Select topic: Multiculturalism

American political philosopher explains why in her view a ban on wearing burqas is a sign of islamophobia, how can we address the question of violence against women and why she believes a man has an inherent tendency towards evil.

French philosopher rebuts arguments of Martha Nussbaum, which are criticizing French immigration policy. According to Alain Finkielkraut, covering face by a woman means taking away her personality.

Instead of stigmatizing immigrants, we should double efforts leading to awake their feeling of membership. Otherwise their frustration and the feeling of exclusion will deepen, creating social gaps, the Canadian philosopher claims.

Does the burqa ban amount to discrimination? According to French Islamic Studies scholar Oliver Roy, not at all. Wearing the burqa, Roy argues, is an individual decision, made by a small group of well-educated and by no means submissive women. That the ban threatens multiculturalism as an European project, he says, is an equally misguided assertion.

We can ban the veil but we cannot ban the emotions it symbolises. And the fear of political emotions might be the cause of the European project’s crisis

Karolina Wigura: Liberal rhetoric is in retreat everywhere. Hilary Clinton declared herself as being “more progressive than liberal”. In Poland, Donald Tusk wrote about abando- ning the idea of…

Karolina Wigura: ‘A total disaster,’ ‘a complete disgrace,’ ‘a serious mistake.’ These are a few of the opinions recently expressed about multiculturalism. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is…

What are the weak and strong sides of Western migration policies? What can Poland learn from these experiences? Timothy Garton Ash, Jarosław Kuisz, Wiktor Osiatyński and Monika Płatek discussed these issues at ‘Kultura Liberalna’.

Freedom of speech should serve higher aims and shouldn’t only be the right to ridicule others, yet we use it in order to protect the strong, rather than the weak, as claimed by the American political scientist Benjamin Barber.

Pierre Buhler talks to ‘Kultura Liberalna’ about the postmo- dern character of international relations, war in Ukraine, the Islamic State, challenges facing Europe and about his new book ‘On the Power in the 21st Century’.

What motivates various groups supporting or criticising the editors of the French magazine and what dangers does the Paris attack pose for liberal democracy?

Most of the drawings published by ‘Charlie Hebdo’ are simply repulsive and idiotic. Why is it worth fighting for someone’s right to be a disgusting moron? Why is it worth declaring ‘je suis Charlie’?

Murder is never justified and an attack on a satyrical ma- gazine is a violation of basic freedoms. It does not, however, make said magazine an embodiment of such freedoms.

Secular, tolerant Europe is shaking in its foundations. It is being attacked from different directions by the Muslim and Christian radicals. The anti-European right is adding its own bit. Although they are in the minority, they set the tone. It’s time to act against it.

The shootings in Paris and the massive reaction of the French people reached unknown dimensions in a European post-1945 context. But the targets were not only French. And the answers cannot be limited to one country.

Radosław Markowski, Katarzyna Szymielewicz and Jan Zielonka discuss the quality of Polish politicians and citizens, the negative impact of Facebook on democracy, and why it is still worth engaging in politics.

The financial crisis is also a crisis of young Europeans. How many young Poles are concerned with the problems of unemployment and lack of perspectives? And how to help them? Katarzyna Kasia, Jacek Męcina, Piotr Szumlewicz, Joanna Tyrowicz and Karolina Wigura discussed these issues at “Kultura Liberalna”.

Poles, just like the citizens of many other European coun- tries, do not trust the state, but they also don’t really know what to expect of it. Do we really need the state in the era of growing international organizations? And if so, does it really have to be… a democratic state?