Esej napisany z inspiracji książką Niny Witoszek Korzenie antyautorytaryzmu
Essay inspired by Nina Witoszek’s book The Origins of AntiAuthoritarianism

Summary/Abstract: A remarkable book by Nina Witoszek, an outstanding compatriot of ours, originallypublished in the USA, where it has aroused well-deserved interest among bothprofessional and avid readers, forms the background for this essay. Populistnationalist tendencies growing within existing, but also well-establisheddemocracies, having authoritarian thinking at their core, constitute a threat notonly to individual freedom but also to the effective functioning of societies. Thestrengthening of democracies, i.e. systems that are fundamentally democraticbut significantly imbued with authoritarian elements, is a serious challenge forcontemporary states (Hungary, Belarus, Poland, the USA under Donald Trump,Taiwan, Turkey, Liberia, Hong Kong and others). Overcoming these authoritariantendencies is seen in Witoszek’s book as an initiative taken by small social groupsreleasing social energy to build grassroots democracy known from history asconstructive and effective initiatives, e.g. KOR and later “Solidarity” in Poland.The book is an apotheosis of the friendship of groups of so-called ‘humanistrenegades’ who evoke the impulse of change and their energy and way of thinkingare instilled in the broad masses of society thus delivering the anti-authoritarianmessage of sustainable modernity.

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