Chapter 2 Freedom - NCERT

1 Chapter 2 FreedomHuman history provides many examples of people and communities which have beendominated, or enslaved, or exploited, by more powerful groups. But it also provides uswith inspiring examples of heroic struggles against such domination. What is this freedomfor which people have been willing to sacrifice and die? In its essence, the struggle forfreedom represents the desire of people to be in control of their own lives and destiniesand to have the opportunity to express themselves freely through their choices andactivities. Not just individuals but societies also value their independence and wish toprotect their culture and , given the diverse interests and ambitions of people any form of socialliving requires some rules and regulation. These rules may require some constraintsto be imposed on the Freedom of individuals but it is recognised that such constraintsmay also free us from insecurity and provide us with the conditions in which we candevelop ourselves.

2 In political theory much of the discussion regarding Freedom hastherefore focused on trying to evolve principles by which we can distinguish betweensocially necessary constraints and other restrictions. There has also been debate aboutpossible limitations on Freedom which may result from the social and economicstructures of a society. In this Chapter we will look at some of these studying this Chapter you should be able to:oUnderstand the importance of Freedom for individuals and the difference between the negative and positive dimensions of what is meant by the term harm principle .Overview2022-23 FreedomFreedomPolitical THE IDEAL OF FREEDOMB efore we set out to answer these questions, let us stop for a momentand consider this. The autobiography of one of the greatest personsof the twentieth century, Nelson Mandela, is titled Long Walk toFreedom.

3 In this book he talks about his personal struggle againstthe apartheid regime in South Africa, about the resistance of hispeople to the segregationist policies of the white regime, about thehumiliations, hardships and police brutalities suffered by the blackpeople of South Africa. These ranged from being bundled intotownships and being denied easy movement about the country, tobeing denied a free choice of whom to marry. Collectively, suchmeasures constituted a body of constraints imposed by the apartheidregime that discriminated between citizens based on their race. ForMandela and his colleagues it was the struggle against such unjustconstraints, the struggle to remove the obstacles to the Freedom ofall the people of South Africa (not just the black or the colouredbut also the white people), that was the Long Walk to this Freedom , Mandela spent twenty-eightyears of his life in jail, often in solitaryconfinement.

4 Imagine what it meant to give upone s youth for an ideal,to voluntarily give upthe pleasure of talkingwith one s friends, ofplaying one s favouritegame (Mandela lovedboxing), of wearing one sfavourite clothes, of listening to one sfavourite music, of enjoying the manyfestivals that are part of one s life. Imaginegiving all these up and choosing insteadto be locked up alone in a room, notknowing when one would be released, onlybecause one campaigned for the freedomof one s people. For Freedom Mandela paida very high personal only great menand women fightfor great principleslike Freedom ? Whatdoes this principlemean to me?2022-23 FreedomFreedomPolitical Theory19 Now, take another case. Gandhiji s thoughtson non-violence have been a source of inspirationfor Aung San Suu Kyi as she remained under housearrest in Myanmar, separated from her children,unable to visit her husband when he was dying ofcancer, because she feared that if she left Myanmarto visit him in England she would not be able toreturn.

5 Aung San Suu Kyi saw her Freedom asconnected to the Freedom of her people. Her bookof essays bears the title Freedom from Fear. She says, for me realfreedom is Freedom from fear and unless you can live free from fearyou cannot live a dignified human life . These are deep thoughtsthat lead us to pause and consider their implications. We must not,her words suggest, be afraid of the opinions of other people, or of theattitude of authority, or of the reactions of the members of ourcommunity to the things we want to do, of the ridicule of our peers,or of speaking our mind. Yet we find that we often exhibit such Aung San Suu Kyi living a dignified human life requires us tobe able to overcome such these two books of Nelson Mandela and AungSan Suu Kyi, we can see the power of the ideal offreedom, an ideal that was at the centre of our nationalstruggle and the struggles of the peoples of Asia andAfrica against British, French and WHAT IS Freedom ?

6 A simple answer to the question what is Freedom isabsence of constraints. Freedom is said to exist whenexternal constraints on the individual are absent. Interms of this definition an individual could beconsidered free if he/she is not subject to externalcontrols or coercion and is able to make independentdecisions and act in an autonomous way. However,absence of constraints is only one dimension offreedom. Freedom is also about expanding the abilityCan you think ofsomeone in your village,town or district who hasstruggled for his/herown Freedom or thefreedom of others? Writea short note aboutthat person and theparticular aspect offreedom which he/shestruggled to S DO ITDo2022-23 FreedomFreedomPolitical Theory20of people to freely express themselvesand develop their potential. Freedomin this sense is the condition in whichpeople can develop their creativityand these aspects of Freedom theabsence of external constraints as wellas the existence of conditions in whichpeople can develop their talents areimportant.

7 A free society would be onewhich enables all its members todevelop their potential with theminimum of social individual living in society canhope to enjoy total absence of anykind of constraints or restrictions. Itbecomes necessary then to determinewhich social constraints are justifiedand which are not, which areacceptable and which should beremoved. To understand which socialconstraints are necessary,discussions on Freedom need to lookat the core relationship between theindividual and the society (or group,community, or state) within whichshe/he is placed. That is, we need toexamine the relationship betweenindividual and society. We wouldneed to see which features of thesociety allow the individual thefreedom to choose, decide or act, andwhich do not. We would need todetermine which features aredesirable and which are not, whichshould be removed and which shouldnot.

8 Further we need to see if the SWARAJA concept analogous to Freedom inIndian political thought is Swaraj .The term Swaraj incorporates withinit two words Swa (Self) and Raj(Rule). It can be understood to meanboth the rule of the self and rule overself. Swaraj, in the context of thefreedom struggle in India referred tofreedom as a constitutional andpolitical demand, and as a value atthe social-collective level. That is whySwaraj was such an importantrallying cry in the Freedom movementinspiring Tilak s famous statement Swaraj is my birth right and I shallhave it. It is the understanding of Swarajas Rule over the Self that washighlighted by Mahatma Gandhi inhis work Hind Swaraj where hestates, It is Swaraj when we learnto rule ourselves . Swaraj is not justfreedom but liberation in redeemingone s self-respect, self-responsibility,and capacities for self-realisationfrom institutions of the real Self , and itsrelation to communities and society,is critical to the project of believed the developmentthat follows would liberate bothindividual and collective potentialitiesguided by the principle of to say, such an under-standing is as relevant to the twentyfirst century as it was when Gandhijiwrote the Hind Swaraj in Theory21principles which we use to differentiate necessary fromunnecessary constraints also apply to the relationships betweenindividuals and groups and far we have defined Freedom as the absence of be free means to reduce or minimise social constraints thatlimit our ability to make choices freely.

9 However, this is only oneaspect of Freedom . To put it in another way, Freedom also has apositive dimension. To be free a society must widen the area inwhich individuals, groups, communities or nations,will be able to charter their own destiny and be whatthey wish to be. Freedom , in this sense, allows the fulldevelopment of the individual s creativity, sensibilitiesand capabilities: be it in sports, science, art, music orexploration. A free society is one that enables one topursue one s interests with a minimum of is considered valuable because it allows usto make choices and to exercise our judgement. Itpermits the exercise of the individual s powers ofreason and Sources of ConstraintsRestrictions on the Freedom of individuals may come fromdomination and external controls. Such restrictions may be imposedby force or they may be imposed by a government through lawswhich embody the power of the rulers over the people and whichmay have the backing of force.

10 This was the form of constraintrepresented by colonial rulers over their subjects, or by the systemof apartheid in South Africa. Some form of government may beinevitable but if the government is a democratic one, the membersof a state could retain some control over their rulers. That is whydemocratic government is considered to be an important means ofprotecting the Freedom of people. But constraints on Freedom can also result from social inequalityof the kind implicit in the caste system, or which result from extremeeconomic inequality in a society. The quotation from SubhasChandra Bose on Freedom draws attention to the need for thecountry to work to remove such and boys shouldbe free to decide whomthey wish to should have nosay in this matter. LET S DEBATE 2022-23 FreedomFreedomPolitical WHY DO WE NEED CONSTRAINTS?