Timothy Garton Ash: the greatest adversaries of open society come from within

Yesterday in the XIV Open Society Forum in Tallinn the British historian Timothy Garton Ash said the alienation of minorities was one of the biggest threats to the European open society. He also warned against dangerous attempts in the EU to criminalize the freedom of speech.

"Crises create a temptation to scapegoat ethnic and cultural minorities, which in turn feeds their alienation. Getting out of the vicious spiral of xenophobia is a challenge for Europe," said Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European studies at the Oxford University. On the other hand he disapproved of the EU's recent efforts to criminalize the denial of the Holocaust and genocide. "It is a dangerous step in the wrong direction. If we want to be free to criticize the sacred dogmas of the muslim world we cannot have taboos in Europe," he stressed.

As the key to the democratic deficit in the EU, Garton Ash sees democracy in its member states: "The main issues in the EU are decided by the member states. If we are not satisfied with the level of democracy in the EU we should first ask how democratic our own governments are." He added jokingly that the EU as a whole was indeed not very democratic: "If the EU wished to join itself, it would have to be turned down."

The XIV Open Society Forum was organized by the Open Estonia Foundation and focused on the current challenges of open society. In the previous years, the Open Society Forums have discussed topics such as the EU-Russia relations, social capital, globalization and civil society.

The summary of the Forum's discussion can be found at: www.oef.org.ee/forum2009

Additional information:

Mall Hellam
Executive Director
Open Estonia Foundation
Tel.: +372 6 313 791
E-mail: mall@oef.org.ee

Open Estonia Foundation: www.oef.org.ee