Youtube Liversteam
Moderation: Kathrin Trattner
German

A machine’s function is what it does. For over 20 years, the digital machine has been churning out fascism and radicalization on a regular basis and in a formulaic manner. As “Trumpization” and extremism gain ground, one might be tempted to counter them with fact-checking and media literacy. Naive thinking, says Simon Strick, because fascistization is a fundamental tendency of digital media. Right-wing populism and the internet not only emerged at the same time; they operate according to related formulas and have transformed the public sphere into a reactionary one. In his analysis—as lucid as it is rich in material—the media scholar, following Leo Löwenthal, concludes: Democratic discourse finds itself unprepared and helpless on the path of fascistization. A shift in thinking is necessary.
Faschisierung: Fluchtlinie des Digitalen. Suhrkamp 2026
Simon Strick, born in 1974, is a cultural studies scholar and freelance writer, working with, among others, the performance collective “Panzerkreuzer Rotkäppchen.” Regarding his 2021 study Rechte Gefühle (Right-Wing Emotions), Deutschlandfunk described the book as “arguably the most intelligent and comprehensive account of contemporary fascism.”