Is this fascism? With Lea Ypi and Agri Ismaïl

A voter-backed radical nationalism has taken root not only in Europe but in many parts of the world. Against the backdrop of the global breakdown of international law, large-scale mobilisations of violence against minorities, the politicisation of universities, corporate campaigns against climate science, and tech oligarchs tightening their control over surveillance systems and algorithmically curated information flows, a growing number of people have begun to ask whether parts of the West are currently witnessing the return of fascism.

What speaks in favour of this interpretation? What speaks against it? And how do today’s fascist forms and expressions differ from those of the past?

Participants:
Lea Ypi, Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and author of, among other works, Free (2021) and Indignity (Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2025).

Agri Ismaïl, critic and author of Hyper (Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2023).

From the Sakli(g)t book festival 2026. Sakli(g)t is organised by Rikstolvan in collaboration with the Institute for Futures Studies and Linnaeus University, with support from the Swedish Arts Council, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, the Natur & Kultur Foundation, and the Swedish Academy.

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