Anne Applebaum starts her book Twilight of democracy, the failure of politics and the parting of friends, and ends her book with a New Year’s Eve party in Poland, the first in 1999 and the second 20 years later in 2019. She herself is American, married to a Polish politician. Their friends, but not any longer the same attended both parties, including well-known politicians, journalists, publicists from the West and the East.
Applebaum sketches the atmosphere at the first party, the eve of the new milleneum, optimistic and full of expectation. On the basis of the guests, what political positions they took and what their motives were, she describes the changes in Europe and America in the years that followed. Because a lot has changed in the political landscape. Brexit is a fact, in Eastern Europe in particular Hungary and Poland democracy seems to be getting out of the picture. Most European countries and America are confronted with populist ideas and parties.
It takes a moment getting used to Applebaum telling how many of the guests she names by name, including real friends of her and her husband, have changed their position. How they now defend visions and leaders in a way that was unthinkable at the time. How democratic principles and values \u200b\u200bare meanwhile denied. In a number of cases, communication between former friends has been completely broken as a result.
But Applebaum’s book is not a gossip story. She does not go into private matters. She does try to explain how the democratic tide in Western countries is turning and how her then guests fitted in with those changes. It is very interesting to consider the trends she observes and to compare them with our own observations. Who were our personal friends back then in what we believe to be hopeful days on the brink of the new millennium, and who are they now? Have there been political divisions that run through friends and families?
This reminds me of an older colleague of mine, a jovial man, with many friends on all levels. He felt rich with them. He celebrated with them. It was a real unity without the friends hiding their opinions from him. \u201cWe agree to disagree\u201d was his motto. Yet over time it happened that friends took different, sometimes for him incomprehensible, paths. He was surprised because he believed they were both heading for the same destination. At several crossroads, friends turned out to be taking other directions, on moral and political grounds. It didn’t leave him indifferent, it hurt him. Not that some friends took other directions in and of themselves. But that they had always had a different goal in mind.
The book ends with the New Year’s Eve party in 2019. In place of some old friends, new, often youthful friends and allies have come.
The atmosphere is less hopeful than in 1999. There are major concerns. Because on the basis of the examples of the friends of the past and the developments in the politics of the countries, it is clear that democracy is under attack from all sides. Democracy cannot be taken for granted. It is not a final destination. It must always be defended, even against former friends and allies. It must always be regained. That takes courage. We must again and again take the step of the sometimes shaky democracy. But there is no guarantee. For example, the global corona crisis can create a self-awareness that people and countries need each other. But it can also be the start of growing state influence and restrictions on individual rights, and nationalism .
Twilight of Democracy is published by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books 206 p. \u00a9 Anne Applebaum 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(c) Martin Los
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Anne Applebaum starts her book Twilight of democracy, the failure of politics and the parting of friends, and ends her book with a New Year’s Eve party in Poland, the first in 1999 and the second 20 years later in … Lees verder