A dialogue between essayist and journalist Matěj Metelec and leading Czech thinker Pavel Barša – on thought, politics, and his intellectual lives, following up on their book-length interview of the same name.

Pavel Barša was born into a communist family, was active in alternative culture circles during the 1980s, and after 1989 helped establish the fields of political science and international relations in our country. Alongside this, he has always commented on current political and global affairs, authoring books that frequently made him among the first to introduce topics such as multiculturalism, feminism, and postcolonialism to the Czech context.

Barša has been and remains many things throughout his life – a devout communist, musician, pub intellectual, academic comprador, imaginary Jew, political philosopher… Above all, however, he is a prominent and original thinker who has influenced the local intellectual scene for several decades. Thus, while a book-length interview with Pavel Barša depicts the past and present facets of his life, it simultaneously maps the evolution of political and social thought in the Czech Republic, the global crisis of liberalism, and the challenges posed by geopolitical conflicts or climate change. (from the book As Usual, I Was Looking for a Third Way)

Matěj Metelec (b. 1983) is an essayist, journalist, and editor for the cultural biweekly A2. His work focuses on the history of emancipation movements and Czech political thought. He is co-editor of the essay collection Post (2020), editor of selected writings by Petr Uhl titled One Must Constantly Fight for Freedom (Za svobodu je třeba neustále bojovat, 2021), and author of a book-length interview with Pavel Barša, As Usual, I Was Looking for a Third Way (Jako obvykle jsem hledal nějakou třetí cestu, 2025). He works as a commentator for Deník N and Právo.