Freedom of Speech, Mullah's worst enemy

When young people meet each other in Iran, one of the first questions they ask each other is, “Do you have a blog?” In February 2004, an online “census” ranked Farsi the third-most-popular language for blogs. A 2004 poll found that many Iranians trust the Internet more than other news media.The trend has spread to the highest levels of the society

The right to free expression is enshrined in the Iranian constitution and in international human rights treaties ratified by Iran. Article 23 of the Iranian constitution holds that “the investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.” Article 24 safeguards press freedoms. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran ratified in 1975, states, “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference,” and that “everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”

Following crackdown on newspapers, many journalists and dissidents increasingly relied on the Internet to circumvent the judiciary’s tight control of print media. In 2004, the judiciary, relying on unaccountable intelligence and security forces, began to target online journalists and bloggers in an effort to quash this flourishing new medium. These days, Iran ranked number 1 on censorship of internet. Why????? If you believe that progress of human civilization depends on individual expression of new ideas, especially unpopular ideas, then the principle of freedom of speech is the most important value society can uphold. The more experience someone has with the Internet the more strongly they generally believe in the importance of freedom of speech, usually because their personal experience has convinced them of the benefits of open expression. The Internet not only provides universal access to free speech, it also promotes the basic concept of freedom of speech. If you believe that there is an inherent value in truth, that human beings on average and over time recognize and value truth, and that truth is best decided in a free marketplace of ideas, then the ability of the Internet to promote freedom of speech is very important indeed.We should believe that Internet Revolution has started. We (Iranian) are horrible communicators. In history, we have been very destructive to our own due to bad communications. However, new generation will have better tool to improve on our weakness. Mullah should be scared since “FREE SPEECH REVOLUTION” started and no one can stop it any more.

At end, I finish this with a quotation from Oliver W. Holmes:

“ When men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct, that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas, that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment”.- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes