I believe in freedom. Freedom is a right that is denied in many countries. Without freedom, every other right is stripped from you and dehumanized. No freedom equals no identity. There are many acts of discrimination, racism and violence throughout the world, in the past and present. Dictators use their power and control to block people from speaking out to threaten their power. But I believe that if there is bad there is always a good in the world.
One of the largest act of freedom taken away is at WWII. Adolf Hitler, a racist leader that targeted Jews, took away freedom and all of what later came to be included in the Human Declaration of Human Rights from the Jews. He built concentration camps which was like a living hell as some described. Genocides could be caused by the dictator’s fear of having power taken away. It is that fear and the hatred that ultimately lead to the genocide. Freedom is regarded as a less important thing at that time. Hitler’s propaganda persuaded some Germans to believe that Jews were less than human and should not allowed to even have rights. In one particular poster, it described Jews as “flea-like”. The poster supports one stage of genocide, dehumanization. The Jews in the concentration camps lost their freedom, as well as their identity. Everything is taken away from them, except for their number which threatens to take over their identity.
Freedom loss is a terrible thing to happen to you. Aung San Suu Kyi had her freedom taken away from her when she stood up against the Myanmar military government. In doing so, she was put under house arrest for many years. She was trapped in her home and her only connection with the outside world was the radio. Suu Kyi has stood up against the government for the rights of her people. There are many cases like Aung San Suu Kyi around the world and unfortunately most are oppressed and lost freedom.
The word freedom comes from Indo-European word “Prijos” which is to love. In Greek mythology, there are also stories of freedom or without freedom. The clearest myth of freedom mythology is probably The fall of Icarus. It shows how to escape captivity and to achieve freedom. Unfortunately, Daedalus's voice of warning to Icarus was unheard and lead to Icarus’s downfall. The story that has the least freedom in it is Theseus and the Minotaur. The 12 tributes that are the Minotaur’s food supply had no choice at all. Their freedom is taken away as they are locked inside the labyrinth. The Minotaur had never experienced freedom, it has lived it’s life in captivity and darkness.
Problems with freedom even goes back to Middle ages, William the conqueror had subjugated England by taking freedom of thought and speech away from everyone. If there was a rebellion, he would crush it and execute every dissident. He had used fear to take away to freedom like Hitler in WWII. William had wanted to be a benign leader like King Cnut, but the rebellions had forced him to be oppressive. Even William couldn’t stop the rebellion after his death, John Ball had questioned how a serf should live and persuaded them to rebel against the king at the time.
I learned this believe when I read about the terrible things happened in the past and present. It shaped me to believe in freedom and rights. Back in 6th grade, I was in Global Issues and I learned about the unequal society in some countries. From Greek mythology to Middle ages to WWII and to Aung San Suu Kyi. We struggle to keep freedom and peace in the world. However, there are some up standers that inspire us to stand up for freedom and peace. No one in this world should ever have to endure loss of freedom. Instead we should be connected like all the people dancing in Matt Harding’s videos. We need to believe and act on the fact that Mankind Is Not An Island.
This, I believe.
