The Sixth Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga was successfully organised on June 4th, 2014 at the premises of the cinema “Splendid Palace”. In total more than 350 people took part and 700 followed the live broadcast from the discussions and the Lecture on media portals www.politika.lv and www.delfi.lv
The events dedicated to Isaiah Berlin were organised by the Soros Foundation – Latvia and the Isaiah Berlin Association of Latvia, and were intended for all Rigans and guests of the capital city of Latvia. They were held with the purpose of paying homage to this eminent thinker, as well as debating the values that he defended: pluralism, liberalism, tolerance and personal liberty. This year the overarching theme of the Isaiah Berlin Day was the collision between privacy and national security concerns.
PROGRAMME
Baltic youth debate “Privacy is dead”
Expert discussion “Surveillance and freedom”
Stuart Armstrong, James Martin Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future of Humanity, University of Oxford
Rafael Behr, Political Editor, The New Statesman, United Kingdom
Jānis Kažociņš, Former Director of the Constitutional Protection Bureau, Latvia
Vincent Muller, James Martin Research Fellow, Oxford, Professor of Philosophy at the American College of Thessaloniki, Greece
Moderator: Robert Cottrell, co-founder of the Isaiah Berlin Association, Latvia
Documentary „Escaping Riga”
A public conversation with film’s screenplay co-writer Uldis Tīrons led by David Herman, producer of the BBC documentaries about Sir Isaiah Berlin
6th Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture: H.E. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia. Introductory remarks by Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
All the guests and anyone interested could attend an art installation „Audioshower”, where it was possible to listen to two essays of Isaiah Berlin – Liberty and Notes on prejudice – in Latvian and English language. „Liberty” represents a concise summary of Berlin’s views on political liberty and provides a useful introductory guide for those who have never read his works. „Notes on prejudice” conveys with great immediacy Berlin’s opposition to intolerance and prejudice – especially fanatical monism – and to stereotypes and aggressive nationalism.
[img src="http://www.isaiahberlin.org/system/redactor_assets/pictures/22/Satori_audiodusa_Jesaja_Berlins_esejas.jpg" alt="">
