SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY
December 15, 2006

“Stand Up to Global Bullies Who beat Back Democratic Progress”
By Jennifer Windsor
October 25, 2006

“Press Freedom’s Grim Turn in the Former Soviet Union”
By Jennifer Windsor and Christopher Walker
October 24, 2006

In an op/ed to the Christian Science Monitor, Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, argues that the promotion of democracy, human rights, and free press are coming under fire from critics who increasingly believe that active promotion of democracy is violating their country’s sovereignty. She chides “demoskeptics” for believing that people in oppressed nations, such as Iran, Belarus, and Zimbabwe, simply are not interested in democracy and international assistance in achieving it.  Instead, she argues that “the inability to move the democratic revolution forward in these and other society can be traced to a familiar source: ruling elites who fear that change will jeopardize their power.”

Windsor believes that turning a blind eye to  oppressed civil society groups and media organizations in the name of state sovereignty will only crush any hope of democracy in countries that need it the most.

In a related presentation at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty commenting on a report RFE/RL issued, she  with Christopher Walker highlighted the oppression of free media outlets in Russia and the former USSR, in the wake of the “Colored Revolutions” in the region.  The authorst state that “10 of the 12 post-Soviet states are ranked ‘Not Free,’ indicating that these countries do not provide basic guarantees and protections to enable open and independent journalism.””  The authors also site the disheartening statistic of 13 Russian journalists killed, and many more intimidated and assaulted, during President Putin’s reign.        

However, some efforts are being made to fight these abuses.  Freedom House has helped Kyrgyzstan  set up a printing press   that  is the only independent publisher in that country.  Recently, it has expanded its operations to publish a Kazakh newspaper to help counter Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s new laws restricting media freedoms.

The authors stress that “the treatment of the independent press is a barometer of broader adherence to democratic principles and human rights standards” and that violators must be loudly condemned while the right to freedom be loudly championed.    We have an obligation to speak up for those who are being silenced, jailed, and murdered by their authorities…on the universality of freedom, there should be no second thoughts – and no apologies.”

Other Links
CMS article: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=72&release=431
Freedom House: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=71 http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=66&program=40
RFU/RL story: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=72&release=432