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"Michnik, Adam"
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In search of lost meaning
In this new collection of essays, Adam Michnik—one of Europe’s leading dissidents—traces the post-cold-war transformation of Eastern Europe. He writes again in opposition, this time to post-communist elites and European Union bureaucrats. Composed of history, memoir, and political critique, In Search of Lost Meaning shines a spotlight on the changes in Poland and the Eastern Bloc in the post-1989 years. Michnik asks what mistakes were made and what we can learn from climactic events in Poland’s past, in its literature, and the histories of Central and Eastern Europe. He calls attention to pivotal moments in which central figures like Lech Walesa and political movements like Solidarity came into being, how these movements attempted to uproot the past, and how subsequent events have ultimately challenged Poland’s enduring ethical legacy of morality and liberalism. Reflecting on the most recent efforts to grapple with Poland’s Jewish history and residual guilt, this profoundly important book throws light not only on recent events, but also on the thinking of one of their most important protagonists.
eBook
The trouble with history : morality, revolution, and counterrevolution
\"Renowned Eastern European author Adam Michnik was jailed for more than six years by the communist regime in Poland for his dissident activities. He was an outspoken voice for democracy in the world divided by the Iron Curtain and has remained so to the present day. In this thoughtful and provocative work, the man the Financial Times named \"one of the 20 most influential journalists in the world\" strips fundamentalism of its religious component and examines it purely as a secular political phenomenon. Comparing modern-day Poland with postrevolutionary France, Michnik offers a stinging critique of the ideological \"virus of fundamentalism\" often shared by emerging democracies: the belief that, by using techniques of intimidating public opinion, a state governed by \"sinless individuals\" armed with a doctrine of the only correct means of organizing human relations can build a world without sin. Michnik employs deep historical analysis and keen political observation in his insightful five-point philosophical meditation on morality in public life, ingeniously expounding on history, religion, moral thought, and the present political climate in his native country and throughout Europe\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
In Search of Lost Meaning
In this new collection of essays, Adam Michnik—one of Europe's leading dissidents—traces the post-cold-war transformation of Eastern Europe. He writes again in opposition, this time to post-communist elites and European Union bureaucrats. Composed of history, memoir, and political critique, In Search of Lost Meaning shines a spotlight on the changes in Poland and the Eastern Bloc in the post-1989 years. Michnik asks what mistakes were made and what we can learn from climactic events in Poland's past, in its literature, and the histories of Central and Eastern Europe. He calls attention to pivotal moments in which central figures like Lech Walesa and political movements like Solidarity came into being, how these movements attempted to uproot the past, and how subsequent events have ultimately challenged Poland's enduring ethical legacy of morality and liberalism. Reflecting on the most recent efforts to grapple with Poland's Jewish history and residual guilt, this profoundly important book throws light not only on recent events, but also on the thinking of one of their most important protagonists.
eBook
An uncanny era : conversations between Václav Havel and Adam Michnik
\"Czech playwright and dissident Václav Havel first encountered Polish historian and dissident Adam Michnik in 1978 at a clandestine meeting on a mountaintop along the Polish-Czechoslovak border. This initial meeting of two extraordinary thinkers who \"plotted\" democracy, and designed an effective peaceful strategy for dismantling authoritarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, resulted in a lifelong friendship and an extraordinary set of bold conversations conducted over the next two postrevolutionary decades. Havel, president of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, and Michnik, editor-in-chief of the largest daily newspaper in the region, provide rare insights into the post-1989 challenges to building new democratic institutions and new habits in the context of an increasingly unsettling political culture. With both dismay and humor, their fascinating exchanges wrestle with the essential question of postrevolutionary life: How does one preserve the revolution's ideals in the real world? At once historically immediate and politically universal, the Havel-Michnik conversations have never before been collected in a single volume in any language\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Wir müssen kämpfen!
Die Hintergründe und Folgen des Hitler-Stalin-Pakts von 1939 verraten viel über totalitäre Diktaturen. Sie brauchen die Lüge, den Hass, den Feind, den Führer und die Gewalt. 1989 schien sich die Welt von diesen Irrungen zu befreien. Heute beobachten wir weltweit eine neue Bewegung. Sie ist nationalistisch, populistisch, fremdenfeindlich und autoritär. Ihre Führer heißen Putin, Trump und Xi, Erdoğan und Orbán. In Polen ist der oberste Anhänger dieses Kurses Jarosław Kaczyński. Sie alle singen unterschiedliche Lieder zu derselben Melodie. Wir kennen sie aus den 1930er Jahren. Diese Lieder beginnen mit Worten der Lüge und rufen auf zum Kampf gegen die Offene Gesellschaft, Freiheit und Menschenrechte. Es ist Zeit, diesen Kampf aufzunehmen, wenn auch mit anderen Mitteln. Wir Bürger müssen Freiheit und Demokratie verteidigen.
The background to the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 and its consequences tell us much about the way totalitarian regimes work. They rely on lies and hatred, and they depend on the existence of an enemy, a leader and the use of force. In 1989, it looked as though the world had liberated itself from these aberrations. Today, we are witnessing a new movement that is nationalistic, populist, xenophobic and authoritarian. Its leaders are called Putin, Trump and Xi, Erdoğan und Orbán. In Poland, the most powerful advocate of these tendencies is Jarosław Kaczyński. While they may sing different songs, the melody is the same. We recognise it from the 1930s. These songs begin with lies, and are an appeal to fight against open society, freedom and human rights. It is time to take up this fight, albeit with other means. We citizens must defend freedom and democracy.
Journal Article
Wir müssen kämpfen
Die Hintergründe und Folgen des Hitler-Stalin-Pakts von 1939 verraten viel über totalitäre Diktaturen. Sie brauchen die Lüge, den Hass, den Feind, den Führer und die Gewalt. 1989 schien sich die Welt von diesen Irrungen zu befreien. Heute beobachten wir weltweit eine neue Bewegung. Sie ist nationalistisch, populistisch, fremdenfeindlich und autoritär. Ihre Führer heißen Putin, Trump und Xi, Erdoğan und Orbán. In Polen ist der oberste Anhänger dieses Kurses Jarosław Kaczyński. Sie alle singen unterschiedliche Lieder zu derselben Melodie. Wir kennen sie aus den 1930er Jahren. Diese Lieder beginnen mit Worten der Lüge und rufen auf zum Kampf gegen die Offene Gesellschaft, Freiheit und Menschenrechte. Es ist Zeit, diesen Kampf aufzunehmen, wenn auch mit anderen Mitteln. Wir Bürger müssen Freiheit und Demokratie verteidigen.
The background to the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 and its consequences tell us much about the way totalitarian regimes work. They rely on lies and hatred, and they depend on the existence of an enemy, a leader and the use of force. In 1989, it looked as though the world had liberated itself from these aberrations. Today, we are witnessing a new movement that is nationalistic, populist, xenophobic and authoritarian. Its leaders are called Putin, Trump and Xi, Erdoğan und Orbán. In Poland, the most powerful advocate of these tendencies is Jarosław Kaczyński. While they may sing different songs, the melody is the same. We recognise it from the 1930s. These songs begin with lies, and are an appeal to fight against open society, freedom and human rights. It is time to take up this fight, albeit with other means. We citizens must defend freedom and democracy.
Journal Article
The Catholic Church after the Election of Pope Francis
The election of a new Pope always gives rise to expectations, hopes, and anxieties. In Oct 1978, after a Polish bishop was elected to the papacy, the Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski articulated his prophesies and desires regarding Karol Wojtyla, the Krakow Cardinal. Two issues seemed essential at the time: the disputes between the fundamentalist and the progressivists within the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, the election of a Pope from Argentina came as a surprise. The Catholic Church rejected Eurocentrism. And the new Pope spoke with the language of gestures. Here, Michnik discusses the election of Pope Francis and the crisis of Christianity.
Journal Article
The Trouble with History: Tradition: Imprisonment or Liberation?
The essay discusses the phenomenon of a recent upsurge of so-called \"politics of history\" in Poland, and in other postcommunist democracies. The upsurge, as the author argues, is caused by a growing anxiety following the collapse of the communist order.
Journal Article