Category Archives: Freedom

Anti-War rally in St. Petersburg, Russia leads to detainments

At least one person was detained by police in St Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, February 27, during a protest march against Russias invasion of Ukraine, video shows.

Lev Krylenkov via Storyful, Lev Krylenkov via Storyful

Russias invasion of Ukraine sparked protests around the globe, including in Russia where cities have become flooded with angry citizens who denounce President Vladimir Putins decision to go to war.

But unlike in other countries, thousands of Russians have been plucked from the street by police.

Russias constitution guarantees freedom of ideas and speech. Despite this, there seems to be one inevitability for Russian citizens who choose to loudly express their grievances on the streets. Jail.

So why is the image of Russian policehauling away protestors such a recurring one?

Does Russia have freedom of speech?

The constitution guarantees freedom of speech for its citizens, but a patchwork of laws in the countrys criminal and administrative codes severely limit the publics right to assembly and engage in certain kinds of speech, especially political speech critical of the Kremlin.

Russian media reported that hundreds of anti-war protesters in Moscow last week were charged with several infractions of the Russian administrative code, which includes offenses like participation in an unsanctioned rallyapplication for a special permit is required to hold large demonstrationsand petty hooliganism. The Russian codes definition of petty hooliganism includes open disrespect of the public accompanied by foul language in public places.

The Russian criminal code similarly outlines a provision on hooliganism that carries a much heavier punishment. In 2012, members of the Pussy Riot, a feminist punk rock group known for its provocative art, were sentenced to two years on a hooliganism charge afterfacing a potential maximum seven-year sentence.

More laws that give the government broad discretion in cracking down on speech include:

An article in the criminal code prohibits public insult of a representative of authority in the performance of his official duties or in connection with their performance.

Another article that prohibits public calls for extremist activity, a definition that includes forcible change in the foundations of the constitutional system and (or) violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

In Putins Russia, being a political dissident has proven a dangerous enterprise. Several prominent Putin critics have wound up dead over the years, including Boris Nemstov, a Russian politician who was assassinated in 2015 shortly after he called for protests against Russias involvement in Ukraine.

The Kremlin's most famous critic today,an outspoken Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, nearly died after being poisoned by a nerve agent in 2020. He currently sits in jail for violating his parole on a 2014 fraud charge when he returned to Russia after leaving the country to receive treatment for the poisoning.

His arrest last year sparked mass protests in Russia that led to the arrests of thousands. He says the Russian government is behind the attempt on his life, but the Kremlin has denied the claim.

Russia hits world's largest plane: Ukrainian-made aircraft the worlds largest damaged in Russian attack, Zelenskyy says

The Russian constitution guarantees freedom of the press, but Russia has in recent years passed legislation aimed at suppressing and discrediting independent media organizations.

One law brands groups and individuals foreign agents if they receive any funding from outside the country. It initially applied to nonprofits and independent news organizations in the country, but in 2019 it expanded it to individual bloggers and reporters.

This law subjects any media with foreign funding to burdensome reporting requirements and registration as a foreign agent. The Kremlin, which owns its own large state media organizations, has labeled more than 90 independent media entities and journalists foreign agents, according to Human Rights Watch.

Shortly after Putin greenlit the invasion of Ukraine, a prominent Russian TV journalist spoke against the war. His show subsequently pulled from the air and did not appear at its regularly scheduled time.

The European Union voted to ban Russian state-owned media like Russia Today and Sputnik, contending that they have spread disinformation andhelped justify Putin's decision to wage war.

And Russia has a notorious record against journalists who do work critical of the Kremlin. Last year, a Russian journalist was jailed for 25 days for a joke retweet authorities determined called for an illegal protest. Fourteen journalists have been imprisoned and 58 killed in Russia since the formation of the Russian Federation, according to the Commission to Protect Journalists.

Putin nuclear warning: What is DEFCON? What's nuclear deterrence? What to know amid Putin's warning

The Russian government has taken steps to increase its control of the internet in the last decade. In 2012, its parliament passed a law requiring internet service providers to block access to websites on a government-maintained blacklist. In 2019, it further tightened its clasp on the internet by mandating that internet providers install software that enables the government to restrict content without the providers knowledge.

During protests last year following Navalnys arrest, the Russian government moved to take down thousands of illegal tweets after Twitter failed to comply with the government's request to block the posts themselves, the New York Times reported. Russia has moved to restrict access to Facebook as Meta, Facebooks parent company, opted to block content from several Russian sites, including state run media, citing disinformation.

Fact check:What's true and what's false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sentences vary depending on the charges against a protester. Some chargecarry a punishment of 15 days in jail or a period of correctional labor. The charge of hooliganism carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

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Thousands of Russian anti-war protesters arrested: What are the freedom of speech laws in Russia? - USA TODAY

People paint over a Soviet Army monument with Ukrainian flag colors in Bulgaria, February 27, 2022.

Nikolay Doychinov | Afp | Getty Images

The following commentary was authored by 10 ambassadors and high commissioners resident in Singapore:

The EU, G-7, Allies, and partners are united in denouncing Russia's premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack against Ukraine.

The pain and suffering we are witnessing in Europe todaythe shattering of peace and stabilityaffects all of us around the world. As Russia's premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified invasion of Ukraine continues, let us be clear Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen a war that will bring catastrophic loss of life and suffering to innocent human beings. The entire world stands with the people of Ukraine as they suffer a brutal attack by Russia's military forces.

Putin has been planning this invasion for months, if not longer. He directed the movement of more than 175,000 troops and military equipment into positions along the Ukrainian border the largest buildup of military forces in Europe since World War II. Putin flagrantly violated international law when he decreed Russia would recognize the purported "independence" of two so-called "republics" on Ukraine's sovereign territory "republics" Russia has propped up and controlled through political and armed proxies since 2014. These actions were political theater, centered on baseless claims, and falsely staged to create the pretext for Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24. The world is not fooled.

At Putin's direction, Russia rejected every good faith effort Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and allies and partners made to address Russia's alleged mutual security concerns which Russia's actions have proven to be no more than a pretext. We urged Russia to engage diplomatically, avoid needless conflict, and avert human suffering. And yet, while the UNSC was meeting to stand up for Ukrainian sovereignty, Putin declared his war.

Now Russia's aerial bombing, troop deployments, and tank assaults have indiscriminately fallen on peaceful cities across Ukraine. The death and destruction that will follow Russia's incursion will result in incalculable costs for the innocent people of Ukraine. There are credible reports of hospitals, orphanages, and kindergartens destroyed by Russian forces.

Russia's invasion is a flagrant violation of international law and the international principles that we as an international community have all pledged to respect: national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the right of states to make their own decisions regarding their foreign and security policy arrangements. Our friends in Singapore share our grave concerns and have also emphasized the importance of upholding international law and the rules-based order, as evidenced by their decision to impose export controls and block certain Russian banks and financial institutions connected to Russia.

Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this invasion is bringing. We, the ambassadors and high commissioners of the Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and its Member States, and allies and friends of Ukraine, stand together against Russia's illegal war. Our countries have responded and will continue to respond in a united and decisive way. As our leaders have said, the world will hold the Kremlin accountable.

Tens of thousands of people gather in Tiergarten park to protest against the ongoing war in Ukraine on February 27, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images

The United States, the 27 members of the European Union, as well as the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and others are united in imposing massive, severe economic costs on Russia. Leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) met the morning of February 24 and agreed to restrict Russia's ability to do business in U.S. Dollars, Euros, Pounds, and Yen. This will limit Russia's ability to be part of the global economy and stunt Russia's ability to finance and grow its military.

The G7 and the European Union also took action to impose strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia. We moved to cut off major Russian banks from the international financial system and sanctioned additional Russian elites and their family members. We also stopped the Russian government and its state-owned enterprises from raising money from United States or European investors, and plan to cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports.

Our allies and partners are implementing similar measures. These unified actions will squeeze Russia's access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy, isolate Russia from financial activities worldwide, and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg holds a news conference on Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium February 24, 2022.

Yves Herman | Reuters

Collectively we are preparing to do more. NATO allies are prepared to defend themselves. The United States has already sent thousands of additional forces to Germany and Poland, and authorized the deployment of ground and air forces already stationed in Europe to NATO eastern flank Allies. Other NATO Allies and partners are stepping up, too, adding their own forces and capabilities to ensure our security collectively. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, these actions show NATO's collective defense commitment is ironclad, and that its members are standing as one to protect their freedom and values.

The coming weeks and months will be hard for the people of Ukraine Putin has unleashed great pain and suffering on them. But the Ukrainian people have known 30 years of independence and repeatedly shown they will not tolerate anyone who seeks to drag their country backwards.

The entire world now clearly sees Putin's intentions it was never about genuine security concerns, but about protecting a corrupt, authoritarian worldview, and forcing that system on a peaceful neighboring country. Putin's actions betray this sinister vision for the future of the world one where nations take what they want by force, and prey on and seek to exploit their neighbors simply because they can. His vision is affecting the foundation of the international order not only in Europe, but in Asia.

Nations across the world will rally to oppose this vision and we will emerge stronger, more united, more determined, and more purposeful. Putin's actions against Ukraine will come at considerable cost to Russia. Putin will not be able to extinguish the forces of liberty, democracy, and human dignity; they will endure. Make no mistake, freedom will prevail, and so will Ukraine.

Read more from the original source:

Freedom will prevail in Ukraine - CNBC

Edward Burtynsky: For over 20 years my mother advocated for the people of Ukraine. She knows what it means to lose freedom and what it takes to fight to get it back.

I was with my 97-year-old mother at her retirement home this weekend. She was born in a small agrarian village outside of Kyiv and has been watching the unfolding assault on Ukraine with grave intensity and emotion.

My mother recalled for me her childhood, when Stalin brutally starved 10 million Ukrainians in what is now referred to as the Holodomor. She remembered going to bed hungry night after night and eating plain rice rolled in grape vine leaves. She attributed her survival to owning a cow that supplied her family with milk. But she watched in horror as other people in her town starved to death.

MORE:The only acceptable response to Vladimir Putin

When she turned 17, Hitlers army surrounded her town and told everyone to gather their clothes and paperwork. They rounded every teenager in her town up and put them on a cattle-car train. Several horrific days later thousands of Ukrainian youth were let out of the cars at the train station in Nazi Germany, where farmers took turns choosing their slaves. She spent four years doing back-breaking physical labour on a farm before the war ended and she was freed. She spent another five years in Germany as a displaced person trying to get anywhere but back to Ukraine. She did not want to go back to live under Stalins rule, having barely survived the Holodomor.

Morenci Mine #2, Clifton, Arizona, USA, 2012. Burtynsky made two of his photographs, including this one, specially available for certain people who donated to the Red Cross. (Photograph provided by Edward Burtynsky)

Eventually, my mother was able to find her way to Canada where she began a coveted life of freedom and opportunity. She raised four children and has been able to live her life here in comfort and peace. But she never forgot her neighbours and countrymen in Ukraine. For over 20 years, my mother continued to advocate for the freedom of Ukraine with a group of her friends in St. Catharines, Ont. As the president of the womens league for the freeing of Ukraineduring the period it was still under Soviet ruleshe and around 20 others would hold sales of perogies and cabbage rolls several times a year. They would send all the proceeds to Ukraine to help their efforts to break away from Soviet Russia.

In contrast to current events in Canada, at a time when there are those who try to equate mask and vaccine mandates with restrictions to their liberty, the stories of survivors of the Ukrainian Holodomor and the barbaric rule of Soviet Russia, survivors like my mother, are even more important. After everything she has been through, she watched these recent protests and was decidedly unimpressed. She knows better than most what it means to truly lose your freedom and what it takes to fight to get it back.

Now it seems the Kremlin failed to consider that their Goliath assault on Ukraine would be met with a Davidthe will of the Ukrainian people to keep the Russians from dominating the country that they fought so hard to free. Can any case be made that Ukraine would be better off under the rule of Putin, whose current regime and strategy has history repeating itself, leaving millions of people vulnerable? I think not. Dissenters, citizens, children, and the land itself are at risk of being destroyed in the wake of yet another unnecessary, unspeakable war. And many Russians agree, too. Currently, 5,000 Russian citizens are detained for protesting this unprovoked attack on their slavic neighbour.

It may not surprise you to learn that I cannot make perogies and cabbage rolls for a fundraiser. But I cheered my mother up when I told her that I had decided to do something to continue her work helping Ukraine.

READ:Why sanctions over the Ukraine invasion wont stop Putin

Photography is about light conquering darkness. In response to this crisis, I released a special edition of two of my photographs (15 each), and made these available to the first 30 people who donated $10,000 or more to the Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal. Within 14 hours the prints sold out and we raised $300,000, and with the Government of Canadas pledge to match all Red Cross donations to Ukraine, that brings our total to $600,000. All proceeds went directly to the Red Cross.

I am incredibly grateful to the generous contributors to the Red Cross; these efforts have lent my mother strength, and given her much needed hope for her homeland in her twilight years.

This is a battle of democracy versus authoritarian rule and we in the free world must help Ukraine win. We can all do our part. From perogies to photography we all have a role to play in keeping Ukraine free.

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What it takes to truly fight for freedom in Ukraine - Maclean's

Form, Function - Freedom? Modernism, Ocean Liners, and Class

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The early 20th century saw the birth of Modernist architecture. It brought with it a central architectural movement that in turn birthed off-shoots of its own. A figure often seen as the defining face of this movement is Le Corbusier, whose 1923 treatise Toward an Architecture was influential to his Modernist contemporaries a manifesto including the phrase a house is a machine for living in where good architecture would have to be intrinsically linked to function and the demands of industry.

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In searching for design precedents where function and form have a harmonious relationship, transportation became, for Modernist groups of architects, a key source of inspiration. Cars for the likes of Le Corbusier became an obsession, with him seeing the automobile as an indisputable symbol of modernity. Another form of transportation, however, had an arguably even bigger impact. The ocean liner long-haul passenger ships becoming icons of exemplary design for a so-called architecture of the new age

It is easy to see why. Ocean liners at the turn of the 20th century were feats of engineering, large vessels that had the complicated task of combining long seafaring journeys with a comfortable experience for their passengers. The more expensive trips were on these passenger ocean liners, the more sophisticated their designs got, piquing the interest of architects who sought to translate their streamlined shapes, pipe railings and chic interiors to architectural developments on land.

This adoption of the ocean liner aesthetic in certain Modernist structures is made even more interesting when one dissects the societal backdrop that enveloped these buildings. It is a complicated discussion, because the ocean liner, with its extravagant interior design and association with the journeys of the rich, being able to serve as a vessel for further symbolising a building as that of the elite. The first-floor salon of Le Corbusiers formative Parisian Villa Savoye was deliberately designed to mimic the feel and appearance of the upper deck of an ocean liner. The white tubular railing that wraps around the curved staircase further adds to this effect. Villa Savoye, similar to many of Le Corbusiers early works, was a project for a wealthy client.

The ocean liner as a symbol of opulence was distilled by Le Corbusier into un-cluttered spaces and the removal of gaudy interiors, but ultimately still functioned as a symbol of wealth in a new machine age

Another architect connected to France Jean Prouv also looked to the nautical language of ships to develop his own strain of Modernism. His 1950s prefabricated Maisons Tropicales were prototype structures made from folded sheet steel and aluminium. The ocean liner inspiration had a muted presence in the design, only showing itself in circular perforations of the exterior wall a reference to a ships portholes. Although the nature of the design meant that it was, in effect, a makeshift structure, it would still function as a symbol of luxury, as the houses were designed for French officials stationed in Frances West African colonies. Its an apt representation of the limitations of some Modernist lines of thought.

A new age of mechanisation, ostensibly billed as a tool for reducing social ills and cultivating a more equal society, resulted in Jean Prouv simply repackaging an emblem associated with wealth the ocean liner porthole not for a radical client, but instead for the existing status quo of French colonial authorities. The ocean liners of old had a tiered system, where the distinctions between classes were immediately apparent in the design and space allocated for wealthy passengers versus the less-expensive classes. Prouvs Maisons Tropicales, while striving to harmonise African indigeneity with modern construction methods, were still perceptibly structures that sought to themselves as homes for Europeans distinguishing themselves from the vernacular architecture built by Africans in Frances West African colonies.

There does exist an example that has sought, and has succeeded, to turn the Modernist appeal of the ocean liner into a structure that seeks to democratise. The De La Warr Pavilion in the South Coast of England is, stylistically, a clear homage to the grand age of ocean liners, designed by Enrich Mendelsohn, who had fled Hitlers Germany, and Russian architect Serge Chermayeff.

Steel and concrete made up the skeleton of the pavilion, with large glass windows and cantilevered balconies derived from the appearance of large sea vessels. From its inception, however, the building was not envisioned as an elite club, but instead as a Peoples Palace. The Mayor a proponent of socialist thinking propagated that the building would act as a democratic social enterprise, a cultural centre easily accessible for the wider public. It was able to thrive as a premier entertainment venue, laying the groundwork for the Southbank Centre in London.

As Modernist architects sought to escape the boundaries of the architecture of antiquity, the ocean liner was a sensible illustration of progress, modernity, and the power of technology. With this illustration, some architects simply used the ocean liner as a purely stylistic symbol, a continuation of the ocean liner as a marker of affluence. For some Modernist buildings, however, the ocean liner was a stylistic choice in only a superficial sense where the complicated hierarchies of the passenger ocean liner were done away in favour of a more egalitarian, accessible structure.

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Form, Function - Freedom? Modernism, Ocean Liners, and Class - ArchDaily

Almost all of the bills that Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature rammed through in the last week would have the effect of curbing our freedom to vote.Two bills would make voting by absentee ballot more difficult for all voters in Wisconsin.SB 939 would prohibit the Wisconsin Elections Commission or any local clerk from sending out absentee ballot applications, en masse, to registered voters, as was prudently done during the pandemic. Our ability to exercise our freedom to vote by mail should not be needlessly curtailed by this blanket prohibition.

I can understand that some legislators dont want a clerk in one locale to do this when a clerk in another locale isnt doing the same thing. But why shouldnt the Elections Commission be allowed to do this uniformly? If we want more people to be able to exercise their freedom to vote in our democracy, sending everyone an absentee ballot application makes sense, in general. And in specific, it makes a whole lot of sense during a pandemic. But this bill would nix both those options.

SB 935 would render an absentee ballot null and void for the pettiest of reasons. For instance, if Im a witness for the absentee voter and I print my name, and I sign my name, and I put Madison, WI, down as my residence but I neglect to put my street down, should the voter Im witnessing be disqualified because of that omission? The bill says yes, and that seems ridiculous to me.

Even requiring a witness seems like a stretch to me, since the voter already is swearing about his or her identity. Now to make the witness have to fill out everything just right or the voters ballot is disqualified just adds another way to toss a perfectly good ballot into the waste basket.

Whats more, SB 935 would make voting by absentee ballot especially more difficult for those in residential care facilities or retirement homes. SB 935 would paternalistically require the notification of relatives of residents in long-term care facilities or retirement homes as to when special voting deputies are going to be there. Residents dont need their relatives looking over their shoulders when theyre voting. This is an invasion of their privacy. Unless they have a legal guardian, residents should not have their freedom to vote interfered with in this obnoxious manner. What if they dont get along with the relatives for whom the home or facility has contact information? What business is it of the relatives, seriously?

SB 935 would also needlessly prohibit a personal care voting assistant from helping any resident of a residential care facility or qualified retirement home to register to vote. If the personal care voting assistant is there to help the resident fill out an absentee ballot, why cant the assistant help the resident register to vote? That distinction makes no sense. Plus, nursing homes that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding are required to support the residents right to vote. That should include supporting residents who want to register to vote.

And several of these bills would hog-tie the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

SB 940 would allow the Joint Finance Committee to gouge the staff or the funds of the Elections Commission if Joint Finance, on its own, says that the Elections Commission or the Department of Transportation or the Department of Corrections or the Department of Health Services failed to comply with any election law. That would give Joint Finance a huge whip over the heads of the Elections Commission, with no decent check on that unilateral power.

SB 941 would give the Joint Finance Committee and the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules the authority to block federal funds and federal guidance, which will make it very difficult for the Commission to do its job. Its also of dubious constitutionality: States arent allowed to disregard federal guidance on the conduct of federal elections, for instance.

SB 941 would also inject hyper-partisanship at the staff level by mandating that each major political party gets its own legal counsel on the staff of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The last thing we need is more partisan haggling at the Wisconsin Elections Commission. And why shouldnt the Green Party or the Libertarian Party have legal counsel on staff if the other parties get to? Thats discrimination.

SB 943 would require the Elections Commission to be nit-picked and hyper-monitored by the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. Every week, the Elections Commission would have to give to JCRAR all documents and communications from the commission that the commission issued in the previous week that are applicable to municipal clerks generally and qualify as guidance documents. This would amount to death by a thousand cuts for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

There was one bill, SB 937, that was actually OK. Authored by Sen. Kathy Bernier, with a lot of input from disability rights activists, it would have clarified the status of indefinitely confined voters and offered some protections for them. But no Democrats would back it, preferring to take a unified stance against all the bills.

I actually think that was a mistake, morally and politically.

Morally, because the bill, while certainly not perfect, would have made some necessary improvements for persons with disabilities.

Politically, because it would have behooved Democrats to show that they were willing to work in a bipartisan manner when given a decent bill to sign.

Given the hyper-partisan climate in the Legislature, that might have been too much to ask.

But Gov. Evers could demonstrate some bipartisanship by signing SB 937 and then vetoing all the others, which are far, far worse.

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Republicans in Wisconsin try to curb our freedom to vote - Wisconsin Examiner

Photo By Asad Chishti for illustrative purposes.

Column By Walt Mares

I am a voracious lover of books, even more so since I retired after four decades of being a newspaper reporter.

I am dismayed by those in America who are burning books or demanding that many be removed from school libraries.

For me, that is a sacrilege.

These people are acting out against anything that may be controversial, such as the fact that racism and slavery ever existed. Yet I am not aware of any who are complaining or banning or burning books or other sources that may contain violence. Perhaps they are not aware of or do not care about the violence portrayed in video games millions of American children play.

Sure enough, many of those games involve destroying the opposition via violence. But no problem there, eh? What could possibly be wrong with Junior or Missy being involved in killing others, albeit on a screen?

My love for books dates back to fourth grade but began flourishing as an 8th grader when I got to take high school journalism.

Thats also when I fell in love with the school library. There, sitting alone, I read books that by todays standards might be outlawed then again, maybe not. Among them were Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf (My Struggle) and the follow-up, My New Order.

Why was I so interested in the horror of Nazism? I wanted to learn how so many people could buy into what the maniac was espousing. It just did not make sense to me that so, so many would fall for something so ugly and dangerous.

At the time I began having a strong interest in a world-shaping event that involved the deaths of millions of people and the deaths of thousands of American troops. All because of Hitlers repeated lies.

I believe that interest may have been shaped by having learned what so many World War II veterans experienced when they served in the European Theater and battled the Nazis.

Another important book, though I found it difficult to read, was Darwins The Origin of Species. It required me to use a dictionary to understand some of the words.

The book has over the years made many evangelicals shudder and decry Darwin and evolution as atheistic and more.

Fast-forward to my freshman year. I had saved up some money from working in the fields during the summer. I bought a paperback copy of Doctor Zhivago. I had it on top of some other books I took to an English class. The teacher, who claimed to be part of a church in which the members call themselves saints, saw the book and took it away from me claiming it was not fit for people to be read, especially for someone as young as I.

What a bummer. He rejected my pleas when I told him I had worked hard to buy it.

I had underestimated the zeal of his self-righteousness. Maybe the teacher considered the book taboo as it involved Russia and at that time the U.S. and Russia were mortal enemies the Cold War. However, I doubt that.

After I graduated from high school, I borrowed Dr. Zhivago from the library of our local college. It was long but excellent. It was astounding to me that it was not loaded with anything sexual or vulgar things that might have caused a teacher to snatch it away.

These many years later what remains in my mind from my readings in the high school library are the many, many book burnings that occurred during Hitlers reign. He demanded that materials that did not align with his way of thinking were not just banned but burned. He particularly hated any texts that dealt with psychology or anything he considered intellectual.

In other words, anything that might cause people to think about anything other than loyalty to him and the murderous Nazi philosophy. That is if one could even consider that as a philosophy. Better yet, describe it as evil dogma and propaganda.

Hitler used fear as a quite effective tool to rule, and people fell under his spell. He frequently used lies to stir the masses. Lies and more lies. Any lie frequently repeated gradually gains acceptance. So said a Nazi propagandist.

Sound familiar?

As for books, nothing was allowed that might dispel that fear or contradict Hitlers lies. The fewer people knew, the better for the madman.

Toward his ends, burning books was very effective. That is one of the reasons I was shocked make that stunned when I saw a video of books being burned by a group in Texas. The culprits were shown gleefully cheering as the flames climbed.

Were they drunk? Perhaps. Then again maybe they were just under the spell of ignorance, ugliness, stupidity, and, foremost, lies repeated on television or online.

It is frightening to see actual books burning here in the nation that defeated Hitler. What might come next?

So now I am concerned about freedom of thought in the land of the free.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.

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Editorial: Freedom of thought is sacred, but not to some - The Gila Herald

OPINION:

Economic freedom is one of mankinds best ideas. It is responsible for more advances in living standards, health, knowledge, multicultural harmony, and social justice than anything else weve come up with in the last 2,000 years. The Heritage Foundations new Index of Economic Freedom proves that the world needs free markets today more than ever.

The 2022 Index catalogs a tough year for the four broad policy areas and 12 specific categories reflected in each nations overall score. Globally, the average economic freedom score fell from 61.6 down to 60 the fourth consecutive annual decline. The U.S. score fell 2.7 points to 72.1, putting us 25th in global rankings of economic freedom five slots lower than last year and the lowest America has ever fallen.

The main source of this decline in 2021 globally and domestically was once again governments responses to COVID-19. The toll the pandemic took on the nations health was obviously enormous. But across the globe, so too were the costs of counterproductive government responses. Regardless of how well-intentioned, policies that restricted economic freedom did little to arrest COVID-19s spread, but much to exacerbate its economic costs.

Lockdowns, travel bans, trade restrictions, and social distancing all curbed economic activity and growth and had a devastating effect on local communities. As always, government relief was no substitute for the solidarity, opportunity, and mobility generated by voluntary exchanges between buyers and sellers.

Even nations spared COVID-19s worst ravages were nonetheless hurt by the global economic downturn statism fueled. And of course, some pandemic policy dysfunction, like long-COVID itself, will be robbing us for years to come. We may never know, for instance, the full cost of the learning-loss inflicted on American schoolchildren masked these past two years to satisfy teachers unions demands.

This 1.6-point global decline in economic freedom represents trillions of dollars of lost health care, housing, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, technology, mining, and manufacturing over the lifetimes of children born around the world last year. It means more poverty, less education, and stronger temptations for tyrants and demagogues to exploit rather than serve their people.

The silver lining in the 2022 Index is the same silver lining in every annual Index: economic freedom still works. Even amid the social upheaval of a global pandemic, there remain strong correlations between countries economic freedom scores and their quality of life, as measured in per capita income, health, educational attainment, environmental quality, technological innovation, democratic governance, and adherence to the rule of law.

The COVID-19 pandemic no more redeemed or justified statist policies than other crises past generations of politicians exploited to advance them, from the Great Depression to the Great Recession to the harrowing disruptions globalization visited upon Americas blue-collar communities. Free enterprise is not the cause of these challenges its the solution.

Nor is capitalism the sandbox of elite privilege left-wing pundits (many of them millionaires) disparage. On the contrary, by rewarding hard work, marriage, and thrift, promoting upward mobility, fueling civil society, and creating generational family wealth, free markets accomplished more for diversity, equity, and inclusion than every faculty senate, Critical Race Theorist, or New York Times editorial put together.

Just because economic freedom is unfashionable today doesnt make it ineffective. The human spirit, expressed in individual initiative, remains every bit as much the wellspring of community and global prosperity as it was when the Soviet empire fell. American conservatives, in particular, tempted by the clicks and frisson of ideological novelty, should remember: there is nothing more elitist than central economic planning, and nothing more populist than free markets roiling with hungry competitors and empowered consumers.

That the whole world stepped back from economic freedom last year is all the more reason American policymakers should embrace it anew to seize the opportunities everyone else passed up. The political current is always running toward statism. But as G.K. Chesterton said, a dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.

Ever since Americas founding upon principles of market capitalism that elites hated then as now we have been the living thing in the global economy. For two centuries, we defied the cronyism and timidity of corporate and political insiders and entrusted our economy to our people and that has made all the difference.

As Heritages 2022 Index shows once again, economic freedom is not something Americans should apologize for, but harness, spur, and give free rein for our own sake, and everyone elses, too.

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Economic freedom, now more than ever - Washington Times

You shouldn't try to make yourself into something you're not.

That was the adviceWilliam Pariswas given by his academic supervisor in graduate school. At the time, he was studying European philosophers but finding his interest waning.

I began realizing these figures couldn't answer the questions I was interested in, says Paris, a new assistant professor in the University of Torontos department of philosophy in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

I was asking questions like, What is the relationship between slavery and modern politics now? How is it that racism continues to be a problem, even though it has been thoroughly delegitimated ideologically and scientifically? It felt like I was trying to push a square peg into a round hole.

Following his supervisors words and his own passions Paris became a scholar of Africana philosophy, exploring thinkers from Africa as well as philosophers of the African diaspora who settled in the Caribbean, North America and around the world.

Africana philosophy asks questions around, How does racism reproduce itself? What does national belonging mean? It tries to understand the relationship between race, colonialism and empire.

Who are some of these philosophers?

There are several, but Paris wishes more people knew about W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) and Frantz Fanon (1925-1961).

An American sociologist, historian, author and activist, Du Bois is regarded as the most important Black protest leader in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Du Bois is essential for asking the questions like what does it mean to say that a society has racial problems or that society is structurally racist? says Paris.

Considered ahead of his time, Du Bois was an early champion of using social science data to solve social issues for the Black community. His writing, includingThe Souls of Black Folk, became required reading in African American studies.

He's not just a great lyricist, says Paris. He's an incredible philosopher who gives insight into what it means to try to figure out a relationship between philosophy and social science that can lead us to more liberatory forms of life.

Fanon, meanwhile, was a psychiatrist and political philosopher from Martinique who was concerned with the psychosocial repercussions of colonialism on colonized people. His major contributions to de-colonial thinking stemmed from his experiences working at the Blida-Joinville Hospital in Algeria during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962).

He later created a model for community psychology, believing that many mental health patients would fare better if they were integrated into their families and communities, rather than being treated in institutionalized care settings.

For him, it was never about blaming people for their unhealthy behaviors, says Paris. It was about reconstructing a society that embraces the human creatures we are so that we can have healthy relationships with one another.

I'm drawn to these Africana thinkers who are also interested in scientific study, adds Paris. They weren't just talking about their lived experience. They wanted to develop objective methods that can allow us to grasp what the problem is and then transform it.

Du Bois and Fanon are sometimes referenced in his course, Philosophy and Social Criticism, which focuses on how our notions of justice change over time.

We've finished the first unit which is about critiquing the present what does it mean to understand the time you're living in? says Paris.

The course includes discussions of contemporary philosophers such as Martin Hgglund and his bookThis Life, in which he argues that spiritual questions of freedom are inseparable from economic and material conditions, and that what matters is how we treat one another in this life and what we do with our time.

Then we read Theodor Adorno and his essay calledFree Time, where he argues that the very fact that we have to call our time free means that its not actually very free.

The course also addresses philosophy as it relates to climate change and the role of politics.

Often our democracy focuses on how we meet the needs of the existing population, but we're increasingly talking about what world are we handing down to our grandchildren who are not here yet. says Paris.

In addition to teaching, Paris and some academic colleagues host a monthly podcast calledWhats Left for Philosophythats described as, Four Marxist friends discussing philosophy, politics, and culture.

Were trying to make philosophy accessible to those who don't study philosophy or even to those who do in an effort to rediscover the joy of thinking, says Paris.

With rotating hosts and guests, theres no competition to see who knows or understands more. Instead, its a relaxed atmosphere where the ideas, theories and discussion flow freely.

We're just here to think together, says Paris. It's actually a way for me to decompress.

Paris is also working on a book calledRacial Justice and Forms of Life: Towards a Critical Theory of Utopian Epistemology.

The book begins with the question: Why is it so hard to complete the project of racial justice in countries, primarily in the West?

The manner in which we arrange our lives makes it so that racial hierarchy and domination are almost inevitable consequences, so we shouldn't be surprised our efforts in modifying problems of racial justice keep being stymied, says Paris.

I'm arguing that we need to develop new habits and new modes of knowing that can allow us to understand how we can develop a new form of life. Its important for us to get beyond the pessimism of, All we can do is modify the status quo and accept disappointment, and ask the real question of what it would mean to move past disappointment and actually complete a project of freedom.

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'A project of freedom': U of T's William Paris on the wisdom of Africana philosophy - News@UofT

Most Americans believe that school should be a place where children from different places and races learn from the past, make sense of the present and prepare for the future. Though educators try hard to provide our children with accurate and honest education, some politicians are trying to turn us against schools so they can censor whats taught in our classrooms and write certain groups out of our history books. Their book-banning requests focus on works with racial, gender, or LGBTQ-related themes, many of them revered classics and historical works. These are real efforts to block teaching about the contributions of groups that have been historically marginalized and about the legacy of racism that our countrys heroes have striven, and continue to strive, to overcome.

The freedom to learn is a fundamental right. Our children deserve the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills to reckon with our past, shape a better future, and pursue their dreams.

By speaking up at school boards and contacting our elected leaders and urging them to do everything in their power to stop this anti-learning wave, we can protect the freedom to learn and ensure every child receives the quality education they deserve.

Todd Schneider,

Cuyahoga Falls

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Let your voices be heard that freedom to learn is a fundamental right - cleveland.com

The classical, folk and world-music flautist Eliza Marshall is touring her Rhythms of Migration album this month

March 14, 2020: I remember gazing out at a packed Lyceum Theatre, to a sold-out show of The Lion King, while at the same time reading about Broadway closing down. Two days later, the West End went dark. Who could have predicted what was to come?

But from challenging times, new shoots can grow. What is it that we as artists are able to express through our music? What opportunities are there during a time like this? Many of us have had to quickly adapt over the last two years; never has the power of music and art seemed so needed and worthy, and yet so bleak and out of reach. As we see venues reopening, and people venturing out, now seems like a poignant time to launch a project that was crafted during lockdown. Born three years ago as a concept of film, music and visual art, Freedom To Roam represents hugely important topics climate change, migration, rewilding, empathy and human displacement.

At a time when we are inundated by depressing news, this project, which I initiated in 2018 during a visit to Coll, the inner Hebridean island, has allowed us to look for compassion, hope and potential. We recorded the album, called The Rhythms of Migration, in Wales late last year with a group of outstanding musicians including the harpist Catrin Finch, the multi-instrumentalist Dnal Rogers and the leader of Britten Sinfonia Jackie Shave, each of whom also composed original tracks for the recording. My own tracks feature, too, and I play flutes, whistles and Indian bansuri. Along with other musicians including Kuljit Bhamra on tabla and Joby Burgess on percussion, we created a fusion of African, Celtic and Indian sounds, which Gramophones sister title Songlines described in its recent review as inspirational and thought-provoking.

The project is threefold, consisting of not only the album but also a documentary Connected, by award-winning director Nicholas Jones, which premiered at Cecil Sharp House in December and a touring concert. Each concert begins with a screening of the film, after which we perform The Rhythms of Migration in its entirety, accompanied by stunning visual art from Amelia Kosminsky.

What is the point of being alive if we arent helping each other? asks Claire Keegan in her book Small Things Like These. From little acorns grow mighty oaks.

Freedom to Roamhas received support from Arts Council UK, Kickstarter Campaign and The Royal Philharmonic Society. The spring tour runs until March 2 click here for more information. Eliza spoke toGramophoneabout collaborating on a new ballet with Joby Talbot read the article here

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Finding 'freedom to roam' during the pandemic - Gramophone