Javier Milei Slams Western Leaders In Speech At WEF: They Have ‘Abandoned The Model Of Freedom’

 Newly inaugurated Argentinian President Javier Milei blasted Western leaders and warned of the dangers of “collectivism” during a Wednesday speech at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting. 

World leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, beginning on Monday, where they will hold speeches and panel discussions on issues ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) and climate policies to the ongoing wars between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas. On his way to Davos, Milei said he was attending the WEF conference to advocate for freedom, according to CNBC. 

“Today, I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger,” Milei began his remarks at the WEF meeting. “And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty.”

“Unfortunately in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged class, the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism,” Milei added. “We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world. Rather, they are the root cause.”

The Argentinian libertarian president then said that there is no better than his country “to testify to these two points.” 

 

Milei took center stage in Argentina last year, winning a shocking victory in November as he rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment. He pledged to gut federal government agencies and slash government spending by around 40%, warning against Argentina’s high inflation rate, which has blown up to more than 200%, and the socialist policies that put the country in a dire economic position.   

After taking office, the Argentinian president devalued his country’s currency and is pushing to abolish Argentina’s central bank and privatize its pension system. 

At the conclusion of his speech, Milei added, “Do not surrender to the advance of the state! The state is not the solution; the state is the problem itself.” 

“Long live freedom, dammit!” he said.