Free Speech Allows Dishonest Politicians To Be Named And Shamed

In the absence of free speech, the people suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic will never know how it all began, though they have the right to know it. Given China’s suppression of free speech and powerful Western nations’ secret plans to counter China’s military ambitions, we do not know whether the virus was originated in a lab or from a wet market in Wuhan in China or brought to China by a hostile nation. It is alleged that the absence of free information flow and China’s crackdown on whistleblowers contributed to the uncontrollable spread of the disease and delayed an early global response.

- Ameen Izzadeen

By yesterday, 1.98 million people worldwide have died due to the pandemic and 92.3 million have been afflicted. Yet, freedom of expression is still being denied, suppressed and abused by governments and ruling party politicians, though they make use of it to come to power.

In an absolute watertight dictatorship, politics is clandestine and exists only in the minds of those who harbour ambitions to oust the dictator or are wishing his death to establish themselves in the seat of power. In this secretive game of throne, replete with betrayals and backstabbing, there is little space for freedom of expression. The one who speaks out, does so only at the expense of drawing upon himself the wrath of the dictator or severe punishment. With fear psychosis growing, none will have the courage to speak out and tell the dictator that he is committing crime after crime against democracy.

With evil thriving in the silence of democracy’s devout believers, dictators may feel they are well ensconced in the seats of power. They will not realize, however, that dictatorships only lead to the destruction of the moral fabric of the nation, apart from causing economic and social ruination. World history is full of examples of how the mighty have fallen and faced shameful ends after people’s power revolutions.

While politics is aimed at capturing, retaining, protecting and enhancing power, only in a democratic setup, can a political campaign be carried out to capture power. For any political campaign to be effective, freedom of speech is sine qua non. The more the people enjoy the freedom to express themselves, the better the health of the democracy and the higher the quality of representatives they will be electing.