When liberal values are thought to be a threat

Afghan's press: Thriving yet threatened

"No less worrying to local journalists and Western governments is debate over a new media law. Freedom of speech is enshrined in the constitution and the existing media law is the most liberal in the region. But the lower house of parliament has just finished discussing a law that includes ill-defined bans on “discussion that would ridicule, offend or defame an individual” and, more vaguely still, on anything that has an impact on “the manners and psychology of people, especially children”. Even so, it is less the wording of the law than the spirit in which it will be interpreted that worries Afghan journalists. Saad Mohseni, Tolo TV's founder, is one who argues that the press can expect little protection from harassment by government officials and other bigwigs.

The new law still has to win approval in the upper house of parliament. But there it is not likely to become more liberal. A bill put forward by the upper house's National Reconciliation Commission suggests censoring “trite movies and those TV programmes that are contrary to Afghan beliefs...and harm the feelings of our people”. It proposes an increase in religious programming instead."

What's scary to me is that this sounds an awful lot like my own country and its aversion to liberal values, today, by the media as much as against the media.

All over the world, we benefit from liberal values in so many substantial ways that it is hard to count. And yet, all of us, liberal and illiberal, mature democracies and recently established democracies, we run from liberal values as if they are the bain of our existence. We have always done this. And we will continue to do this as long as our fears of our freedoms overwhelm our faith and confidence in our abilities to enjoy our freedoms and, from them, learn a more honest sense of responsibility to one another and to the world.

Love,
Ben