LIVE from the NYPL (Venue Partner)
5th Ave & 42nd St
212 930 0855
This event has passed.
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J. J. Rousseau
- When
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Friday Mar 9 (7–9pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$25
Distinguished intellectuals, political leaders, activists, and artists from both Geneva and the U.S. join forces to ask that question. Rousseau was an ardent defender of equality, justice and democratic participation. His moral and civic anger at the ways in which the Enlightenment “threw garlands of flowers over our chains” speaks directly to today’s protest movements, from Occupy Wall Street to the populist side of the Tea Party. What is the relevance and urgency of Rousseau’s political and social ideas today? How does the author of Discourse on Inequality help us explore the disturbing and destabilizing cracks that have led to democracies in crisis, perhaps in demise? Participants will include: Pascal Couchepin, former President of the Swiss Confederation Guillaume Chenevière, former Director of Télévision Suisse Romande; author of Rousseau, une histoire genevoise Benjamin Barber, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Simon Schama, Professor of Art and Art History, Columbia University Thomas Kean, former Governor of New Jersey Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York Victor Gourevitch, Rousseau scholar Amin Hussein, Leader and informal spokesperson for Occupy Wall Street Laura Flanders, Host of The Laura Flanders Show in development for public television Nannerl Keohane, former President of Duke University and Wellesley College Co-Presented with ThinkSwiss: Genève Meets New York, a Festival of Global Ideas Born in Geneva, taking place in venues throughout Manhattan, March 6-12, 2012. www.thinkswissny.org
