Speech to Europe (Eine Rede an Europa) by Omri Boehm10.5.2024 08:29:30 CEST | news aktuell GmbH
On 7 May, the Wiener Festwochen and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) welcomed Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm at the Viennese Judenplatz on the occasion of a Speech to Europe (Eine Rede an Europa) 2024, thereby opening the Viennese cultural festival. Followed by a week of heated discussions about the presence of Omri Boehm, the Speech was successfully held in a crowded Judenplatz, attracting 800 spectators on-site and 1200 viewers through the Livestream, in addition to numerous other viewers through the ORF broadcast. After an introduction by IWM Rector Misha Glenny and Wiener Festwochen Artistic Director Milo Rau, who supported their decision to invite the philosopher on Judenplatz, Omri Boehm made his way on stage. As a decided universalist, he analyzed the intricacies of Europe’s problematic past, represented by colonialism and the Holocaust, and its challenging present, threatened by the rise of right-wing populism and necessarily intertwined with the Israeli-Pal