It's a tranquil Sunday afternoon in Hamburg. The rain is pouring down, i already confirmed that the ice cream parlor has closed for today. So it's radio time for me.

And there's a particular gem I would like to recommend to you. It's Radio New Zealand's "Great Ideas" series, that started out with the episode on "Rebellion and Revolution". A show formatted as a talk between multiple scholars and a host.

They launch into an exploration that spans history, from antique times to the modern day revolution in Egypt and the black lives matter movement in the US. All the while maintaining their overarching themes of liberty and democracy.

They touch on the uncertainty of becoming a great revolutionary or just filling up the killing fields. Is it justified to use lethal force against an repressive regime? With new studies suggesting that rape and petty murder ran high, even during the American evolutionary war.

Then there's the doubt; what will the future bring, after the revolutionary deed has been done. Is there going to be a more humane and equitable rule, or is there going to be a revolutionary furor, a bloodbath, that will spoil the fruits of the revolution.

With changes in the modern world, the enrichment of knowledge and technology, what brings the future? Will humanity come under control of a global dictator? And do we have a moral obligation to resist said dictator? Although the system may work well for me, does it work for others?

At the end they wrap up with the question, whether there is still the glorious revolutionary of past times.

45 enjoyable minutes, available at Radio New Zealand

Review: Great Ideas on Radio New Zealand

Follow me on Mastodon!