Author Haratischwili sees decline in freedom of expression

The author Nino Haratischwili (42) sees a creeping decline in freedom of expression. "I don't want to despair, and yet I despair that in our democratic stronghold we are imperceptibly imposing censorship on one of the greatest assets, namely freedom of expression," said Haratischwili in a speech on democracy, which she gave in Leipzig on the day commemorating the peaceful revolution of 1989.

It is a censorship of the well-intentioned, politically correct way of thinking that no longer allows any buts, said the Georgian-born author and theater director. "We are censoring language and censoring history by trying to eradicate evil with good intentions, as if this would undo history."

"We are constantly tiptoeing around the real issue for fear that someone might be offended. And you do it for a good cause, of course. But in the end, what difference does it make what motivated the censorship? Whether an autocrat bans something or the liberal community, isn't the result the same in the end?"

Concerns about democracy

Haratishvili expressed concerns about democracy in the West. "We have to realize that Europe is not a castle behind a
high security fence. Europe is the belief in the possibility of democracy and diversity," she said.

She hoped "that all of us who believe in this very democracy - whether in the East or the West - will succeed in finding our way back to our foundations, to our truth, above all to our conscience, without the fear of falling out of the safety net of double standards."