Beatriz G, Ireland

Ireland has a long history of negligence and prejudice towards women, both in social and legal terms, but this country has yet to see something as gruesome as the “Tuam babies”. In 2016, an inestimable amount of human remains were found buried in lands across county Galway where Mother and Baby homes were operated (a type of institution run by the church and state between 1904 and 1996, which were allocated to unmarried mothers).

The remains were unburied due to an investigation led by historian Catherine Corless, where she described the way babies were treated in Ireland as “akin to being some kind of subspecies”. In a country where pro-life campaigners receive funds from religious institutions to keep the rights of the unborn above those of the mother, one can only point out the hypocrisy.

Luis Pablo de la hORROR, Spain

The creepiest stories you’ve read will seem like fairytales after you read the following story. The journey to nowhere set upon by the Catalan government a few years ago is finally bearing fruit. Companies headquartered in Barcelona are moving their headquarters to other Spanish cities as a result of the uncertainty created by the political turmoil in Catalonia. These include six companies belonging to the IBEX 35, the main stock market index in Spain. This sends a negative signal to both current and potential investors, who could withdraw their capital from Catalonia and paralyze new investments until the dust settles.

Jernej Kosec, Slovenia

Societies in transition often take a dark turn while fighting the demons of their past. The scariest part of the story is that, what initially brought improvement had become the culprit – free commerce, free movement, and the expanded space of liberty for individuals. So far, Slovenia has been resisting the siren call of populism but considering the neighbourhood dynamic this resistance might not last long. A typical right-wing Visegrád scenario is unlikely because of Slovenia’s pride in communism, but authoritarianism comes in many forms. And it’s exactly the mixture of socialist and nationalist policies that frightens me the most.

Idan Eretz, Israel

The scariest thing my government does is known as ‘Administrative Detention’ (מעצר מנהלי). As long as there is a state of emergency (which has been ongoing since 1948) in the West Bank any military commander can detain people for an unlimited amount of time, with no possibility of seeing a lawyer or even being informed of the charges. Some limitations apply, but as long as the supreme court doesn’t overturn it, the detention can be renewed continuously. Both Jewish settlers and Palestinians are subject to this power, which was originally designed for short interrogations. As of 2015, 584 people are under Administrative detention. Sometimes, calls are made to expand this method to pre-1967 levels in order to fight organized crime.

Richard Mason, United Kingdom

Above all else, I would have to say that the scariest thing in the UK at the moment can be found on the campus grounds of any British university. What used to be forums for debate and free thought have slowly devolved into mere echo-chambers, with an Independent report earlier this year claiming that more that 9 in 10 British universities restrict the free speech of students.

With the National Union of Students, who represent around 95% of all students unions in the UK, being compared to the fanatics of Maoist China, it’s no wonder that our universities have degenerated like this. Forget ghosts and ghouls, I’m far more terrified by the Orwellian future of British higher education!

Tereza Sladkovska, Czech Republic

In my opinion, the most terrible fact about the Czech Republic is that one of the most powerful men, and the second richest man in the country, is one of the most loved politician. Andrej Babiš, the previous Minister of Finance, is involved in many suspicious affairs: he has secretly influenced the content on his news outlets, destroyed companies through his department, and cheated to get access to EU subsidies. And what’s scariest – nothing changed in his preference polls despite these affairs. I am writing this text a few weeks before the parliamentary election and I can’t foresee the future, but he won, didn‘t he?

Rob Duffy, Ireland

The Irish Government is lobbying itself through the use of public health service funding and €75,000 in lottery grant funds for a lobby group called Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI). The Public Health Alcohol Bill  is being promoted by AAI, in order to nanny Irish people into drinking less. In essence, Irish taxpayer money and grant funds are being used to create legislation which will see minimum alcohol pricing on licensed sales of alcohol nationwide. Irish people like to have a drink and this scary legislation will frighten the bejesus out of Irish craic seekers when it is enacted later this year as alcohol pricing increases and pubs and off-licences are told of new measures they will need to adhere to. Inevitably, drinking which is already expensive, will become more expensive but it will not stop people and most likely affect the poor the most.

Bill Wirtz, Belgium

Originally from Luxembourg, I moved to Brussels recently in order to take in the full magnitude of the EU-policy making. The EU-quarter in Brussels, or Mordor as it should rightfully be called, hasn’t deceived me since I arrived: opening the possibility for farming cartels, taxing tech companies even more, getting rid of sugar quotas but keeping the rest of the protectionist mess, funding anti-free trade activists, and even making your bicycles pricier. Mordor just wanted a ring back, this on the other hand is getting personal.

These scary stories solely express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions. If you’re a student interested in presenting your perspective on this blog, click here to submit a guest post!