Nein: Gegen die Militarisierung der Gegenwart

Mithu Sanyal

“Is pacifism only for times of peace? Well, in that case, we don’t need it either.” A resounding response to the prevailing rhetoric of war.What does this “turning point” mean, for left-wing thinking in particular, which until recently was still championing social care, a critique of violence and a policy of peace? If pacifism is now regarded as ridiculous, irresponsible or contrarian, we should be concerned about the very foundations of our coexistence. In “Nein: Gegen die Militarisierung der Gegenwart” (“No: Against the Militarisation of the Present”), Mithu Sanyal poses uncomfortable questions with intelligent incisiveness and affectionate bewilderment, without downplaying global aggression. At the book launch at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, the author will be in conversation with Margarita Tsomou (HAU curator for theory and discourse), discussing, amongst other things, how a world without violence is not a distant ideal – but our most pressing task.Mithu Sanyal was born in Düsseldorf in 1971; she is a writer, cultural studies scholar, journalist and critic. Her non-fiction book “Vulva” was published in 2009, followed in 2016 by “Rape. From Lucretia to #MeToo”, and in 2021 her first novel “Identitti”, published by Hanser; it was shortlisted for the German Book Prize and awarded the Ruhr Literature Prize and the Ernst Bloch Prize. Her second novel, “Antichristie”, was published in 2024. In 2026, she received the Heinrich Mann Prize for Essays.

90–120 mins.

Next date:

• Date Friday, 18/September/2026 19:00
• Venue HAU Hebbel am Ufer - HAU1
• Address Stresemannstraße 29 A, 10963 Berlin-Kreuzberg