Professor Timothy Snyder lecture - "What past catastrophe teaches us about future possibility"

The House of European History in Brussels, Belgium, invited Professor Timothy Snyder, a leading expert on Europe's history, to talk about the continent's shared and divided memory, one of the museum's underpinning themes, in the light of recent events. In examining some of the darkest moments of recent history, Snyder finds glimmers of hope, and principles that could lead us out of our current malaise.
Snyder’s lecture covered the complex question of what happens after empire. As the United States reached its final frontier and the countries of Europe abandoned their overseas territories both empires had to amend and revive their relevance in a changing world. Throughout the lecture our viewers raised questions on interesting aspects such as the furthering of European integration, Eastern European populists yearning for nation-states and the future of the countries that have suffered from colonialism.
Read a written overview of Professor Timothy Snyder’s lecture here: bit.ly/30vtOdg
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction by Constanze Itzel
4:40 Professor Timothy Snyder main lecture
45:40 Q&A from audience

[@johnmartlew]

The clarity of Mr. Snyder’s mind is astonishing. His book Black Earth was my intro to this marvellous thinker.

[@fabiolopesdasilva9103]

I went to Yale twice in the last two years just to meet Professor Snyder. I've just published (in Brazil) a book based upon some of his ideas. It is called Sadopopulism: From Putin to Bolsonaro.

[@robertmoffat5149]

I’d like to read it. The title sounds accurate.

[@fabiolopesdasilva9103]

@@robertmoffat5149 Many thanks for your kind words. The book was written in Portuguese. Unfortunately, it has no English version.

[@DrCruel]

Really? Not Chavez to Lula? Why am I not surprised.

[@fabiolopesdasilva9103]

@@DrCruel By the way, there' s a chapter on how Lula and his followers paved the way to Bolsonaro's sadopopulism. Calm down, honey.

[@DrCruel]

@@fabiolopesdasilva9103 I don't get upset anymore. I just anticipate the usual nonsense. And yes, Lula is to Bolsonaro as Ortega was to Chamorro, then back to Ortega as "President for Life." There a chapter in your book about that?

[@dandiacal]

This is the best summary and analysis of our present moment I have seen.

[@kristinamelnichenko5775]

m hampton characterizing it as “digital occupation” really puts the threat and failure of our government in perspective. trump is the same traitor on election interference that he was in Helsinki and is on Russian bounties for American troops.

[@baausprung716]

@@kristinamelnichenko5775 P Pplp Lp P L L L P L P L Ppp P P Please Please Please Pp

[@coreycox2345]

@@kristinamelnichenko5775 That's not a real comment.

[@robertmoffat5149]

Thank you for posting this interview. I only discovered Timothy Snyder this week and have immediately become his biggest fan.

[@coreycox2345]

He does seem brilliant, Robert Moffat. There are not many people who just seem to know these things, regardless of how much study. He really understands government. Also, let's face it, I like most geographers in how they think, being one myself.

[@AgeOfNerros]

His ideas are the reason why I'm going in European Affairs next year, and why I'm joining VoltEuropa paneuropan party. Hope we can change the EU to help the people inside and the rest of the world

[@JTSeneca]

What about helping the people near you?

[@robertmoffat5149]

@@JTSeneca Not that it is a bad idea exactly, it’s become a tiresome trope in order to invalidate anyone with a meta-perspective these days. Whatever your true intention it comes across like the unsolicited advice to "stay in your cage".

[@KuroNekoExMachina]

@@JTSeneca YoU cAn Do BoTh!!

[@geoffreynhill2833]

An informed, perceptive and timely inquiry into the question of national identity, "nationalism", and its virtues and dangers. Especially relevant to the present moment, throughout the world.

[@maghdean]

Sorry to have somehow missed the live stream... Thanks for the recording.

[@fritzmeier8304]

Dear Mr. and Prof. Snyder, I'am very grateful about your lectures on US and Europe. You should speak not only to an academic audience but also to students in common schools in US an Europe. At the moment I'm reading your book "Black earth". Every page is an accumulation of new prospects. I've learned much more from you as from any historian in german language. Perhaps we (Central-)Europeans are too caught up in our national narratives than foreign historians with an outside view are able to recognize. In conversations I always try to recommend your books to others. Greetings from Europe and I'am looking forward to another lecture.

[@rytat5745]

Thank you very much !

[@joasia7777]

Thank you prof for your lectures. I lived in several countries and your lectures helped me organize my disheveled thoughts

[@coreycox2345]

You are not wrong, joasia7777. I think anyone who starts their work with maps down to the centemeter or know if we don't need one is on the right track. Some people don't even see geography as a discipline, but it's my favourite.

[@pequodexpress]

Dr. Timothy Snyder needs to be more of a household name in the U.S. But the way propaganda works in the U.S. is that reason and rationality get pushed to the margins with bread and circuses.

[@JaCeeMusic]

thank you for this.

[@davideldred.campingwilder6481]

I can't believe this man's gone under my radar. He's a prolific speaker, unscripted and the tempo in which he speaks is stunning...

[@KattEyl]

Great lecture. Thank you.

[@Mentisia]

For future streams it would be nice if the host could try to reduce the echo in the audio by installing sound panels/ introduce more fabric (curtains) in the room

[@stephenyang2844]

When the 2008 financial collapse brought on by greedy bankers were bailed out without any account on the guilty, America had collapsed morally. Eventually, extreme income inequality will bring down the empire.

[@sbaumgartner9848]

The intelligence and deep probing that Professor Snyder does in so many areas is truly exceptional. He is also very fluent in Ukrainian. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in Russian as well, given the research he has done over 30+ years.

[@dharmadreams4586]

Best part of this talk’s unnecessarily long introduction: “Professor Snyder-over to you.”

[@user-ui2qi4gp8q]

I dont understand his deductions. We have had "national" states, "globalization" and epidemics before. Whats new? Ist the EU a type of an empire?

[@HWASpeakersBureau]

Hi. Would you please consider allowing the video to be embedded? It would allow the video and the message to be viewed more broadly. Thanks!

[@HouseOfEuropeanHistory]

Hello - yes I've now turned embedding on for all videos on this channel. Let me know if you still have any problems embedding a particular video, and we'll look if there is a specific technical issue. You can get in touch with me directly at this address [e-mail] (Communications Team)

[@ricardocima]

A great historian going down the well of presentism and party politics. His friend Anne Applebaum does a better job in staying at a safe distance from all of that.

[@KattEyl]

I disagree. He has the right, as do all citizens, to speak out and share his knowledge to save us from ourselves.

[@coreycox2345]

We have a lot in place for ourselves, if we take this new approach. I know the video is a few years old. I wonder if we could gain insight from the thought experiment of applying John Meirsheimer's approach to family dynamics. It's all related. My dad was a land developer and our family was a hegemon among other hegemons. I had no clue. Once he offered me a percentage share of his company and I said "No thanks, I'm not an imperialist." It was a 3% share and I would have been set up for life. That's not bad, but it just hadn't occurred to me. I had always had everything I needed? Eat the rich? If someone did this well, it could make different sectors "get it." Maybe it could be a teaching tool, or maybe there would be too many inconvenient truths?

[@jorgewhorton6793]

He actually thinks before he answers unlike 99% of people

[@coreycox2345]

I did not realize that things had gotten this bad. Unsurprising, though. This is brilliant. There had been a pandemic prior to Hitler. It likely helped him.

[@Johnconno]

It's a matter of honour as much as anything.

[@noelcastelino6790]

Many of the observations about the pandemic could be applied to the AIDS epidemic.

[@lisajackson6596]

Oh brother. As a statically centered historian, one I’ve learned a lot from-why have generic flu numbers bottomed out to near-zero? Anyone interested in “empire” would seem to me interested in profit motive. Is generic flu being federally subsidized? Is COVID?

[@joasia7777]

No Lisa. Wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance, avoiding crowded spaces prevents getting infected with coronavirus and even more so with the less infectious influenza.

[@Krasawceg]

miss you are indomiet for the godes

[@fayzemourie7776]

understanding the change always continue to happen regime not able to target modern productivity it does not matter how rich or highly productive soviet union failed communism Europeans union unity not very strong american system of governments is old fashioned run ideology for hundredth years or more not changed changed

[@dyehousefilms9492]

He's a bit obsessed with the myth of the "nation state". The definition of nation state doesn't fit into parameters that are so neatly defined as Mr. Snyder would like them to be. Repeating "nation state" fifty or so times doesn't make your argument water tight. Scholars can barely agree what a nation state is, countries exist sometimes because of shared culture and language at some point in time and a whole host of other reasons. As a European I might visit Berlin or any number of a dozen EU capitals and not know what the hell anyone is saying all day, this is not the same as the US. Mr. Snyder is adding apples to oranges and getting a whole load of bananas.

[@dyehousefilms9492]

Antonio S Well I’m not actually Russian but I get what you’re driving at. No, I’m merely pointing out that organised states, countries, nations if you will do in fact exist.

[@robertmoffat5149]

As long as TS considers nation states as concrete facts, and you only consider them mere "myths’ or 'metaphors" naturally you’re going to have a failure to communicate. You’re both speaking different languages right there.

[@markheithaus]

I've realized that while Timothy Snyder is an excellent historian, he's terrible at modern social analysis. I think of myself as very liberal, and lived in Russia a couple of years and spent a lot of time in Estonia. While it very, very true that racism exists here in the states and comes with certain blinders on different issues, it's also true that a lot of liberals don't and didn't like the responses to the pandemic because of poor discussion around co-morbidities (like obesity) and efficacy of preventative medicine. In regard to racial issues, it's true that right wing racists are a problem, as is the poor discussion that leads people to believe that the number of unarmed blacks shot by the police in 2019 was in the hundreds or thousands rather than around fifteen. Similarly, a discussion of "the border" can be influenced by racism, but I find is generally a product of simply saying "this is our society. These are our laws. Please be respectful." I think of Estonians being allowed to to say, "please speak Estonian if you plan on moving here and voting here." I love Snyder's work, but I voted for Trump, and I found very, very, very little relevant that Snyder explained. The majority of Trump voters don't think Qanon is a thing, and the majority - including in that administration - don't and didn't use "dog whistles" to harken back to a "better time" when there were only white Christians. Liberalism is flourishing in Florida today, while facing setbacks in California. Better social analysis would be from people like professors Johnathan Haidt, John McWhorter and Glenn Lowry, and from other figures such as Douglas Murray. I'll add, liberals won an election in Virginia recently.

[@pars4666]

So we need an American Union that comprises USA, Canada and Mexico.

[@richardeschallert8526]

How about the name: The North American Federation OR NorthAmerican Union?

[@eugenedebs9547]

Timothy what term do you suggest we use instead of Neo-liberal ? - I'm wary of you of just being another capitalist propagandist.

[@JTSeneca]

What a grotesc uninformed historian. He has gross mistaken basic cause and effect relationship. He is a political activist.

[@ALeaud]

In what sense? Would you mind elaborating?

[@robertmoffat5149]

@@ALeaud Ya spit it out. It’s easy to knock people without foundation. The burden of proof is your’s to bare pilgrim.

[@dorisaffissio1649]

What are you saying?