SM Fasiullah for BeyondHeadlines
“We can change it; we must change it; there is absolutely no other sense in life than the task of changing it.” George Bernard Shaw
Realization of the importance of freedom and being a citizen of an independent country is compelling me to relook at these two very significant concepts in our times when science penetrated into DNA.
Nothing could be more preferable for a rational being to be in a place where he’s free – to think, express and act without harming others. I am really fortunate to be a citizen of India and a follower of Islam as both grant me freedom – Indian constitution gives me rights to live, religion and free speech; Islam teaches me to view entire world as a perfectly harmonious habitation of beings and things that are interconnected and interdependent.
Freedom could mean the quality or state of being free; the absence of necessity, or constraint in choice or action; and liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another. India got Independence from British Rule on 15 August 1947 – a major milestone for a country to be free.
The people who were in the leading roles during the freedom struggle and at the time of Independence had designed a very good Constitution for India which assures its citizens of justice, equality and liberty, among other things – reminiscent of their far sightedness. The country has survived for sixty seven years of Independence, thanks to the Constitution which safeguards the nation and its citizens.
During these decades, the nation has seen various phases of change within the system and the events that shaped it and filled the pages of its history. India saw tremendous intellectual, infrastructural and technological development, while it also witnessed worst communal riots, natural disasters and corruption. It also passed RTI Act in 2005, but now that too looks endangered.
The outside world too influenced India considerably. The free-market concept, globalization and internet, the three giant catalysts, have shaped the world into a unique place which even radical thinkers and philosopher could not have thought of and great literary figures might not have dreamt of in their wildest of imaginations.
The freedom we seem to enjoy in expressing our thoughts, views, opinions and concerns through various communication tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Gmail…etc. is a mirage and not the freedom that prominent political thinkers had advocated. The privacy is often invaded and private data mostly sold.
Cases such as booking a person who questioned a bandh called by a politician in Maharashtra and the startling revelation that NSA of the US spying on the world using information from all possible sources only endangers freedom of one and all.
We no longer seem to live in a free world; the fact is hard to accept and harder to fight for. This situation reminds me of Patrick Henry who once said: “Give me Liberty, or give me death!” However, Islam prompts me to work for freedom, justice, peace and welfare of people.
We need more Internet activists like Aaron Swartz, thinkers like Noam Chomsky, fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and visionaries like APJ Abdul Kalam. Fighting for freedom and justice is the need of the hour. And never giving up is a gentleman’s attitude!
