The programme is as follows:

3pm: “My Name is Isaiah Berlin, and I Come from Riga”. An informal talk by Dr Henry Hardy, Isaiah Berlin’s editor and literary trustee. (In English, with Latvian translation.)

4pm: “History and Memory”. A round-table discussion of the part played by history and memory in the shaping of contemporary politics and public opinion, with particular reference to Latvia. Led by Nils Muižnieks. With: Valters Nollendorfs, Chairman of the Association of the Museum of Occupation; Irina Viņņika, Riga City Council, MP (LPP/LC); Vita Zelče, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Latvia; Dmitrijs Petrenko, journalist, PhD student (University of Latvia). (In Latvian, with English translation.)

6pm: “The Pleasures of Liberalism”. The third annual Isaiah Berlin Riga Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Ian Buruma. (In English, with Latvian translation.) Professor Buruma says of his subject:

I’d like like to answer critics of liberalism, in the past as well as today, who consider it dull, cowardly, bourgeois; the idea of liberalism as inherently unheroic; the lack of a spirit of self-sacrifice and higher idealism. My defence will be partly in the spirit of Berlin, pointing out the flaws in the self-sacrificing spirit; and partly in that of Brecht, happy is the country that has no need for heroes.

All events are free, but if you would like to attend, please register beforehand.

Our thanks to the sponsors of these events:

The Soros Foundation Latvia

The Representation of the European Commission in Latvia

The Netherlands Embassy in Riga

The British Embassy in Riga

Robert’s Books

Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma is Henry R. Luce Professor of Democracy & Human Rights at Bard College, New York. In 2008 he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contributions to European culture. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books and the New Yorker. Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the top 100 global thinkers of 2010. His books include: “Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents” (2010); “Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance” (2007); “Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies” (2004); “Voltaire’s Coconuts, or, Anglomania in Europe” (1998).

AUDIO: Listen to a recording of Anne Applebaum’s lecture.

SPEAKER: Learn more about Anne Applebaum

EXTRA: Click here to download (PDF) the introduction to Anne Applebaum’s Pulitzer-prizewinning book, Gulag: A History (2003). More about the book, and the author, on Anne Applebaum’s personal website

Outcome: The supporters of the motion carried the day by a 70-30 majority. However, the opponents of the motion could claim a partial success. A show of hands before the debate had produced an 85-15 majority in favour.

AUDIO: Listen to a recording of the debate, beginning with Robert Cottrell’s introduction

AUDIO: Hear a recording of the discussion