In the time when human rights are violated on a regular basis, violence triumphs, and feeble democracies ever more often back down before authoritarian rule, there obviously arises the need to reflect on the possible ways of counteracting such phenomena. Our interdisciplinary conference is intended as a fitting opportunity for this reflection. We would like to look at various manifestations of dictatorship, violence and human rights violation, whether historical or current. We will describe them in political, social, psychological, cultural and many other terms. We also want to devote considerable attention to how the situation of human rights and dictatorship is represented in artistic practices: in literature, film, theatre or visual arts.