An evening with Bernard-Henri Lévy

An evening with Bernard-Henri Lévy

02 Dec 2008

Speakers: Bernard-Henri Levy

Bernard-Henri Lévy discusses the meaning behind his book Left in Dark Times (2008).

Lévy begins by discussing his desire to portray the intellectual adventure of European youth in the 1960s. Especially their blindness towards the ‘diseases of the left’ - Marxism and Leninism. He argues that words are stronger than bombs, and discusses how words opened his eyes to the truth that Marxism is a terrible ideology - but not for the reasons argued by the right.

Lévy believes that Marxism creates order, rather than disorder. Using the Cambodian revolution as an example, he explains that all revolutionaries know that uprisings ultimately fail, creating the opposite of what they intended - slavery instead of liberty. Apologists will always argue that this is because the revolution did not go far enough.

Lévy argues that simply changing the head of state cannot change a world order. Instead, to change the “Old World” you must go to the very origin of the ages. He continues by arguing that after the fall of the Berlin Wall there were many people who felt that the nightmare was over, and a new time was in front of them. However, the reality was very different. There was no progress of enlightenment; on the contrary, there was a regression. Lévy describes this through the prism of economic deregulation, political liberalism, anti-imperialism and tolerance.

Lévy finishes with a discussion of the Muslim veil, in relation to the concept of universality of morality and the source of anti-Americanism, and its history through Europe and interrelation with the history of European fascism.

BUY THE DVD