President Danilo Türk on a lack of optimism and criticism in public debate

Bled, 26.3.2009  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, hosted a reception on the occasion of the 41st International Writers’ Meeting; the reception was attended by around 60 writers, poets, essayists and members of the International PEN Club from 25 countries. In his address, Dr Türk stressed that we live in a time of financial and economic crisis, which is also being seen as a crisis of values. It is becoming increasingly clear that the way out of the crisis will not easy and will require much more than just pragmatic, economic and financial responses, he added. Optimism, as well as qualities such as critical judgement and a critical view of society, are of vital importance if we are to overcome the crisis, said Dr Türk. He explained that the current public debate on problems of society lacks depth – an essential requirement in order to assess present-day problems and define solutions. As one of the reasons for this, he highlighted changes in the media world, which have led to a lack of serious and in-depth discourse, criticism and the necessary optimism.

Dr Türk also participated in the 2nd round-table discussion on the theme “The Role of Culture and Media in the Processes of Liberation”, held as part of the 41st International Writers’ Meeting. He took the opportunity to present his views on the changes that have occurred in the media world over the last 20 years. He pointed out that the great transformation of Eastern Europe, which had allowed the freedom of expression to emerge, had occurred much faster than expected. But on the other hand, this period, when the argument about “the end of history” seemed like a realistic temporal prognosis, gave rise to many illusions, including those of a unipolar world dominated by a single superpower, of the final victory of liberal capitalism and of globalisation as an irreversible process that is constantly transforming the world into a better place. All this has also brought about an almost fanatical faith in individualism and political correctness, yet without critique of exaggerated individualism and egoism. Dr Türk argued that the onslaught of political correctness along the lines of acceptance of individualism has led to auto-censorship and rather mild criticism of serious social problems, created by excessive individualism. As a result, social discourse has been impoverished, partly also because of the development of the media and media technologies, including the prevalence of visual media.

Dr Türk cautioned that these problems have left us poorly positioned to tackle the current financial and economic crisis, since on this front we face a lack of convincing arguments and a poor quality of debate, which has not yet yielded a sense of credible diagnosis or the way out from the curent global crisis. That is why more should be done to encourage critical thinking and provide room for intuition and creative discussion of the present-day situation. The role of writers and members of the International PEN Club is of special importance in this regard, stressed President Türk.