Start doing the things you think should be done, and start being what you think society should become.
ADAM MICHNIKThere were free elections in Bulgaria, where the opposition has just won.
More Adam Michnik Quotes
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Although there is a strong desire for freedom in the countries of Eastern Europe, there is no democratic tradition, so that the risk of anarchy and chaos continues to exist.
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I consider that 9/11 was the day when war was started against my own work and against myself.
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If you’re powerful, you are much more likely to be blind and deaf to signals from outside.
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Do you believe in an open society? Then act in the open. Do you believe in a decent and humane society? Then behave decently and humanely.
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Sometimes the type of person from the old machine, who is everything but an appealing figure, happens to win an election. But democracy applies to everyone, not just the noble and the clever.
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The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.
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Poland is an ally of the United States of America. It was our duty to show that we are a reliable, loyal, and predictable ally.
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Today we reject the notion of equality between a regime that belongs to the democratic world – even if it is conservative and disagreeable – and a totalitarian dictatorship, whether its colors are black, red, or green.
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In a democracy, the government is a reflection of society because people are elected.
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Even though we are not sure of the links, Iraq was one of the countries that did not lower its flags in mourning on 9/11.
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Politics and ethics belong to different worlds.
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After the fall of communism in Poland, we had a post-communist as president for two terms: Aleksander Kwasniewski. He was very good. He brought Poland into NATO and the European Union.
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A part of society in our countries would still prefer an authoritarian regime today. These are people with the mentality of Homo sovieticus. But they also exist in France – just think of Le Pen – and even in Finland and Sweden.
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Demagoguery and populism are rampant. We are the illegitimate children, the bastards of communism. It shaped our mentality.
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The main difference between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution was that the former was mostly the work of Communist party members and others who wanted to bring about ‘socialism with a human face.’
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The call to finally clean house is a propaganda tool of the right, which tolerates the leftists who it condemns.
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They want a gradual coup. If Orbán stayed in power in Hungary or if Kaczynski were to win an election in our country, it would be dangerous.
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This is why we will never again say that Chamberlain is no better than Hitler, Roosevelt no better than Stalin, and Nixon no better than Mao Zedong, even if we do condemn Roosevelt for Yalta, Chamberlain for Munich, and Nixon for Watergate.
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Do you believe in free speech? Then speak freely. Do you love the truth? Then tell it.
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Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.
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We still have politicians who strive for a different type of country: Kaczynski as well as Orbán in Hungary.
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I think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein.
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I can’t remember any text of mine where I said that one should fight Hitler without violence; I’m not an idiot.
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We lack a political culture, a culture of compromise. We in Poland, as well as the Hungarians, have never learned this sort of thing.
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America needed our help, and we had to give it.
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There were free elections in Bulgaria, where the opposition has just won.
ADAM MICHNIK