The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.
ADAM MICHNIKAlthough 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.
More Adam Michnik Quotes
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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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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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I believe that a man can only be useful to his country when he can look at it clearly.
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In a democracy, the government is a reflection of society because people are elected.
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Kaczynski appointed a judge to the position of deputy justice minister who had once sentenced current President Bronislaw Komorowski to a prison term.
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As a rule, dictatorships guarantee safe streets and terror of the doorbell. In democracy the streets may be unsafe after dark, but the most likely visitor in the early hours will be the milkman.
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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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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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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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The call to finally clean house is a propaganda tool of the right, which tolerates the leftists who it condemns.
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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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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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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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We still have politicians who strive for a different type of country: Kaczynski as well as Orbán in Hungary.
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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.
ADAM MICHNIK