Town square test

Town square test is a threshold test for a free society proposed by a former Soviet dissident and human rights activist Natan Sharansky, now a notable politician in Israel.

In his book The Case for Democracy, published in 2004, Sharansky explains the term: If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.[1]

Usage

The test became famous after George W. Bush endorsed the book[2] and Condoleezza Rice referenced it to characterize "a fear society" in her prepared remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 18, 2005:

The world should apply what Natan Sharansky calls the "town square test": if a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.[3]

Rice went on to identify Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe as examples of outposts of tyranny.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sharansky, Natan; Dermer, Ron (2006), The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, Balfour Books, pp. 40–41, ISBN 978-0-89221-644-4
  2. ↑ "My Sharansky" by Chris Suellentrop
  3. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-26.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.