We publish this article as a tribute to the work of Professor Ulrich Beck, who died on 1 January 2015, and to commemorate the spirit of this eminent German sociologist who significantly contributed to the analysis of contemporary society, exploring concepts such the risk society or cosmopolitism in depth. This was, in fact, the central theme of “Re-inventing Europe: A Cosmopolitan Vision” in issue 10 of Quaderns de la Mediterrània: “Intercultural Dialogue between Europe and the Mediterranean”.
In the present article, Beck argues how, at least at first, freedom dies without human beings being physically hurt. Freedom risk is the most fragile among the global risks we have experienced so far. It makes us vulnerable both towards the state and between each other, leaving it to our own will to protect ourselves from this new but extremely powerful and omnipotent Empire – while for the rest of the global risks the possibility of self-resistance was narrowed down. However, digital freedom risk resembles the climate change risk, in the sense that it is a problem that the nation-state will not confront given that it is against its national interest. We have created a monster that we cannot control, it moves faster than our feet can reach.

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