Freedom of Speech: What Is To Be Done?

What is to be done about the issue of freedom of speech, and the current, deeply ominous trend of the closing down of Western society, and the inevitably linked rise of authoritarianism?

The first thing to be done is to remind the people that there are, as Chomsky has said, only two positions on freedom of speech: you’re either in favour of freedom of speech, or you prefer a fascist/Stalinist approach to human society. It is that stark. If you think that you can censor free speech, and not drive us into an authoritarian society, which always ends in the darkest of ways, then you are living in a dream world.

The problem is, the liberals and the left – who in reality are now on the extreme right, though they do not realize it, they are so swept up by their messianic fervour – are, in general, vehemently cheering for and demanding censorship. It may take some time, maybe years, maybe decades, until the dark implications of that choice become clear to people, and they realize that that was an extremely bad, and an extremely dangerous choice to make.

That is the first challenge to be overcome, and we may not be able to reverse this dark trend in the short term. Remember that it took the Russian people 70 years to realize that they did not want totalitarianism. But that is the direction we are now moving in, and with great and increasing speed. That is a terrifying prospect, and anyone of sound mind and good sense, whether you are on the left, as I am, or on the right, should be duly terrified of where we are heading, and heading fast.

The Western world has adopted an ideological stance of authoritarianism. That will not end well. Moreover, the thinking people may have to make a temporary strategic retreat, as Sun Tzu advised is sometimes necessary, in order to win the longer battle. The trouble is, the authoritarianism is now global. There are very few places to go. Sea-steading and off-grid, remote living are looking increasingly attractive to millions of thoughtful, intelligent, far-sighted people. Remaining in a country that has been taken over by corporate fascists is not something that I, personally, am willing to do. Unless the people soon wake up to the very real and present danger, which is now no longer a threat, but a reality, that we now live under a corporate police state, and decide to resist and overturn it, then I, for one, must plan to leave.

Leaving the corporate fascist heartland does not mean giving up the fight. It means putting yourself on stronger ground, and lessening the chances that you will be silenced or otherwise neutralized. That is simply an intelligent thing to do, as Sun Tzu also made clear. (Read the Art of War, Shambhala edition preferably, which is not really about war primarily, but is the unrivalled text on masterful or intelligent strategy.) Remember that we now have a global internet and a global communications system. (And do read my article, Flash-Drive Revolution, as well.) You can be politically active from almost anywhere now. You can be on a sailboat off the coast of Tahiti, which sounds quite attractive to me, and have satellite internet and a full-on activist engagement, from a mobile base in a tropical paradise, for example.

Edward Snowden is now in Russia. Does that mean he has gone silent and given up the fight? No, he is more prominent and more active than ever. He simply chose to place himself on stronger ground. The alternative is that we remain in an increasingly dangerous place, and become silent, which is ethically intolerable, or else we risk being silenced, as happened with Julian Assange. I feel deeply for Julian Assange, who is a true hero of freedom of speech and the public’s right to know about the crimes of the powerful, but is that where we want to end up? Silenced and neutralized, by one means or another? Do not underestimate where this is going. For people who are committed to working for a better world, the options are narrowing rapidly to the Snowden option, which is to leave and continue the fight, or the Assange option, where you stay where you are, and are increasingly silenced and neutralized. I’d rather put myself on stronger ground, so that I know, with reasonable confidence, that I can continue to fight for a better world for all.

There is now a growing exodus out of the US and Canada, for many reasons, and this will only grow exponentially. Sometimes it is economic motivation, sometimes cultural, sometimes political, but it is big, and it is growing. Thoughtful, highly aware, highly intelligent, principled people, such as Meghan Murphy, Morris Berman, and the host of the excellent Geopolitics & Empire podcast, who is so modest he refuses to ever tell his audience his name, oddly, have moved to Mexico. Mexico has many big problems, but it is now a better place to be than either the US or Canada. That is a simple fact. If you stay away from the border areas, just as you would stay away from certain cities and neighbourhoods in the US, then life in Mexico is peaceful, safe, and far more free, far more vibrant, and far more sane, than either the US or my home country of Canada are now. Mexico, Tahiti and Russia would be my top three picks. Staying in a fascist police state is simply not an option that I am willing to accept – especially for the sake of my children.

Ironically, Russia, which was totalitarian, has, for the past 30 years, rejected authoritarianism. Russia has a lot of problems, but it is now more free and more democratic than the West. Some people will be shocked and unwilling to believe it, but it is nevertheless true. (And anyone who bought into the Russiagate narrative needs to have their head read, by the way.) Another place that is resisting authoritarianism is Mexico, under the new president, Obrador, who is a centre-left, small-d democrat, very similar to FDR. The places you definitely do not want to be, if you value freedom, constitutional rule and human rights, and you do not want to live in a police state, are the US, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand or Europe, along with China, of course. With a few obvious exceptions, almost anywhere in the world is better than these countries, which are the heart of the global corporate fascist empire.

Remember that in the 1960s there was what Chomsky called an outbreak of democracy. The Western elite got frightened, and set about to reverse that trend, and intensified their long established war on democracy. (See Noam Chomsky, The Crisis of Democracy) By 2019, protests were occurring around the world – the problem of democracy had not gone away, but had gotten worse. The new global corporate empire got scared, terrified, in fact, that a wave of global protests, and a deep and growing crisis of legitimacy, could remove them from power. They responded with fascism, in order to secure and consolidate their power, before losing it all. That is something that was unfolding at least since the late 1960s, and only the deeply unaware could fail to see it coming. I warned about it myself for the past 30 years. Now it is here, and the great majority of the people still are unable to see it for what it is.

If it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Why do the majority have a hard time seeing what is staring them in the face? (Never underestimate the power of denial.) Fascism in essence means the merger of big business and the state: it is a power-grab – and that is exactly what has happened.

Why is this in the slightest degree difficult to understand? And where do you not want to be, unless you have a strong resistance movement to back you up? Well, you clearly do not want to be in the regions of the world that the new pharaohs, the new Tzars, the global neo-fascist plutocrats, consider to be their heartland. Those are the areas I delineated clearly, and those are the areas to leave – unless we can build a meaningful resistance movement, and very fast.

Another option is secession. There are states in the US in which the majority of the people realize that the violation of fundamental human rights and constitutional freedoms is not something to be taken lightly, but in fact, something to be vigorously resisted. Some people may think that a break up of the United States, for example, is impossible. But they should remember that in 1775, democratic revolution was viewed as both impossible and undesirable – until in 1776 Thomas Paine wrote a slim little book, called Common Sense, and in the same year, only months later, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed, and the American Revolution was launched. Things are impossible only until someone shows that they are not.

In the longer term, the answer to the free speech issue is simple. Firstly, you decide that we either have freedom of speech, or we have a police state, and we firmly and categorically reject the option of living under a police state. Then you realize that in most (formerly) democratic nations, there are constitutions, which are the fundamental law of the land, which protect basic human rights and freedoms, including the freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, religion and belief, freedom of travel and mobility, freedom of medical choice, and freedom of expression and speech. That means, once the problem is understood, we simply enforce the law. It means we simply prosecute governments and corporations for violating the constitutionally protected basic human right to freedom of speech. And you say to the major media, and more importantly, to the big tech companies, that either you cease and desist, and immediately stop censoring free speech, or we will revoke your corporate charter, seize your assets (to form networks of democratically controlled, locally-owned co-ops, for example) and dissolve your company.

You either get clear on the absolutely fundamental importance of freedom of speech, and then vigorously defend it, by the upholding of constitutional law, or else you accept that we now live in a Stalinist or fascist society. Few things in life are cut and dried, either/or scenarios. This is one of them. To imagine a third option, is simply and profoundly delusional.

J. Todd Ring,
April 18, 2021