The eighth October Lecture is an initiative of RAAM – platform for knowledge, analysis and debate on Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Sergei Lebedev is a writer, poet and journalist. His novels have been translated into over twenty languages and deal with the impact of the Soviet past and Stalin’s repressions on present-day Russia. The New York Review of Books praised Lebedev as “the best of Russia’s younger generation of writers”. Next year will see the publication of his latest novel, ‘The Lady of the Mine’, which describes the early stages of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and the shooting down of flight MH17.
In his October Lecture, Lebedev will address the most painful questions about the future of Russia. What are the perspectives for a post-Putin Russia? Are Russians ready for a democratic alternative?
Lebedev puts the finger on the sore spot and analyzes the deep-rooted imperialism among the Russian population. He connects past and present and argues that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not just Putin’s war, but the result of a wider imperial complex that has been embedded in Russian society for many decades. Can Russia reinvent itself?
After the lecture there will be a public discussion and an opportunity to ask questions.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Rode Hoed, Amsterdam
