Václav Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless” is probably not a set text in many, if any, high schools around Europe. It should be. A study of the importance of truth and reason in the face of reality-denying forces, it is a buttress to the edifice of Europe’s Enlightenment tradition. It is also a powerful reminder of half-forgotten political memories of those who lived behind the Iron Curtain and whose role in enriching Europe’s politics has yet to be given its due.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney invoked Havel’s parable of the greengrocer who displays a “Workers of the world, unite!” sign in his shop window — not because he believes in its political message, but to live a “tranquil life”. Havel’s point is that when everybody pretends to consent, they give reality to the system that oppresses them. This is the case for dissent: to make the system vulnerable like a little boy does a naked emperor.
Many have applauded Carney’s plea “for companies and countries to take their signs down” — that is, to stop the pretence. But we are likely to see very different interpretations of what this entails. In rich countries, it will be to admit that they and the US are no longer on the same team, and must find ways to protect liberal democratic values without America.