'We are not a conduit for some supra-force but for ourselves’

Guy Sorman is a French intellectual championing free market, democracy and human rights

What does spirituality mean to you?
It has no religious dimension. It is the answer to one question : what do I stand for?
I have one life - what have I done with it, what do I do with it ? What are the ideas and convictions that I stand for?  So spirituality is to be in agreement with the ideas and convictions I decided to stand for.

Did those ideas evolve over time?
Not in my case. They were determined by the story of my family. I come from a family which was victimized by dictatorship, totalitarianism, racism. Maybe because of this family history I decided to stand for individual freedom in any field, should it be religious, political or behavioral. This is what I would define as my spirituality.


You firmed up those ideas very young?
Definitely. At the beginning it was something very spontaneous, I was very individualistic myself, including in my religious behavior. I was educated as a Jewish boy and was always getting into a fight with the rabbi, which actually is very much part of the ever-questioning Jewish tradition. I was always fighting for people being different, and myself being different. I was a contrarian and I remain a contrarian. What has changed is a more elaborate foundation for those ideas. I have enriched those ideas, but I didn’t change course.


Full interview here Indian Express

India's democracy makes growth strategy predictable: Sorman

India may soon catch up with China's pace of growth as the world economy shows signs of recovery after a year of downturn with the emerging markets at the forefront of the revival, says noted French economist Guy Sorman.

"The new Indian economic growth, an eight per cent trend, is based on private entrepreneurship, small businesses as much as large companies, on the domestic market as much as in the global market; and on a balance between industry, services and agriculture," Sorman says in his new book, Economics Does Not Lie: A Defence of Free Markets in a Time of Crisis.

The growth of Chinese markets seems to have hovered until recently at 10-11 per cent a year, says Sorman.

But "every country that is moving from an unproductive rural economy to rapid industrialisation attains that average", the economist contends.

Moreover, China has been lucky. "Since the global growth rate has been around five per cent since the beginning of the 21st century, Chinese industries have astutely tapped into the heightened worldwide demand," Sorman says.

Full report here Economic Times