Opening of the 22nd ilb – David Van Reybrouck: The Colonization of the Future

The ceremonial Opening of the 22nd international literature festival berlin.

Writer, playwright, historian, and journalist David Van Reybrouck has received multiple awards for his ground-breaking work »Congo: A History«. The book »Revolusi: Indonesia and the Making of the Modern World« on the beginning of the decolonization in Indonesia was recently published. In his opening address, David Van Reybrouck analyzes the colonization of the future and explores possible avenues for tackling it.

»Even when we will have come to terms with the colonialism of the past, we still would not have done anything about the dramatic way in which we are now colonizing the future. Humanity is conquering and exploiting the next century with the same ruthlessness, the same greed and the same short-sightedness with which continents were appropriated in earlier times.« [David Van Reybrouck]

Music: Hanna Rabenko, Bandura
Greeting: Klaus Lederer [Senator for Culture], Matthias Pees [Director of the Berliner Festspiele], Ulrich Schreiber [Festival Director ilb]
Introduction: Katharina Borchardt
Languages: German, English
Interpreter: Lilian-Astrid Geese