Fear and freedom

IN his speech on January 6, 1941, 22nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: "A world founded upon four essential freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression … everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way … everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want ... everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear ... anywhere in the world." One of the most respected presidents in American history, Roosevelt, a Democrat, was the first president to break the third term tradition and was elected to a fourth term in 1944.

Every nation needs able and farsighted leaders to make it a prosperous and great State. Shortsighted and inept leadership cannot deliver any good to the nation. According to our Constitution, every citizen shall have the right to 'freedom of speech and expression' and 'freedom of the press.' The Constitution guaranteed our 'freedom of thought and conscience,' but 'subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court defamation or incitement to an offence.' 

Our Constitution guaranteed us a lot of rights. We have 'the right to move freely throughout Bangladesh,' but we know that we don't have the right to enter anybody's house scaling a wall. That is invasion of privacy -- a punishable offence. We have the freedom to think and say whatever we like, but have no right to hurt anybody howsoever small, weak and insignificant she or he might be.

But these days, everybody fears to move freely even in the highways. Nobody knows who will unhesitatingly hurl petrol bombs on the public vehicles to kill unknown innocent people. People of high position have been hurling invectives against somebody they do not like. That is not freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is to speak the truth.

In our People's Republic, all citizens are not equal in the eyes of the State. If you are a powerful person, you are free to do whatever you like. You can grab government khas lands with fake documents or without any documents whatsoever. If you have clout in the administration, you can murder your opponent in broad daylight and the law enforcers will not dare touch even a hair on your head. Even if you are accused of murder and arrested, you are sure to get bail.

In a democracy that we have in our Republic, an opposition leader can enforce a countrywide indefinite blockade for months together to reach a 'logical conclusion' of her movement. She does not bother about economy of the country, education of the children and the right to free movement and security of the people. Threats to freedom of expression have negated the fruits of democracy in Bangladesh.

Laws are twisted by the powerful, thereby depriving the common people of their legitimate rights. Words like petrol bombs, crossfire, encounter, forced disappearance, abduction and death in police custody overwhelm people with fear. Our existing laws do not allow anything like crossfire or encounter even if the victim is a heinous criminal. He has the right to take shelter of the rule of law.

In an independent and sovereign country, all kinds of fundamental rights are guaranteed by the State to its citizens. A country like Bangladesh with a low literacy rate has failed to secure people's rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution. The underprivileged and illiterate people are not in a position to be aware of the rights that are enshrined in the Constitution. We need to wipe out illiteracy from the society and educate our people.

The people have very little understanding of the implications of the denial of their fundamental rights. Constitutional rights are being violated at the behest of the powerful section of the society. If such subversion is to be resisted, efforts have to be made to spread education and awareness among the masses.

It was a long-cherished dream of the people of this land to establish a society free from fear, hunger, exploitation and oppression. To fulfill the dream, lakhs of people sacrificed their lives in 1971. We fought the brutal Pakistani army to establish truth in our society. 

Ibsen, in his play An Enemy of the People writes: "One should never put on ones' best trousers to go to battle for freedom and truth." Battle for freedom and truth is the noblest of all battles. We fought that battle in 1971. And we won.

Truth went away from the soil of Bangladesh long ago. In a society where truth is absent, all citizens are not equal in the eyes of the law. Where all citizens are not equal nobody is free from fear. As a nation, we have distanced ourselves from truth. As a result, we have lost our freedom -- freedom of movement and freedom of expression. 

How much freedom we do have in our People's Republic we do not know, but we have these days freedom to fear. Now we have to launch a battle for freedom and truth to make our motherland a peaceful and livable place free from all kinds of fear.

The writer is a noted writer, researcher and social activist.