re:publica 26: Quo vadis Meinungsfreiheit?

Whither freedom of speech? In his book "Freedom of Speech," lawyer and journalist Ronen Steinke examines one of the central fundamental rights of democracy and offers an uncomfortable diagnosis: Never before in Germany have so many regulations defined what may and may not be said. However, the boundaries of what can be said have not become clearer; on the contrary, they have become apparent. Rather, they reveal how differently courts assess similar statements, thus shifting the boundaries of free speech. His appeal: a democratic public sphere that is less concerned with suppressing contradictions than with tolerating them. Writer, cultural journalist, and essayist Jagoda Marinić focuses on another dimension of freedom: In the ARD podcast "FREEDOM DELUXE," she creates a space for discussions about the social, cultural, and individual conditions of freedom. In exchanges with prominent guests from politics, culture, and academia, she explores how freedom is experienced, who has access to it, and how it is understood under changing social conditions. The question of how to foster a constructive culture of debate is always at the heart of this discussion. At re:publica 26, the two will discuss who determines the boundaries of what can be said—and under what conditions freedom can even be lived. What happens when different conceptions of freedom clash and demands for freedom collide? A conversation about what it takes to defend an open society in times when contradictions are increasingly seen as an imposition. This program session is supported by the Mercator Foundation. This program session is supported by the Mercator Foundation. Speakers: Ronen Steinke – https://re-publica.com/user/26303 Jagoda Marinić – https://re-publica.com/user/13157 Moderator: Nilz Bokelberg – https://re-publica.com/user/11242 Further information: https://re-publica.com/de/session/quo... All videos from #rp26:    • re:publica 2026: Never gonna give you up!   Mastodon: https://berlin.social/@republica Threads: https://www.threads.net/@re_publica Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/re-publica.com Instagram:   / re_publica   Facebook:   / republica   LinkedIn:   / re-publica   re:publica 26 – Never gonna give you up! https://re-publica.com #PoliticsUndSociety May 18, 2026 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)