert Susanne Weingarten ("Der Spiegel"). They will name examples of political pressure, analyze statements such as the August 2025 Statement for Cultural Freedom and consider what a perspective for institutions and individual artists could look like.

Moderation: Susanne Weingarten

Price information:

€ 16,-/12,- / € 6,- (livestream)