We underestimate freedom. We only realise its importance when we are devoid of it. The invasion of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Russia in Ukraine intrigued me to think about freedom.

What is freedom?

A sudden plan to go for a long drive is freedom. Taking the veil off your face is freedom. Sharing on social media is freedom. Following your passion is freedom. Falling in love is freedom. Saying ‘No’ is freedom. Getting richer is freedom. Being online is freedom. Enterprising is freedom. Educating is freedom. Thinking is freedom.

What happens when we don’t have it? An instinctive reaction is to rebel. Right from personal space and career choices to colonialism and human rights violations, we have been rebelling and fighting to correct these wrongs.

At an individual level, too, we all strive for freedom at different stages of life.

We used to plead with our parents for allowing us to go on school trips. As teenagers, we have had a hard time dealing with the generation gap and social norms. At workplaces, we hate micro-managers. We like to highlight in job interviews that we have worked on projects ‘independently’. In relationships, most of us feel that the partners should be financially independent. We also value ‘Me-Time’ these days to maintain sanity. Lastly, even after death, we need freedom, named differently as moksha or nirvana or salvation. The concept is all-pervasive but the degrees of freedom vary.

Nature and the definition of individual freedom and liberty are subjective and change with time. It is assumed that with every generation, people become more aware of their rights and make choices to protect them. But history shows that it cannot be taken for granted. The political climate and social norms can sometimes make things worse. Iran, Afghanistan and Ukraine are examples of how internal and external factors could turn your fate upside-down.

In Afghanistan, around 60% of the population is born after the 9/11 attacks. They have lived in a democratic Afghanistan and have not experienced Taliban rule. Their lives; especially of women, who could wear what they like, work anywhere they want and speak to men anytime, have become more difficult since the last year.

Therefore, sovereignty is essential to protect individual freedom in a country, but that does not guarantee anything.

Take the case of South Sudan. It became an independent nation, after breaking out of Sudan in 2011. But post-independence, several ethnic clashes took place resulting in the death of 4 million people. Many of them have taken refuge in other countries. Those who stayed back have struggled to make ends meet. Today, more than 8 million people need humanitarian aid and more than a million children face acute malnourishment. They still hope for a peaceful life as they await the first elections in 2023.

Can elections and democracy be the answer? Maybe, but not necessarily.

In 2019, the Indian government revoked Article 370 and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. For eighteen months, the government shut down internet services in the state. Internet blackouts became common in India. In 2019, it experienced one of the world’s worst internet shutdowns of 8927 hours. In the current times, I cannot imagine living without the internet even for an hour.

We can see such lesser or more severe cases across all democratic nations. If citizens do not voice against atrocities, political leaders take them for granted. At the other end of the spectrum, politicians can woo citizens, follow the ‘Divide and Rule’ strategy and harass a class of people. In these scenarios, democratically elected leaders become tyrants, for example, Hitler. It is also true that apart from democracy, no form of government can protect civil liberty and individual rights.

This apart, poverty, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation can dent freedom. Poor and marginalised cannot pursue hobbies without thinking of the next ounce of bread. Minorities cannot express themselves freely without getting abused. People who identify themselves as LGBTQ+ become conscious at social gatherings. Girls cannot wear anything they like in public without fear of harassment. Migrants are concerned about acceptance from the indigenous population. They are all hard-wired to social dogmas, financial constraints and legal actions. Even the privileged or the majority fear job loss due to the entry of minorities and migrants.

Social hierarchies and class conflicts make things even more complicated and politicians add oil to these burning issues. We feel sad after reading about incidents of harassment and violence. But this feeling is ephemeral. We forget about it as we turn to the next piece of news. We sympathise with the oppressed but do not question the oppressor. For example, we continue to instruct girls to reach home on time, not wear mini-skirts in public, protect their faces with a veil and so on. But we do not expect anything from the men.

I believe in appreciating people who want to change something around us. Even if we don’t want to dirty our hands, we can, at least, applaud those who are passionate about a cause and are ready to sacrifice their own freedom (by voicing, protesting, rebelling, getting arrested or even dying) to protect someone else’s. They give us hope that the world can change for the better.

– Swapnil Karkare

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