No new attendance record on site, but a significant increase in online viewership – that’s the result of the 11th European Tolerance Talks 2025. Over 8,000 interested people followed the 14 panel discussions via livestream, an increase of more than 25 percent compared to the previous year. On average, around 400 participants participated in each panel live and via livestream, with a Facebook:YouTube ratio of 3:1. Between 80 and 100 attendees watched the panel discussions in person at the Tolerance Museum. Up to 600 people attended the top panels in person and via livestream. “The livestreams recorded over 15,000 views on the two main days alone, June 5 and 6,” reports Michael Zankl, head of online events at Denk.Raum.Fresach. In an initial assessment, the 2025 Tolerance Prize winner and Denk.Raum.Fresach chairman, Superintendent Manfred Sauer, spoke of another major step toward establishing a cross-border dialogue forum in Carinthia that is embraced not only by politicians and business people, but – even more importantly – by the citizens: “After more than ten years of work for tolerance, democracy, and human rights, we can say that we are also being heard.” The President of the Board of Trustees, Hannes Swoboda, paid high praise to those responsible. “With the 2025 theme ‘Madness – World in Disarray?’, which we chose last year, we anticipated the current political developments. Never before in the long post-war era has the uncertainty among large sections of the population been as great as it is today. Words of confidence and hope that the future can be a better one are needed.” Continue reading on pressetext
