We've heard it tossed around a lot in the last decade. Republicans throw the word around like a catchphrase, and accuse those that oppose them of impinging on their freedom. Two wars have been fought, and are still being fought in the name of bringing "Freedom" to the Middle East. And American Healthcare (and now our Medicare too) have been questioned as imposing on individual "Freedom" to choose.
In all this rhetoric, the meaning of the word seems to have become obscure. What is it exactly that the Iraqi's and Afghanistani's were so desperately lacking that thousands of American, Canadian and British soldiers needed to invade to their countries?
Franklin D Roosevelt made a State of the Union address in 1941 about the Four Freedoms. They are as follows
1. Freedom of Speech and Expression
2. Freedom of Worship
3. Freedom from Want
4. Freedom from Fear.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms
The fourth Freedom has been long abused. Since 9-11, fear has been used as a tool to ensure the American people (and Canadians' too)'s cooperation and approval for foreign wars. Terrorism has been the catchphrase for all those against the Western way of life, and those labelled "Terrorist" are now excluded from Geneva conventions definitions of an "Enemy Combattent". Did you wonder how there has been an increase in torture, when the Geneva Conventions specifically declare it a crime when used against enemy combattents? How Amir Khadr, a child soldier, managed to be tried as a terrorist, instead of rehabilitated as stipulated by Geneva conventions? All this has occurred because the media has conditioned the public to be afraid of "Terrorism". Is it ironic that terrorists by definition use fear against their enemies?
After 9-11, the second Freedom began to be abused. First Muslims were targetted for extra security measures. Muslims were equated with Terrorists in the media in order to spread fear. It got to the point that the building of a community centre in Manhattan became a national point of contention, as a "Ground Zero Mosque" would insult the memory of those that died in the towers. Nevermind that a number of those that died were Muslim themselves. The Freedom of Worship may have been originally intended to protect christian sects expelled from Europe, but Roosevelt intended it include every race and creed.
Freedom of Speech is now in jeopardy. Wikileaks is an online organization dedicated to scientific journalism - the acquiring and verification of leaks and their exposure to the public. These leaks have caused great embarassment to US companies and politicians, and as such a smear campaign has been launched against their spokesperson, Julian Assange. A "Rape Charge" has been brought against him (actually, its Sex by Surprise; Assange did not wear a condom apparently, and so sex that was consensual during and after the fact, became "rape" weeks later. This charge holds a fine of $700, and no jail time. And yet Assange is being held in Britain for it). He has been called Anti-American, a Terrorist, and a Spy... despite the fact that as an Australian citizen, the former and latter charges cannot apply. The UN minister in charge of Freedom of Speech has clearly communicated her concerns about the smear campaign:
"Taken as a whole [such measures] could be interpreted as an attempt to censor the publication of information thus potentially violating WikiLeaks right to freedom of expression. If WikiLeaks has committed any recognizable illegal act then this should be handled through the legal system and not through pressure and intimidation." http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/12/09/un_rights_chief_slams_china_defends_assange
Finally, the Freedom from Want is an interesting one. In 1941, the memory of the Great Depression was still fresh in everyone's minds, and all remembered who was responsible for bringing them out of it. The Depression was caused by a number of factors; overdebteness & easy credit, growing disparities in wealth and income, the buildup of a Wall Street bubble in 1928-29, and lax banking standards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression). Like the current crisis, banks had been investing in "futures" (bets on stock prices), which caused an artificial economic bubble. The crash was followed by bank failure after bank failure, and the problem was componded by protectionism, increased interest rates and a blind adherence to the Gold Standard. It didn't help that there was a drought that accompanied the problem, drying the single inch of topsoil over the midwest to reveal the desert hidden underneath, resulting in the "Dust Bowl". Does any of this sound familiar yet? Aside from adherence to the Gold Standard (which was abolished by Roosevelt in '33), most of these same problems have occurred. While the bailouts prevented bank failures this time, the underlying practices that directly led to the crashes have not been changed. There is still a flourishing market in Derivatives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_(finance)"), which are the latest incarnation of futures, as pressure has successfully been put on Obama to prevent legislation regulating them. As occurred in the 20s and 30s, there has been an increase in profits that has been invested in the stock market bubble instead of into consumer purchases, though through different mechanisms. In the 20s it was due to increased productivity... in our times it is due to drastically reduced taxes paid by companies and the wealthiest 2%. Bonuses are paid to CEOs that could pay the yearly wages of thousands of middle class individuals. Instead, those middle class people are unemployed, running out of unemployment insurance, and living off their credit cards. What will happen when the unemployment insurance runs out for them? What will happen when their credit cards are cut? Some American states have re-instituited jail-time for debtors, a practice that has known to be a problem since the time of the Greeks and Romans. How is one supposed to pay back debtors when sitting in a prison run for profit by a giant corporation? And has anyone looked carefully at the amount of money both of our governments are spending on "Defense", and how that money could be better served within our own borders?
Be assured, I am not the only one asking these questions. Ian was warned of them when he was working in the financial sector last year, and now even the Bank of Canada governor is worried too.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/12/13/carney-interest-rates-warning.html
While I know there are those that would disagree with individual points I have made, the point of this was not to spark a debate on politics or economics, but to think about the meaning of Freedom and how much of it we have left. Benjamin Franklin once said
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety"
We have given up numerous freedoms in the decade since 9-11. Freedom from Fear may have been the first to go, along with privacy, and freedom of Religion followed shortly thereafter. But we have been allowing the Freedom from Want to be eroded away over the last few decades, and now the Freedom of Speech is besieged. If we still claim to live in a Democracy, political system of choice for the So-Called-Free, should we be quietly and apathetically allowing the last of those freedoms to be taken away from us, all in the name of fighting a "terrorist"?
Interesting Reads:
Michael Moore - Why I'm posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/why-im-posting-bail-money
The Conservative Case for Wikileaks
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2010/12/09/the-conservative-case-for-wikileaks/comment-page-1/
Don't Shoot the Messenger: Julian Assange
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332
Interesting Watches:
Ron Paul's Speech "Lying is not Patriotic"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxPB9yy7IJ4
Julian Assange on Ted Talks
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html
Frontline: The Warning
(concerning the source of the economic crisis and why it hasn't been addressed)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
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