Freedom is a Good Start

“I have discovered...that after climbing a great hill, one only finds...many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger for my long walk is not yet ended.” 

(Nelson Mandela on his release in 1994) 

      

Two weeks ago I attended the Leadership for Human Rights evening organised by the Swedish Postcode Lottery, in the Stockholm Concert Hall. The evening was dedicated to the fact that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights". The participants were our very own Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jan Eliasson, the new UN Deputy Secretary-general as of July 2012, and  the actor, Sean Penn, the ambassador at large for Haiti.

Tutu echoed Madiba's sentiment when he said “freedom means being forever vigilant”. We cannot sit back and leave a few people to guard our precious, hard-fought-for democracy – we all have a role to play in safe-guarding the freedom, dignity and equality of all the people who live in our country and maintain the integrity of this legacy for our children and their children.

Democracy is not a free ride, is the message that comes out strongly in the movie, Fair Game, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. The movie is based on the memoir by CIA agent, Valerie Plame, whose cover was purposefully leaked by the Bush administration after her husband and former ambassador, Joseph Wilson, writes an editorial in the New York Times disputing the administration’s claim of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

In the movie, Joseph Wilson makes the point to his wife that just because he can shout louder than her does not mean he is right, in the same way that the Bush administration was not right just because they were more powerful, and that this should not stop them from speaking up for the truth.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get on with the business of being free.