{"id":150,"date":"2004-06-10T12:19:11","date_gmt":"2004-06-10T07:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?p=150"},"modified":"2004-06-10T12:19:11","modified_gmt":"2004-06-10T07:19:11","slug":"the-price-of-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2004\/06\/10\/the-price-of-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Price of Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Often on many discussion boards or on other blogs there is a oft expressed setiment &#8211; Democracy cannot be for every one. It can only be for those who are like &#8220;us&#8221;. I saw many of these sentiments expressed after the NDA defeat in India. I am sure that these will again resurface if elections are held in Iraq and a fundamentalist government is voted into power. Yet, this is a price that we pay for Democracy. The majority decides and the will of the majority prevails and rules. The minority has a voice &#8211; but it does not have power. It has protection of the law and the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Democracy and Liberty are very binary &#8211; it is either freedom for all, or freedom for none. There really is no via media. It cannot be some democracy for some people. And it cannot be freedom for a few. It is like being pregnant. You cannot be somewhat pregnant. Similarly you can&#8217;t be somewhat democratic.<\/p>\n<p>Today amongs the many wonderous (and non wonderous) things that i get into my in-box was a news letter from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/\">Human Rights Watch<\/a>. It was about this incredible 70 year old doctor from China &#8211;  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/english\/docs\/2004\/06\/10\/china8794.htm\"><strong>Dr. Jiang Yanyong<\/strong> <\/a>&#8211; who exposed the Chinese government&#8217;s cover up of the SARS epidemic. He along with his wife, Dr. Hua Zhongwei, have been detained at the Chinese Government&#8217;s pleasure. Dr.Jiang was also an ardent critic of the <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/SPECIALS\/2001\/tiananmen\/\"><strong>Tiananmen Square Massacre<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; where the Chinese Government mowed down its own students for protesting for freedom.Wonderous because even in the most repressive of regimes a voice that speaks the truth stands out. A cry for freedom can still be heard. And there are enough people in the rest of the world to care.<\/p>\n<p>There are many who believe that India is screwed because of its Democracy. I would say that the reason we are going to survive and make it &#8211; is because of the Democracy and a respect for pluralism. I might rant and rave about a <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/world\/south_asia\/1958555.stm\"><strong>Narendra Modi<\/strong> <\/a>or a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fact-index.com\/p\/pr\/pravin_togadia.html\"><strong>Pravin Togadia<\/strong><\/a>&#8211; but to even think of getting them banned is unthinkable. Even though I know they may not accord those like me the same consideration if they came to power. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skdubeyfoundation.org\/\"><strong>Satyendra Dubey<\/strong><\/a>, as a whistle blower might lose his life &#8211; but there is a hue and cry about it. A free press screams murder, ordinary people are moved from inaction. Foundations are set up and donations pour in to make sure that it never again happens. A Gujarat happens, and again the samething. A hue and cry. Outrage. The Supreme Court intervening to see justice is done. Can we see things like that in Chinaor a Sudan or even a Russia.<\/p>\n<p>This freedom to express, to be, to stand up and be counted, or just take it easy, to protest or to sing, to do nothing &#8211; comes with a price tag. That price tag is freedom for all. We may not like the choice of the majority, but we had better learn to respect it &#8211; because it is this respect that will ensure that our time will come &#8211; 5 years later or at a state election or even at a local government one &#8211; where we cast our votes and cast out those who are not favoured.<\/p>\n<p>The system is still deeply flawed but unless someone comes up with something better &#8211; it is the best there is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Often on many discussion boards or on other blogs there is a oft expressed setiment &#8211; Democracy cannot be for every one. It can only be for those who are like &#8220;us&#8221;. I saw many of these sentiments expressed after the NDA&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Price of Freedom - A PoV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2004\/06\/10\/the-price-of-freedom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Price of Freedom - A PoV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Often on many discussion boards or on other blogs there is a oft expressed setiment &#8211; Democracy cannot be for every one. 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