The “Friedman in Conversation” series focuses on the existential and political issues of our time. In conversation with guests from the worlds of politics, the arts and academia, author, journalist and philosopher Michel Friedman regularly seeks to engage in debate. Intense, controversial, and curious about emancipatory potential and clear-cut positions.
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Michel Friedman
Bodo Ramelow
In this instalment, Michel Friedman speaks with Bodo Ramelow about democracy: what remains of parliamentary democracy when it becomes increasingly difficult to secure majorities? How does one govern when a government can no longer be formed without extremists? Can a democracy exclude its enemies without itself becoming undemocratic? What must it endure, and what must it not tolerate? Where does compromise end and where does betrayal of one’s own convictions begin?
Bodo Ramelow (born 1956) is married and has two sons. After completing his apprenticeship as a retail salesman at Karstadt, he became a trade union secretary at the HBV in 1981. In 1999, he was elected to the Thuringian State Parliament for the PDS. From 2005 to 2009, he was a member of the Bundestag; from 2009 onwards, he once again served as parliamentary group leader in the Thuringian State Parliament. From 2014 to 2024, he was the first Thuringian Minister-President from the Left Party in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2021–22, he served as President of the Bundesrat. In 2025, he returned to the Bundestag as a directly elected Member of Parliament and has been its Vice-President since March 2025.
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Dates
December 2026
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