Thursday, October 15, 2026 – Saturday, October 17, 2026
Olin Hall A public forum for thinking together about the fragile bonds that hold a plural world together.In a time when we know all too well what we oppose—
war, injustice, authoritarianism, loneliness—
we struggle to answer a deeper question:
What are we fighting for?Hannah Arendt wrote that the break of the Western tradition in the 20th century had left us with “an ominous silence that still answers us whenever we dare to ask, not “What are we fighting against,” but “What are we fighting for.”
The 2026 Arendt Forum takes up that question directly.
Solidarity
When Lech Wałęsa and the dockworkers of Gdańsk named their movement Solidarity, they demanded more than higher wages. They claimed the dignity of freedom, the humanity of having a voice, and the public happiness of belonging to a world where who one is and what one does both matter.
For Hannah Arendt, solidarity was never sentimental. Unlike pity, it does not unite people through compassion alone. Solidarity honors human dignity by binding people together in a shared political project. It creates a community of common interest across difference—rich and poor, educated and uneducated, successful and striving.
Solidarity, Arendt insisted, is grounded not in doctrine or emotion but in judgment: the capacity to see the world from the perspectives of others and to act together without erasing difference.
Yet the greatest danger of the modern age, she warned, is the loss of common sense—the confidence that a shared world still exists.
Modern loneliness, Arendt wrote, leaves us “abandoned by religion, authority, and tradition,” unsure how to act together at all. Rebuilding a common world without nostalgia—without retreat into lost certainties—becomes the defining task of our time.
The Arendt Forum explores solidarity by confronting the questions we often avoid: What is solidarity today? Can solidarity exist without a shared religion or ideology? Is faith (civic, spiritual, or religious) needed for solidarity? How do we nurture care for others in a world of liberal individualism? How do we build solidarity amid deep and meaningful difference? Can the humanities, arts, and civic practices renew our sense of common life? Can solidarity counter the loneliness and purposelessness of modern politics?Above all, we ask the revolutionary questions:
We know what we oppose, but what are we fighting for?
And what are we willing to risk to sustain it?
—-
Celebrating the Hannah Arendt Center’s 20th Anniversary, the Forum gathers thinkers, artists, scholars, and citizens for a three-day public encounter shaped by Arendt’s conviction that politics begins when people think and talk together. The Arendt Forum is a civic space for bold, risky, and provocative reflection on our shared political world.
In the spirit of Arendt’s fearless style of thinking, the Forum invites rigorous exchange and constructive disagreement in public. Honest speech—and the willingness to listen—are the first steps toward building a common world.
Through conversation, debate, music, art, and performance, participants in the 2026 Arendt Forum will explore the possibilities—and risks—of solidarity in our time.
When we claim solidarity today, what are we fighting for?
And what forms of political life are we willing to sustain in its name?
Join us as we think together about the world we are willing to build—and the solidarity required to sustain it.
The Arendt Forum 2026: Solidarity: What Are We Fighting For?
October 15-17, 2026Olin Hall A public forum for thinking together about the fragile bonds that hold a plural world together.In a time when we know all too well what we oppose—
war, injustice, authoritarianism, loneliness—
we struggle to answer a deeper question:
What are we fighting for?Hannah Arendt wrote that the break of the Western tradition in the 20th century had left us with “an ominous silence that still answers us whenever we dare to ask, not “What are we fighting against,” but “What are we fighting for.”
The 2026 Arendt Forum takes up that question directly.
Solidarity
When Lech Wałęsa and the dockworkers of Gdańsk named their movement Solidarity, they demanded more than higher wages. They claimed the dignity of freedom, the humanity of having a voice, and the public happiness of belonging to a world where who one is and what one does both matter.
For Hannah Arendt, solidarity was never sentimental. Unlike pity, it does not unite people through compassion alone. Solidarity honors human dignity by binding people together in a shared political project. It creates a community of common interest across difference—rich and poor, educated and uneducated, successful and striving.
Solidarity, Arendt insisted, is grounded not in doctrine or emotion but in judgment: the capacity to see the world from the perspectives of others and to act together without erasing difference.
Yet the greatest danger of the modern age, she warned, is the loss of common sense—the confidence that a shared world still exists.
Modern loneliness, Arendt wrote, leaves us “abandoned by religion, authority, and tradition,” unsure how to act together at all. Rebuilding a common world without nostalgia—without retreat into lost certainties—becomes the defining task of our time.
The Arendt Forum explores solidarity by confronting the questions we often avoid: What is solidarity today? Can solidarity exist without a shared religion or ideology? Is faith (civic, spiritual, or religious) needed for solidarity? How do we nurture care for others in a world of liberal individualism? How do we build solidarity amid deep and meaningful difference? Can the humanities, arts, and civic practices renew our sense of common life? Can solidarity counter the loneliness and purposelessness of modern politics?Above all, we ask the revolutionary questions:
We know what we oppose, but what are we fighting for?
And what are we willing to risk to sustain it?
—-
Celebrating the Hannah Arendt Center’s 20th Anniversary, the Forum gathers thinkers, artists, scholars, and citizens for a three-day public encounter shaped by Arendt’s conviction that politics begins when people think and talk together. The Arendt Forum is a civic space for bold, risky, and provocative reflection on our shared political world.
In the spirit of Arendt’s fearless style of thinking, the Forum invites rigorous exchange and constructive disagreement in public. Honest speech—and the willingness to listen—are the first steps toward building a common world.
Through conversation, debate, music, art, and performance, participants in the 2026 Arendt Forum will explore the possibilities—and risks—of solidarity in our time.
When we claim solidarity today, what are we fighting for?
And what forms of political life are we willing to sustain in its name?
Join us as we think together about the world we are willing to build—and the solidarity required to sustain it.
The Annual Conference: What it's All About
Bold and Provocative Thinking.
Together.
Together.
Every year, students, thinkers, artists, writers gather at Bard College's Annandale campus for two days of exploration into a pressing contemporary issue. Our aim is to bring together speakers from diverse careers to think together - and often to disagree- in public.
Our Conferences
The Center's annual conferences are known for bringing together speakers from diverse careers to think in public about the most important issues of our time. Previous conferences have explored the economic crisis, education, surveillance, and privacy. In conjunction with the conference, the center sponsors an annual student competition and a student debate.
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View video playlists of past conferences on our YouTube channel.
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Citizenship and Civil Disobedience
took place at Bard College on
Thursday, Oct. 11 and Friday, Oct. 12, 2018
