Freedom as we used to conceive of it is under pressure from all sides.
Reactionary movements on the rise globally treat democracy as a winner-takes-all contest, undermining institutional checks and balances and the rule of law. Social and civil liberties are also in their crosshairs. Assaults on media freedom are shrinking the space for democratic debate. Revisionist global powers violate countries’ right to self-determination. Israel’s West-enabled annihilation of Gaza has reduced human rights to an empty signifier. Borders are being fortified and walls erected in the name of security. Digital surveillance and AI-driven manipulation challenge basic notions of individual autonomy. More frequent climate-related catastrophes threaten the freedom to live a dignified and secure life – including in affluent countries. Even free markets, the cornerstone of neoliberal globalisation, are up for discussion in the new trade wars.
The multiple crises of recent years have acted as catalysts for many of these dynamics but also exposed the inequalities and imbalances underpinning our freedoms.
The global financial crash and its austerity cure severely eroded people’s trust in governments and global institutions, paving the way for the rise of far-right movements. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, it laid bare the fragility of tightly interconnected global supply chains and the exploitation that keeps them running. It also raised urgent questions about the unequal impacts of lockdowns and the right of democratic governments to limit individual freedoms in the name of the public good. Finally, and perhaps most consequentially – at least for Europe – Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis that ensued revealed the reliance of our prosperity on cheap energy supplied by fossil autocrats.
The promise of ever-growing abundance and consumption – even during recessions – constitutes the foundation of the liberal world order, democratic freedoms, and economic redistribution. Its waning, driven by both geopolitical and ecological factors, poses an existential crisis for our political system and institutions. With Europe in relative decline and an increasingly tense international landscape, the decades of peace enjoyed by generations of Europeans now appear to be an aberration of history rather than its end.
These developments are accompanied by fierce political battles over what freedom means and who its true defenders are. Long a subject of philosophical inquiry and a revolutionary slogan, freedom – a flexible ideal whose dominant interpretations have shifted throughout history and geography – is hardly new to political contestation.
Today, however, conflicting visions of freedom – or “frames”, as conceptualised by American neurolinguist George Lakoff – are being reshuffled in unexpected and unsettling ways. Supposedly progressive political forces champion unrestricted capitalism while advocating stricter migration policies. Authoritarian regimes censor dissent while pitching themselves as bulwarks of free speech. They have found their allies in tech billionaires, who weaponise freedom of speech to dodge regulation and call themselves “libertarian” while profiting from militarisation and the national security state. Meanwhile, the revolutionary potential of mass protest movements born to fight inequality and oppression – from Egypt to Brazil, Turkey, and Eastern Europe – has been appropriated and distorted to reinforce tyrants’ grip on power.
Political ecology, too, is deeply entangled in this struggle over freedom.
When it comes to liberty, the Green movement is in its element. Its roots lie in a radical critique of all forms of authority, domination, and the exploitation of people and nature. Its distinctive vision rests on the conviction that freedom cannot exist without respecting limits, and that we can be simultaneously more autonomous and more interdependent than traditional political philosophies have dared to imagine.
While such a critique and vision are more relevant today than ever, this emphasis on individual self-determination alongside collective respect for limits has become the target of a backlash. Greens, for their part, have often relied too much on scientific evidence to support their policies and ideas, forgetting that emotions and desires are at least as powerful as facts in shaping attitudes and driving action. This is even more the case in our era of deep divisions and algorithm-fuelled polarisation.
Reclaiming freedom from its reactionary claimants is both a defensive and an offensive mission. On the one hand, it involves safeguarding the values of liberal democracy and the European project. This defence must be grounded in the conviction that individual liberties, diversity, and the rule of law enrich individual lives and make societies more prosperous and resilient. On the other hand, overcoming the injustices of our current system requires an effort in collective imagination. While geopolitical risks and climate threats demand decisive and pragmatic leadership, addressing them should not come at the cost of democratic deliberation and a dose of utopian thinking. To this end, the Green movement’s close ties to grassroots social movements and civil society are an invaluable asset to be strengthened – not a burden to be discarded – in times of crisis.
Moreover, the necessary abandonment of unbridled consumption and endless economic growth must be paired with the tangible promise of a new abundance, both material – in the form of affordable housing, public transportation, and other essential services – and immaterial – including wellbeing, security, mutual care, relationships, health, and individual and collective rights.
Between the Right’s longstanding struggle for hegemony and today’s interconnected crises, the path to reclaiming freedom will not be without obstacles.
This edition does not seek to define a new notion of liberty. Rather than serving as a textbook or a map, it aims to be a compass within the labyrinth of today’s ideological battles. Depending on where you begin and the path you choose to follow, it may lead you to different places. But given freedom’s mobilising potential and emotional appeal, deserting the battleground over its meaning and ownership is no option for those who care about our common future.
This editorial introduces Unbound: The Battle Over Freedom, the Summer 2025 print edition of the Green European Journal. You can read all articles online, or order a print copy.
