Blurring Identities: Human Rights in the Context of Contemporary Democracy Challenges – Experiences from the US and the EU

Human rights are a subject that always provokes debate because they are interpreted in new and different circumstances. The issue of human rights has come again under spotlight in Europe since 2015, the year of big migrant crisis which hasn’t stop yet. Mass migrations continue, and they took on new waves with the beginning of the war in Ukraine, or more recently with the war conflicts between Israel and Palestine. In the US, the border with Mexico represents the “door of salvation” for many migrants from Latin America countries. In addition to refugees and economic migrants, the issue of human rights is also related to poverty or living on the edge of poverty. And since we live in the so-called “post-truth era” the concept of human rights is intensively interpreted through the prism of the media, social networks and platforms. The openness of the free world is exploited to manipulate the information sphere and disinformation crisis endangers human rights even more. Internet did not fulfill the expectation of democratization of society as it also provided inroads to those wishing to snuff out democracy at the source.
This talk is organized by the American Corner in Zagreb and three Croatian scholars will share their expertise and insights.
The event will be streamed on Facebook Live.

Viktorija Car, PhD is a Full Professor at the University of Split, at the Communication and Media study program. Previously she worked for 22 years at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science, Media and Communication Department. She is a Research Fellow of the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University, USA.
In the focus of her scientific research are public service media, visual culture and visual media, media narratives, digital activism, media and gender studies, media and human rights, media and minority studies. She was project leader of the Digital Data and Security project (University of Zagreb, 2018-2022). She was a MC member of the COST Action IS0906: Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies: “New challenges and methodological innovations in European media audience research“(2010-2014). She coordinated Council of Europe CARDS project Radio-television Student. She was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Media Studies journal (https://hrcak.srce.hr/medijske-studije) 2010-2017. She was member of the HRT Program Council (Croatian public service radio-television) 2011-2012. She worked as a journalist and a screen-writer for the Education Program of the Croatian Public Service Television Hrvatska televizija (HTV) 1998-2002; she was general manager of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) 2003-2004.
She edited or is a co-editor of 6 books, Requirements for Modern Journalism Education – The Perspective of Students in South East Europe (2016), and five in Croatian language Mediji, novinarstvo i ljudska prava [Media, journalism and human rights] (2017), Mediji i javni interes [Media and public interest] (2016), Medijska pismenost – preduvjet za odgovorne medije [Media Literacy – Prerequisite for Accountable Media] (2015), Mi i oni kroz medijske naočale: medijski diskursi u Bosni i Hercegovini, Hrvatskoj i Srbiji [We and They through Media Lenses: Media Discourses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia] (2015), Putokazi prema slobodnim i odgovornim medijima [Guideposts to Free and Accountable Media] (2012). She is author or co-author of about 30 articles and book chapters.

Enes Kulenović, PhD is a Full Professor at the Department of Political and Social theory, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. His research interest includes theories of human rights, contemporary political theory, history of ideas (especially history of liberalism), limits of free speech, toleration and ideological conflicts. He studied and did research at the University of Zagreb, Duke University (USA), University of Bern (Switzerland), University of Magdeburg (Germany) and University of York (UK). As an author he published articles in the leading scientific journals, as well as edited and co-authored university handbook Moderna politička teorija [Modern Political Theory] (2013), as well as two edited volumes Govor mržnje u Hrvatskoj [Hate Speech in Croatia] (2016) and Politike polarizacije i kulturni rat u Hrvatskoj [Politics of Polarization and Cultural War in Croatia] (2023). He is an author of two books Sloboda, pluralizam i nacionalizam: politička teorija Isaiaha Berlina [Freedom, Pluralism and Nationalism: Political Theory of Isaiah Berlin] (2006) and Ljudska prava nakon Babela [Human Rights after Babel] (2019). He was awarded National Science Award for both of these books. From 2015 to 2019 he was a head of the research project Govor mržnje u Hrvatskoj [Hate Speech in Croatia]. From 2019 to 2023 he was a head of research project Politička polarizacija u Hrvatskoj [Political Polarization in Croatia]. He was a chief editor of the scientific journal Annals of Croatian Political Association (2013-2017). In that same period, he was the member of Advisory Council to the Croatian Office of Ombudsman.

Darko Vinketa holds PhD in Political Theory at Johns Hopkins University. He holds an MA in Journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb and an MA in Critical Gender Studies from Central European University. His interests include continental philosophy, political economy, anthropology, psychoanalysis and philosophy of language while his research explores the figurations of theatricality in canonical and contemporary political philosophy, especially as they relate to modern politico-economic notions of production, value, and money. In his work, he applies the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida to pressing political concerns of our time surrounding automation, debt, financialization and universal basic income. His work has appeared in Theory & Event and was presented at the University of Amsterdam, University of Lincoln, University of Ljubljana and the Historical Materialism Conference in London.