The Art of Resistance

In a world threatening to slide into despotism and neo-authoritarianism, the power of resistance is paramount. It is essential to resist the temptation to reduce this complex world to ludicrous simplifications and to avoid the trap of excessive moderation.

Robert Messick's award-winning essays are characterized by radical ambition, style, eloquence, and engaging, accessible writing. With passion, the author positions himself between the two opposing camps. Messick opposes the "destruction of reason" by neo-fascism while simultaneously taking aim at some of the absurdities of the contemporary left. He describes the political devastation of our era with cultural depth and highlights the political radicalism of artists such as Annie Ernaux, Franz Kafka, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and George Orwell as relevant to our time. Robert Misik, born in 1966, is a journalist and political writer who regularly contributes to the Berlin-based newspapers Tageszeitung, Die Zeit, and Neue Zürcher Zeitung, as well as the Austrian magazine Falter. He has received numerous awards, including the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Progress, the 2010 Journalist of the Year Award in the online journalism category, and the 2009 Austrian State Prize for Cultural Journalism. He is the author of several books, the most recent being \Politics from Below\ (Politik von unten), published by Pekus Verlag in 2023. www.misik.at