Narges’ Nobel and the all-pervasive fear of freedom

WHEN I heard that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 had been awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, I was immensely happy. Even in these dark times, I felt, we could retain our conscience, recognise the light of truth and freedom, and thereby convey a strong message to the tyrants and autocrats of the world. Imagine Narges’ determination — her refusal to bow down, her ceaseless fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her commitment to human rights and freedom.

The Nobel Committee has observed: “Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal cost. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison.” However, amid this good news, I also passed through an experience of pain and anxiety. Why is it that that the likes of Narges — or, for that matter, all those activists and thinkers who strive for a democratic, peaceful, egalitarian and gender-sensitive world — have to suffer, and authoritarian/narcissistic/fundamentalist ‘masters’ are allowed to shape our collective destinies? Is it that the fear of freedom surrounds our existence? Is it that the power elite is necessarily afraid of the light of freedom — the freedom that can enchant the masses? Or, is it that even as ordinary citizens, we are not comfortable with the responsibility of active agency the ethos of freedom entails, and, instead, we love to be guided or ‘protected’ by all sorts of priests, ‘messiahs’ and populist leaders? Are we carrying the burden of what existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre would have characterised as ‘bad faith’?

It is sad that the noble principles that characterised the Age of Enlightenment — the spirit of science, critical enquiry and democratic aspirations — could not resist what we are witnessing today — say, the rise of religious fundamentalism, cultural orthodoxy and associated tyranny of hypernationalism; the erosion of democracy amid the rise of populist politics and ‘charismatic’ autocratic leaders; the normalisation of the extended network of the surveillance machinery to observe and control our every act with the aim of producing ‘docile’ citizens; and the increasing scepticism towards the principles of equity and distributive justice with the rise of neoliberal market fundamentalism. Possibly, we need to ask a fundamental question. Is it that the meaning of freedom in contemporary times has lost its substance, and degenerated into a mere act of consumption in the supermarket of ‘brands’ and ‘spectacles’? Is there nothing in democracy except the periodic ritual of ‘electing’ all sorts of autocratic leaders as our masters?

While I was thinking of Narges’ struggle and quest for freedom, I was also looking at our own country. Possibly, the recent raids by the Delhi Police on journalists indicates why India’s position on the World Press Freedom Index is continually declining (in 2023, India ranked 161st among 180 countries). It is also not surprising that as far as the V-dem Democracy Report is concerned, India has been named in the top 10 autocratising countries in the past 10 years. And our prisons, too, are filled with rights activists, political dissenters, young students and all those whom the ruling regime and its media army have already castigated as ‘anti-national’ conspirators. In fact, the frequent use of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for criminalising dissenting voices indicates the intensity of the fear of freedom prevailing in the country. An important reason for this fear is the paradox of power. The more ‘powerful’ the ruling regime is, the more fearful it becomes. It is the fear of creative and critical thinking; it is the fear of losing power. Hence, even though the present regime appears to be immensely powerful and secure with a populist leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it fears even the slightest form of dissent. From a journalist like Abhisar Sharma to a young student like Safoora Zargar, the establishment, we have seen, doesn’t spare anybody.

These days, a question often bothers me: Is it tempting to escape from freedom? After all, freedom demands a high degree of intellectual alertness and heightened politico-cultural sensitivity. Moreover, I can celebrate my freedom truly meaningfully if I am equally eager to protect and encourage the freedom of others — even those who do not agree with me. In other words, freedom requires the power of reciprocity — the willingness to converse and initiate dialogues, accept heterodoxy and differences, and above all, faith in the art of conflict resolution through non-violent modes of political resistance. Democracy is inseparable from this dialogic principle of freedom. Democracy demands the presence of alert and awakened citizens capable of distinguishing the light of truth from the noise of propaganda. One has to really work hard for living with freedom. However, it is easy to escape from the responsibility that the spirit of freedom demands. Moreover, in a society like ours that has not yet come out of the tyranny of caste hierarchy, patriarchal oppression, religious bigotry, and above all, a system of education that promotes intellectual dumbness in the name of rote learning, who bothers about the enchanting power of freedom?

Well, while our shiny television news anchors can speak of Narges’ fight against Islamic fundamentalists, they would love to remain silent even if they see the bunch of creative dissenters languishing in our prisons. Possibly, the prevalent system wants us to get used to what Hannah Arendt would have regarded as the ‘banality of evil’. Indeed, even though we are going for yet another round of elections, the fact is that the fear of freedom is crippling some big media houses, academic institutions and the larger civil society.