The Changing Definition Of Freedom

The past three years I must say have been unprecedented, challenging times of great uncertainty, fear of the unknown, fever pitch anxiousness and loneliness. They say the earth is always spinning on its axis but somewhere in between these three years, it felt like it had stopped or rather reached a destination.

At some point in time, many of us realized the things we had always taken for granted, say family, friends, relatives, social services and et cetera.

At least by now we have all tasted the bitter-sour fruits of the COVID-19 pandemic and several lockdowns. Talk of the massive deaths,staying indoors 24/7 as if it is house arrest, binge watching all the crazy stuff all in the name of boredom, putting on extra body weight, schools closing, people losing jobs, families falling apart and economies falling apart, name it.

All seemed well until 2019 when COVID-19 hit, not in one, two or three countries but globally. Everybody felt trapped and tangled up like soldiers who have lost a war and have been told to surrender. Conspiracy theories were everywhere together with misinformation and clickbait circulating all over the internet. To some, this was a sign of the end of the times, call it an apocalypse. To others it was simply a disease, just like AIDS. With donations and funding from bodies like United Nations and WHO, countries worked tirelessly to eradicate the virus.

But unfortunately in between there, frequent shooting of black people in USA by police took the world by surprise, breeding even more fear. This immediately led to the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement which was partly due to the tragic death of George Floyd. Then, it became concrete that the world was not only fighting COVID-19 but also racism, a form of injustice and remember an injustice for one is an injustice for all.

And now, just as the pandemic and anti-racists riots were simmering down, the world was surprised again on the 24th of February this year by another tragedy, this time not a disease but a war between Ukraine and Russia. It is therefore at this moment that I would like us to see the full picture when we look at the coronavirus pandemic, systemic racism and police brutality that were happening not only in the USA but even in other countries and finally the Russo-Ukrainian war that actually began in 2014.

What do all these have in common? To me, it’s the fact that the concepts of freedom and liberty have been tested in all the above scenarios and thus this brings us to today’s topic, freedom. What is freedom?

Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no a one-size-fits-all definition or answer to the question as you will find out because different people have different thoughts, insights and opinions about the idea of freedom.

For some freedom means going anywhere you want, being independent, living in the present while for others it means doing and speaking everything you want. From the above answers, I can make two simple conclusions that is, everyone wants to be free and freedom is important but is that enough to satisfy all of us?

Let us look at Nelson Mandela’s journey to freedom. He was a freedom fighter dedicated to setting the black people free through ensuring that they got equality. Although he was threatened with death and even jailed for over twenty seven years, that did not stop him from achieving his dream. His encounters in the Johannesburg suburbs which were filled with a lot of poverty taught him how segregation of black people did not permit them to have the same job opportunities as the whites.

This pushed him further to pursue a job as a legal clerk which laid the foundation for him to later become the first black president having had the responsibility of pushing for free elections, bringing peace and equality and ending apartheid.

From that short history, we can proudly say Nelson Mandela believed that freedom is a birth right that everyone must have regardless of skin colour, gender or sexual orientation. It is all about equality, justice, democracy, unity, peace opportunity, responsibility and respect.

There are many aspects to freedom, it can be social, political or religious. No two societies or cultures are the same therefore freedom may sometimes be defined differently but this does not mean we should disregard the rights of others.

So how do we confirm our freedom? By having free and fair elections where we cast our votes, singing national anthems and celebrating our respective independence days.

And how do ensure everyone gets freedom? Luckily in most if not all countries, there is a constitution which is a set of principles by which a country is governed. For countries like USA, there are even amendments that guarantee civil rights to citizens. Despite having all these in place, USA a country one might call very progressive is still struggling because it hasn’t fully addressed the structural roots of extremism and white privilege which have hindered equal service delivery to all its citizens. And now let’s discuss Ukraine.

Even after successful protests that led to driving out of president Victor Yanukovych in 2014, the state of political rights in Ukraine hasn’t been promising. It would therefore be pretense to say that the political climate in Ukraine was so good before it’s invasion by Russia. Of course like a bad apple, the effects of president Victor’s bad rule have been slowly but sure making the current government rotten.

Ukraine’s global freedom score as of 2022 stands at 61% compared to last year’s 60%. Of course there is a very slight improvement but citizens expected more. So where has the government been lacking in as far as ensuring civilians get their freedom? As we shall see below, there are multitudes of reasons.

Various populations such as women and the LGBTQ+ community have not been given full political rights and electoral opportunities.

The government has done little to safeguard against corruption carried out by the officials voted into power by the people. In addition, there is little transparency in the way the government carries out it’s duties. This was mainly seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when it came to purchasing drugs.

Further there have been many restrictions put on free and independent media thereby denying people a chance to voice their opinions, in other words their freedom of speech taken away. Attacks against human rights activists and journalists are common. With no opportunity to hold open debates, people with creative ideas that would develop the country are silenced.

Some people have not been able to express their religious views for example destruction of Jewish churches has been on the rise.

Freedom of assembly has not been granted to some minority groups like the LGBTQ+ community especially during pride parades.

There is lack of equal treatment of civilians in terms of enforcing laws and policies. This is seen when rich individuals who have committed crimes skip court sessions and therefore never go to jail to serve their sentence.

As I wind up, I would want each one of us to recognize the damage Ukraine has suffered because of this war, say the billions of dollars lost to property damage, deaths and her citizens who have been displaced. Can this remind us that war is expensive and that there is always much to lose by going into it. Can we always think through our plans before taking action because there are always consequences. Can we always lead with compassion, respect, peace and with love for one another and may achieving freedom through the right ways always be our goal.

Finally with bombs and missiles filling Ukraine skies like fireworks, it got me thinking, wouldn’t it be beautiful and empowering if all human races worldwide could put aside their differences and instead work hand in hand to make the world a better place for everyone, regardless of religious and political beliefs, location, socioeconomic status or culture.

It’s time we stood on the right side of history.