Banning Lezing

On Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, Haroon Sheikh will deliver the fifth Banning Lecture at the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam. You can register via this form.

Since 2018, every two years - simultaneously with the presentation of the Banning Prize - the Banning Lecture is pronounced in the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam. After Lodewijk Asscher (2018), Marjan Minnesma (2020) and Tuur Elzinga (2022) and Frans Timmermans (2024), Haroon Sheikh will also connect his daily work with larger questions about politics and society. The lecture is an initiative of the Banning Association intended to give further impetus to the discussion on values, beliefs and social democracy.

The lecture is named after Willem Banning (1888-1971) and is delivered on his birthday. According to Banning, every political action went back to underlying values and beliefs. In the lecture named after him, every other year a speaker is challenged to reflect precisely on the question of what drives them to political action.

Banning advocated a non-materialist, humanist, liberal and democratic socialism that placed a strong emphasis on culture and binding norms such as justice, community, responsibility and solidarity. For Banning, individual and community were inextricably linked. The "personalism" or personalist socialism he espoused in imitation of French social Christian thinkers stood for the free development of individuals in solidarity-based communities. This personalism, according to Banning, was diametrically opposed to economic liberalism and "anarchist" individualism. In our own era, Banning's moral appeal, his emphasis on culture and his call for a sense of community are more relevant than ever.

Prior to the lecture, the presentation of the Banning Prize 2026 will take place. This year's invitation to young thinkers was to formulate their own answer to the question: what progress do we want to fight for?