People cannot always decide for themselves whether a message is false or distorted. No one is solely in possession of the final truth. However, getting the facts straight and actively pursuing “counter speech” is a task not only for the media but also for civil society and each individual user.
It would seem that freedom unites people, gives them a sense of community and a common denominator. However, freedom may embrace many incompatible things. If we truly wish to be free, we must be able to differentiate between the concepts of liberating freedom and binding freedom.
Georgia became an independent nation in 1991 after 190 years of, first, annexation by Russia and then forceful incorporation in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Georgia experienced the most dramatic peacetime economic decline in human history – a 75% drop in GDP. The country needed to restart its economy, and quickly.
The EU is currently going through a multidimensional crisis and loses its defenders: both in the societies and among politicians. This trend is reversible, but we need to offer fresh solutions and make Europe a great dream again. In Warsaw, at the crossroads of East and West, we are perfectly positioned to do it.
The Economic Freedom of the World study gives all nations a very useful tool to see in which areas their countries’ economies have weak spots, why investors are not attracted to what they offer and why individuals avoid hard work.
“Inequality” refers to very important aspects of social life. But the debate on equality is full of confusion because of its many meanings, methodological and empirical errors and very strong emotions which “inequality” evokes. Conceptual confusion includes the lack of precise distinction between the inequality of situation and the inequality of opportunity.
To create Silicon Valleys in Poland and Europe, recognize that they cannot be designed and that the winners and losers they comprise cannot be predicted. Especially by governments. Focus instead on creating the right climate and environment: attractive taxes and unobtrusive regulation. Trust in freedom and free markets.
Europe has chosen to define itself as an open society. This allows for individual freedom. But it also gives enemies the opportunity to destroy open spaces, guaranteed by the state, intentionally and with the aim of causing maximum harm. However, it is not only terrorists who are putting the European model at risk.
Today we celebrate the Human Rights Day. Although it, technically, commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we think the Human Freedom Index and its definition of freedom – the absence of coercive constraint – can assist us in thinking more carefully about the state of freedom around the world.
In considering the extent to which the state should be relied upon to promote social cohesion and virtue, one must keep in mind the potential associated pitfalls as well as the other possible means to accomplish the same desired ends.
