Radicalism and Pragmatism in the Context of Social Movements

*This public talk will be held in Romanian.

For centuries, radicalism has been a catalyst for change, but today it often risks turning into a form of spectacle — hashtags, virtue signaling, and bursts of outrage that leave real power structures untouched.

Civil society in Moldova, already fragmented, faces the challenge of balancing online anger with meaningful organization — of turning sparks into strategy rather than chaos.

From the “instrumentalization of progressivism” to the traps of digital activism, the question is no longer if resistance is possible, but how it can be effective, pragmatic, and lasting.

As movements become increasingly reactive and less strategic, we must ask: how can civic resistance evolve from moments of fury into durable structures of change that truly challenge power?