How can we restore confidence in the achievements of the West? Ordo Iuris at the ARC conference in London

1

The ARC conference was held in London under the slogan “The Age of Reconstruction”, bringing together more than four thousand participants from around a hundred countries and more than two hundred speakers.

2

Ordo Iuris was represented by a delegation including president Jerzy Kwaśniewski, vice-president Monika Leszczyńska, board member Rafał Dorosiński, director Weronika Przebierała and communications director Olivier Bault.

3

The program included a diagnosis of the processes of deconstruction of the West and tools for reconstructing civilization in five areas – from identity and family to entrepreneurship, energy and technologies.

4

Speakers included: Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Kevin Roberts and Sebastian Gorka, and discussions also covered demographics, freedom of expression and children’s rights.

5

Representatives of the Institute discussed with partners, among others: ADF International and Policy Network for Values ​​– joint projects and participated in the Summit of pro-life leaders from eighteen countries.

A three-day journey through diagnosis and reconstruction

From June 23 to 25, 2026, the ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) international conference was held at the Olympia Conference Center in London, this year under the slogan “The Age of Reconstruction”. The Ordo Iuris Institute was represented by a delegation led by President Jerzy Kwaśniewski, which also included Vice-President Monika Leszczyńska, Board Member Rafał Dorosiński, Director of the Center for International Law Weronika Przebierała and Communications Director Olivier Bault.

The ARC is the largest international initiative to restore confidence in the civilizational achievements of the West. This year’s edition brought together more than four thousand participants from around a hundred countries and more than two hundred speakers from the world of science, politics, business, media, technology and art. The program took participants through a three-day “journey”: on the first day, the deconstruction processes that had hollowed out Western culture, economy, energy and identity were diagnosed; second, a necessary change of thinking, from cynicism to confidence; third, specific tools for rebuilding civilization “at all levels”. The discussions focused on five areas: the civilizational identity of the West, strengthening the social fabric centered on family and community, free enterprise and good governance, energy and the environment, and the relationship between technology and human development. As Baroness Philippa Stroud, co-founder and CEO of ARC, reminded us, “collapse is not inevitable”.

Speakers included politicians, intellectuals and social activists. Former prime ministers of Australia – Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison and of Great Britain – Boris Johnson – discussed the future of their countries among speakers combining classical liberalism, conservatism, nationalism and right-wing populism with the defense of traditional values. Nigel Farage – leader of Reform UK, one of the architects of Brexit and candidate for Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Michael Gove – editor-in-chief of “The Spectator” and former long-serving British minister in various ministries of the Conservative Party also spoke. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali writer and former Dutch MP who announced her conversion from Islam to Christianity in 2023, spoke about the spiritual foundations of civilization. The American community was represented, among others, by Kevin Roberts – president of the Heritage Foundation and Sebastian Gorka – adviser to the Donald Trump administration on counterterrorism, who recalled Donald Trump’s famous speech delivered during his first visit to Central and Eastern Europe as President of the United States. In a speech delivered in Poland, Donald Trump glorified the Polish nation which has repeatedly fought fiercely to defend its homeland.

Freedom of expression, family and demographics

There were also defenders of freedom of expression. The debate on this topic was chaired by Toby Young (Baron Young of Acton) – the founder of the Free Speech Union. The conference hosts themselves also spoke. Sir Paul Marshall, co-founder and founder of ARC and owner of The Spectator and UnHerd, led the discussion on technology and innovation. The theme of family and demography was addressed by Katy Faust, founder of the Them Before Us movement, and by the participants in the debate on “The demographic time bomb”: former Hungarian President Katalin Novák, Polish Deputy Minister for Demographic Policy Barbara Socha and Austrian MP Gudrun Kugler (ÖVP). Speakers also included the French founder of the Institut de Formation Politique, Alexandre Pesey, as well as Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Rick Ekstein (whose mother – an 8-year-old Jewish girl at the time – was rescued by the Poles during World War II), and now a well-known commentator on the security of the Jewish community in Canada.

In addition to performances on the main stage, the program included dozens of dinners and thematic debates (“ARC in the Evening”) as well as morning and lunch workshops (“ARC Extra”). Topics covered included: Margaret Thatcher’s enduring legacy, rebuilding social bonds, free speech in the ‘new agora’, the future of the Middle East, the demographic time bomb, formal education, as well as cheap and reliable energy, reliable media and the future in the age of artificial intelligence. Documentary films were also screened, including “This is a child”, dedicated to children’s rights.

Organizations, media and universities presented themselves at numerous stands. These include the British news channel GB News and UnHerd magazine, the international branch of the Vienna-based Christian rights organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF International), the children’s rights movement Them Before Us, the American universities University of Austin (UATX) and Pepperdine University, the UK Free Speech Union, the pan-African platform Elevate Africa, the American pro-family organization Focus on the Family and the British advocacy group of academic freedom Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF).

However, the greatest value of ARC lies in the networking opportunities created by the conference. It is the largest annual meeting of right-wing circles at large – from pro-life and pro-family organizations, to conservatives, to sovereignists and nationalists. Ordo Iuris representatives met with numerous organizations, exchanging information and providing their own analyzes and studies, notably on the European Migration Pact and the proposed renationalization of migration policies, as well as on the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the so-called Democratic Shield as a threat to freedom of expression. With certain partners – in particular: with ADF International and the Political Network for Values ​​- major joint projects were discussed, of which we will inform you in the coming months.

Pro-Life Leaders Summit

In addition to the three-day main conference, representatives from the Institute participated in the previous summit of pro-life leaders, hosted on June 22 by the British SPUC (Society for the Protection of the Unborn) and the German ALfA (Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle). The meeting brought together leaders of the pro-life movement from eighteen countries. David Bereit, founder of 40 Days for Life and director of the Life Leadership Conference, presented findings based on historical and social research that lasting cultural change occurs in three phases – incubation, acceleration and consolidation – and requires not only legal victories, but above all “cultural internalization”, that is, a change of hearts and minds. Katy Faust spoke about the child’s right not only to be born, but also to grow up in a loving family with a father and mother as the foundation of a healthy culture, and John Deighan (SPUC) and Alex Schadenberg (Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) – about the creation of professional organizations measuring effectiveness and the formation of a “creative minority” in the fields of medicine, law, science and culture.

Pro-life organizations from different countries and continents discussed not only their own national activities, but also some internationally coordinated actions and a planned joint project, which – like other initiatives – the Ordo Iuris will announce in due course.

Read also:

Photo source: Ordo Iuris