is not freedom....

Prominent Chinese dissident Hu Jia released from jail
[...]

On Sunday, Hu Jia – a previously indomitable human rights activist – became the latest prominent dissident to be released from detention only to be barred from speaking out against the ruling Communist Party, which has become increasingly intolerant of dissent in recent months.

[...]

“This is just another way of dealing with dissent - offering dissidents release on condition they do not talk to the media or do anything seen as endangering the security of the state, and harassing their lawyers into silence,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post wrote in an editorial, referring specifically to the gag orders placed on Mr. Hu and Mr. Ai.

In a statement, Amnesty International said at least 130 activists “have been detained, forcibly disappeared, harassed and imprisoned within their homes since February,” when Beijing was spooked by mysterious online calls for Chinese to stage a “jasmine revolution” like those that toppled authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Many of those who were detained have gone conspicuously quiet since being freed.

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In democratic countries such as our own we lose sight of the power of words.  There is so much babble that everything becomes noise.  We are distracted by the constant clamour and some, me included, crave an end to it all:  A quiet, peaceful, silence.

However, what is happening in China reminds us that silence is not a better option. 

Silencing dissent, even the voices that oppose one's own view, imprisons all of us to a world of a single point of view.  None of us can predict what that perspective will be other than to look to history and see that when a single opinion is held as Truth oppression happens and the power of authority is taken by the oppressor.

The Chinese government fearfully silences dissent with an assumed authority it believes was granted long ago to protect and serve the people.  Democracies also fearfully silence dissent claiming the same "good" intention. But it is the fear that creates the power to gag and suffocate freedom not the dissent.

Current events in both Canada and the US, show a trend toward granting governments more power, power that will, as human nature is so inclined, be ultimately abused.  The question is not when but who becomes the target.

We do not build a better society with fear.  We do not make our world safer by erecting new prisons.  The more dividing walls created the greater the opportunity that the many, not just those who disagree, will find themselves on the wrong side.

It is impossible for every one to agree on everything.  It is naive to believe that our world can ever be free of prisons.  But.... Is it so impossible to create governments that can view words, while powerful, not criminal and stop gagging those who wish to speak.

Oh I know, it will still be a noisy, distracting world but we may, at last, be free to think without fear and who knows that might just bring us all a little peace.