In a recently published lecture given at the Sala della Protomoteca in Rome’s Campidoglio on 25 March 2026, Slavoj Zizek pushed back against the concept of European civilisational decline promoted by Peter Thiel and the American right.
He reiterated his consistent point that capitalism can indeed change, and that it was Donald Trump who broke the ideological wall that had set the limits for such radical change. However he alluded that the changes ushered by Trump are leading to more violence and barbarity instead of more progress.
Slavoj Zizek admitted that Europe is increasingly alone in a BRICS world where dictators have huddled together and curtained off their torture and regimes from the world. He also said that Europe is being challenged because it is losing its ally, the US, which preserved Western hegemony during the Cold War.
However, Zizek said that Europe is still strong enough to rise as a power and assert its values, which lie in emancipatory universalism. Zizek said that, despite Europe’s past historical crimes, all civilisations practised slavery, but it was Europe that started the movement for the abolition of slavery.
Europe is still an economic power. Europe is afraid of its own emancipatory potential. We would annoy Russia and the USA more if we got rid of our masochistic guilt he said.
The European Union, Zizek added, is still worth fighting for because it remains the only major transnational organisation attempting to guarantee a minimum set of ecological and social welfare standards. Europe is increasingly alone in a BRICS-world where it is relegated to a secondary role in the world’s geopolitical conflicts. Yet Zizek ended by invoking the late French philosopher Bruno Latour: “L’Europe est seule, oui, mais seule l’Europe peut nous sauver” — Europe is alone, yes, but Europe alone can save us.
You can watch the lecture here.
Read more about Zizek’s perspectives on Europe here.
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