Freedom of Speech and Art Freedom of Term Paper

Freedom of Speech and Art

"Freedom of speech' is a fundamental right of citizens of the United States. The constitution grants complete freedom of speech under the First Amendment which states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Americans thus enjoy comparatively more freedom of expression and speech than people in the developing countries. It would be wrong to assume that freedom of speech is absolute even in the U.S. But in our country, we have the privilege to challenge any unjust arrest, ban or suspension if it is found to violate our rights of free speech. However this is certainly not the case in developing countries such as China where freedom of speech is regularly curbed and restricted by the government. One interesting though sad example of this is the lack of freedom to express one's self on the Internet. Internet is not governed by any single body. It is a free domain that every person can access and use it for whatever purposes he likes, even if they are contrary to the beliefs and values held by the government of his country. However China doesn't subscribe to this view. In this country, it appears that all online activities are highly moderated and monitored since in the last few years, many arrests have been made in cases where users said something against the government of the time. There are firewalls, shield and various gateway guards that monitor and filter all political communication on the Internet thus curbing free speech to a large extent. Taipei Times (2005) reports:

'The principle underlying the Golden Shield is that "as virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten." Aided by systems developed by Western intelligence agencies, China has forged a virtual sword that threatens to block the path to democracy." [1]

Internet is not a public restricted domain that can be controlled by the government. In fact it has nothing to do with governmental or national space. It is one thing to stop demonstration or arrest people who speak against the government on national turf, but it is completely another story to make Internet a part of national space and monitor people's activities online. This is an extreme example of violation of freedom of speech but while we may express shock and grief, Chinese people are possibly used to such governmental activities. This is also due to the fact that arrests on the grounds of Internet-based expression is not something new for Chinese people who have viewed many such cases in the last five years.

'From 2000, when the first Chinese "Web criminal" Lin Haiyin was imprisoned for instigating subversive actions, to the recent arrest of writer Shi Tao, more than 100 independent intellectuals have been imprisoned for expressing their views. Internet monitoring is also behind the constant rise in the number of Falun Gong practitioners executed by the state -- a total of 1,692 as of April 18." [1]

Now we need to compare this with freedom of speech in the United States. For one, U.S. allow complete freedom of speech under the Constitution. Secondly, no arrest cases on the grounds of Internet-based expression have come to the limelight so far which shows that while there may be firewalls and shields in some organizations, it is not being done on a national level. This allows people to….....