Václav Klaus denounces globalist progressivism

Václav Klaus denounces globalist progressivism

The editorial office, Prague, 8.5.2024

Lecture delivered by the former president of the Czech Republic, published in German in the Berlin newspaper ˇDeutsche Seiten’, 3. 5. 2024 under the title: ‘Vaclav Klaus: today’s Europe seen from Prague’. Wikipedia: Václav Klaus was president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. He had previously served as prime minister (1992-1997) and later as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. He is a member of the Civic Democratic Party. We offer the Spanish and English translation. The subtitles and links are from our editorial staff.

Introduction 

The original article in German: https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/5370

Tonight I have been asked to say something here about today’s Europe. One of your group members was with me near Salzburg last October and suggested that I say something similar here. That is why I am here today.

In the second half of the last century, the eastern part of Europe experienced something not only tragic but also very important. That is why we – I mean we, Central and Eastern Europeans – think that, thanks to our experiences and experiences in the communist era, we understand the world better than Western Europeans, who lack those experiences, especially the bottlenecks of modern society. Western Europeans were able to live through this period in freedom and prosperity. However, we Western Europeans have long been regarded as backward people, incapable of understanding and appreciating today’s world and all the wonders of the West. That bothered us greatly.

However, even during the communist era, we were part of Europe and European thinking. Despite all the difficulties, we looked beyond the Iron Curtain. Even then, we read the same books and watched the same movies as people here. Certainly not everything, but the major works. Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Max Frisch or Hermann Hesse were quite familiar to us.

We know (and we knew) that we missed a lot during the communist era. At the same time, we are convinced that we also learned something important then. We experienced the essence of the debate about freedom and unfreedom, and this not only theoretically. Therefore, we are not content with simplistic textbook slogans. The attitude of some of us to today’s world is therefore more critical and negative than here in Germany. We see the current situation as a fundamental crisis of the entire West. At my institute in Prague we have published two volumes in Czech entitled “The Self-Destruction of the West”.

The self-destruction of the West

In recent years we have compared the similarities between today’s world and the world at the end of the communist era, which bothers some people. These similarities are manifest for all to see. Restrictions on freedom of speech are comparable to those of that time. Today one can no longer speak freely, on pain of fearing for one’s career, for one’s family, for one’s freedom and even for one’s life. Just like back then. I insist that I am talking about late communism.     https://thinktanklatam.org/el-control-secreto-del-mundo/

Now we are again in an era of intellectual conformism. It is not only the obvious restriction of freedom of expression, but also the acceptance of the dominance of a single ideology, which reminds me of the totalitarian character of communism. I am referring to the globalist and progressive doctrine.

That is why in my numerous speeches (and not only in my country) I speak of the arrogant constructivism of today’s politicians and ideologues, of the growing manipulation of the people, of the massive indoctrination of the young generations, of the gradual increase of the democratic deficit. In November 1989, we had completely different plans and dreams regarding the creation of today’s post-democratic society. We wanted a free market economy in the spirit of Mises and Hayek, and a classical parliamentary democracy with clearly defined political parties. Today’s reality is very different. We live in a ‘politically correct’ and increasingly mono-ideological world, typical of liberal democracy in which freedom does not come first.

We are witnessing a fundamental reshaping of Western society along the lines of progressivism, environmentalism, sexism, multiculturalism and other contemporary ideological ambitions. Curbing this is the most important imperative of the present.

The problem of immigration

Let me say a few words on the issue of migration. Today’s mass immigration affects the very foundation of our society. It is not a marginal phenomenon. The mass immigration of the present era did not appear spontaneously, but was ideologically prepared for a long time and then pragmatically organized and managed. Mass immigration (from the Middle East and North Africa) was not caused by migrants, but by European politicians. That is why the migrants are here. I fear that European politicians want to create a new European man, a homo bruxelarum, out of today’s immigrants.

But now we have not only the old immigration. We also have new immigration due to the war in Ukraine. Certainly, the Swiss also feel this migration wave, but the situation in Central and Eastern Europe is much more dramatic. My country, the Czech Republic, is the first in the world in number of Ukrainian immigrants per capita.

Weapons of ideological infiltration

All this together means that we are witnessing a brutal attack on the past, present and future of Western society. We are witnessing the arrogance of politicians, bureaucrats, intellectuals and technocrats, who are striving to dominate our society and thus all of us. One of the main problems today is to identify the enemy in a clear and understandable way. But progressives and globalists have no coherent doctrine, so the enemy remains diffuse. Communism was an easy enemy in this regard.  https://thinktanklatam.org/el-estado-en-crisis/

However, one candidate stands out as the main enemy. I see it manifesting itself in the Greens, “in all their forms,” as the main danger. They dictate European, and especially German, policy. The Green Deal is their latest ‘masterpiece’. But the Greens are only part of today’s world. Today we should also talk about sexism, transnationalism, multiculturalism, human-rightism and the emergence of new positive rights linked to it. These doctrines go hand in hand, sometimes together, sometimes interacting reciprocally, in parallel and simultaneously, causing a major synergistic effect leading to the destruction of today’s world.

I am convinced that none of this has come from outside. It is not an importation of ideas from other societies or even civilizations. It has been “thought at home”. Here, in the West, why is this so? What have we forgotten or done wrong? Why have we allowed it? Why were we so reckless and unwise? I will give just a few “tentative” answers to these questions.

1. People in the West are basically happy about the prolonged era of peace and prosperity and do not want to imagine or allow it to end. They believe that this era – with only minor temporary and short-term ups and downs – will last forever. They have not noticed its fragility in this extraordinary period of the last seventy or even almost eighty years. Its real causes are not understood and the illusory conviction of an endless “march forward “was almost indestructible. And this seems dangerous to me.

2) Many people think that everything negative, in principle, can only be found in communism and analogous totalitarian systems. The relatively quick and easy end of communism has convinced them that this event also means the definitive end of false ideologies and their social convulsions. I believe that this is absolutely wrong.

3. People believe in the permanence of democracy and its exclusively positive results. They believe that democracy is something automatic that works by itself. Unfortunately, as we are seeing now, this is not the case. In his inaugural address as Governor of California in January 1967, Ronald Reagan made his famous statement: “Freedom is a fragile thing, and it is never more than one generation away from extinction. Each generation must fight for it and defend it again and again.” Today’s generations do not want to hear this truth and wisdom.

Democracy has become distorted with the weakening of political parties. NGOs and powerful interest groups are now stronger than the political parties themselves and demand immediate results, i.e. avoiding the slowness and caution of democracy. (This has been the essence of the discussion between Václav Havel and myself, immediately after the fall of communism).

4. people think that depoliticization of society is an open door to democracy, which is totally wrong. Depoliticization leads to nothing but the dissolution of democracy in society.

I am sure that the reasons mentioned above, concerning our naivety in relying on overly optimistic idealism have played an important role in the genesis of the current situation.

Thilo Sarrazin is of a similar opinion. In his latest book, “Reason and Its Enemies,” he asks us a disturbing question, “Where does their calm come from?” Those of us here tonight are not calm, but this room is too small. People believe in the strength of our current democracy. I do not share this belief.

I see no choice but to return to the politics of confrontation of ideas, to a functioning party system, to the mechanisms of the parliamentary system that existed in the past. We need good politics, not politicization.

Václav Klaus, May 3, 2024