In the face of outdated tyranny, freedom of speech will eventually win
February 23, 2003 ~ 2:07 a.m.
I was in the pub tonight with the wife and looking through a copy of The Daily Telegraph that somebody had left behind. Before the debacle that ensued when we found out that the reason our food was delayed by more than half-an-hour was because of "an electrical fault," I read an article over a pint of Carling about how the Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestia was shut down by the KGB.
"What the fuck?" I shouted, unable to control myself. "I thought those days were over!"
"What are you on about now?" asked Squirrel, used to my passionate outbursts whilst reading newspapers. I showed her the article. She nodded her head in a small token of sadness.
"What, is the KGB still run by friggin' commies? Has the Cold War not yet been really won?" For a second, just a split second, I wondered if the war on Iraq was an exercise in futility, and if we haven't yet even totally liberated the Russian people.
Noviye Izvestia published a satirical article lampooning the cult of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the cult of personality he seems to have established in the former Slavic superpower. For this, the KGB sealed the offices of the paper shut and told staff that they were suspended. Not by the paper, but by the government. How fucked up is that?
Of course, I remember when my university's paper was nearly shut down by the university. I remember the bare-knuckles fight those of us on the editorial staff, including me, put up to save the paper and keep our offices open during that period. Our editor-in-chief wanted to close the paper while "we got our house in order." We immediately filed an injunction against him and argued our case before the Suffolk County Courthouse where the judge determined that we must settle this ourselves. We did. We butted heads with the administration until they backed down and we started again. From scratch albeit, but by the next fall, we were up and running again as if we had never left. Our newly elected editor-in-chief, the former managing editor�a flaming, humorless liberal�took the helm and brought the paper back to life. Those of us who opposed the closing of our only voice of free expression hopped back on board. I never once wavered and I spent many a long hour between May and September of 1993 producing papers the old-fashioned, manual way. But it was worth every moment, and although the new editor-in-chief and I didn't share politics, we did share the same, all-consuming passion for free speech. And after one back-breaking 15 hour editing and production session, we shook hands and smiled at each other.
"Free speech!" he exclaimed.
"Indeed, 'tis a beautiful thing," I responded.
"Fuck the administration, fuck everyone who tried to close this paper down," he said. "You can't beat free expression. It is the most important thing there is to this school, and this nation, that we've got."
And the handshake between that serious, ivory-tower liberal and this school-of-the-hard-knocks conservative lasted a good twenty seconds. For that moment, we had a truly indescribable respect for each other. We were true, uncompromising allies. And we were in perfect agreement about what free speech was and how precious our Founding Fathers' First Amendment was and still is. Together, we brought our paper back from the near-dead. We had many fights over political issues and we ended up sometimes taking our issues outdoors. But at the end of the day, we were grateful for the opportunity to argue over the content of the editorial pages again. I will never forget that precious era. It was a coming-of-age moment for a 23-year-old. I would not trade the memories of it for a million dollars.
If only all people everywhere had the freedom to express themselves as they see fit. To the editors and journalists of Noviye Izvestia, keep up the good fight. Fight like hell. The KGB may still threaten and bully, but they cannot restrict free speech anymore. Go underground if you have to. But don't ever stop putting out your free expression of ideas. If your country has become too "Putinicized," then by all means, you continue to say so.
You cannot beat freedom of speech. It is the most precious thing a people�and a nation�possess.
I continue to pray for democratic Russia. It's not apparent that the "evil empire" has completely crumbled yet, sadly enough.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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