2020-03-03

#rp20 Speaker Hasnain Kazim — Hate and how I deal with it

rp20 Speaker Hasnain Kazim

The independent author, journalist and political scientist Hasnain Kazim was born in Oldenburg to Pakistani parents and grew up in Hamburg and Karachi. Hasnain Kazim is a writer for several major media outlets like ZEIT ONLINE, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and SPIEGEL. As a journalist he spent most of his time of his career as foreign correspondent in Islamabad, Istanbul and Vienna.

Working as a journalist, Hasnain Kazim is focussed on political and religious extremism. He was awarded the “CNNN Journalist Award for his report „Protokoll eines mörderischen Feldzugs", a documentary about the Islamist terror attack on the hotel “Taj Mahal” in Mumbai. He is the author of several books, among them “Grünkohl und Curry”, “Plötzlich Pakistan” and “Krisenstaat Türkei”.

Find Hasnain Kazim on Twitter here.


ASAP—3 questions for … Hasnain Kazim

We asked Hasnain about his keynote at #rp20, the most pressing issues for him at the moment and his recommended readings, music or movies.

What topic will you talk about at re:publica?
"My topic will be “How to defy hater and populists — Hate and how I deal with it”."

True to this year’s motto—what’s the most pressing issue for you personally at the moment?
"The most pressing issue is to encourage people to show civil courage and to oppose the pushing of boundaries regarding what’s sayable and to prevent extremists from getting more power."

What’s your reading, movie or music recommendation that everyone should check out ASAP?
"I like to recommend the book “Der Reisende” (Editor: “The Traveller”) by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz at the moment. Boschwitz and his mother fled to Scandinavia in 1935 and later to England. Despite having a jewish background he was detained and sent to a camp in Australia. On his way back to Europe in 1942 his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. Boschwitz died at the age of only 27 years. In his book “Der Reisende” he describes the disturbing events of November 1938 in Germany from the eyes of a jew—a man who had to become invisible."