Who Has the Last Word? The Power of Personal Testimony in Public Debate

In contemporary public debates, it seems that the social position of the speakers and their degree of affectedness are often more important than the arguments themselves. The journalists and authors Hasnain Kazim, Gilda Sahebi and Mithu Sanyal will therefore discuss what left-wing identity politics has achieved in critiquing institutions and power while simultaneously questioning the underlying problem of a lack of solidarity mechanisms that enable social groups to cohere across identity boundaries. Does the powerful position attached to personal testimony need to be removed for public debate to be able to generate greater integration?