Liberal Road Blog Individual Freedom and Equality

I finally finished reading the book Putin’s Russia written by the killed writer Politkovskaya. A few facts to remind us all: Politkovskaya was a journalist who severely criticized Putin and she was shot dead in last October.

As I read her book “Putin’s Russia” one thing became pretty clear: she must have had many enemies. In her book she severely criticize Putin for the atrocities of the Chechen war and human right abuses. She also accuses the Russian court system for being completely corrupt (naming several judges who she thinks have been taking bribes). She even accuses some leading businessmen of serious crimes including bribery and using contract killers. All the accusations come with details.

That’s why I’m not at all surprised if she had many enemies who preferred to see her dead than alive. It’s very wrong that people are silenced by killing them. It’s a serious threat to the freedom of speech. The Freedom of speech is already in a bad condition in Russia as Putin’s administration has done a lot to silence criticism in the media.

Today the media has announced that the Russian police has arrested two suspects of the murder. However I think that we will never be sure who killed Politkovskaya as the Russian justice system is bad and malfunctioning.

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picture: A picture I took in Moscow in 2006.

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A US army officer who refused to go to Iraq is facing court-martial (source: CBS News). Ehren Watada risks up to four years in prison for refusing to fight in Iraq and criticizing the war publicly.

Watada claims that the war on Iraq is illegal according to US laws. He claims also that he has a legal right and obligation to refuse to follow unlawful orders (ie the order to fight in Iraq).

This is once again an example of a totally unacceptable violation of the individual freedom. Refusing to serve and saying what you want to are basical rights that everyone should always have.

The state doesn’t have the right to limit the individual freedom unless it is necessary for the freedom of others. And it’s not the case here.

The court case already seems to have started in an unfair way as the court refused to analyze the legality of the war. The trial is unfair, because if the war is illegal Watada hasn’t actually committed a crime. Now he doesn’t have the chance to prove his innocence.

I see this court case also as an attack on the freedom on speech: Watada can face a jail term for publicly questioning the legality of the war in Iraq.

It’s very unfair that an army officer wouldn’t have the right to the freedom of speech (which is guaranteed in the first amendment of the American constitution). I’m not a law specialist so anyone who has more information about the first amendment in this case is welcome to comment.

Watada’s courage to stand behind his convictions can only be admired.

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I am fervant defendent of the freedom of speech and think that most European countries are still limiting too much the freedom of speach in some situations.

However there is one thing in which the freedom of speech laws in Europe and North America have completly missed the point: they don’t offer any privacy for famous people.

Tabloids and some magazines are constantly writing details about the private life of stars without their concent. And unfortunately most of the time they have the right to do so according to the law. However sometimes it leads to lawsuits like now that Paris Hilton is suing a website to stop them publishing personal items and information (source: article on CNN).

I think it’s sad that once you are famous you often no longer have the right to privacy. I think the media shouldn’t be allowed to tell the private life of famous people without their conscent.

Why do I support this? Because I believe everyone should have the right to live in privacy if they want to. Publishing details about their private life without their conscent is violating their rights to privacy. I believe it’s a sufficient reason to limit the freedom of expression (the individual freedom should be limited only if the action violates the rights of others and I think it’s the case here).

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Today as I surfed around the web this news hit my eyes. The Chinese Communist party chief Hu Jintao has announced he wants to “purify” the Internet. Whatever it means in practice this time it may be again bad news for the freedom of speech in China.

The Internet is heavily censored in China. The Great Firewall, as it is called, blocks the access to many websites.

Many of the blocked websites contain information or comments criticizing the Chinese government. Also websites containing information about events the government wants to hide are censored (like the Tiananmen Square events in 1989).

This censorship is a serious violation of the individual freedom. Everyone should be free to say whatever they want to with only few restrictions (which are for example libel, threatening someone, encouraging someone to seriously harm another or privacy reasons).

I personally could confirm the censorship when I traveled in China in winter 2006. Many major foreign press websites were censored (as the BBC). I also tried to access websites about the Tiananmen Square events of 1989 and Falun Gong, without much success.

I however realized that accessing censored website was quite easy using foreign proxies. However some proxy websites were also blocked. I also suppose that using proxies in China to access censored websites can potentially lead to troubles with the police.

For more information about Internet in China I recommend the following page from Reporters Without Borders: link

It will be interesting to see if my website too will be censored in China.

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