Freedom has always been a central concept to humans as humans struggle to be free of bondages placed by society, state and relations of any sort. The tendency towards freedom is an inherent characteristic of humans. Many theories, from existentialism to self-determination theory to Marxism, all signify the desire of humans for freedom in one form or another. This desire, however, doesn’t always bear fruit, and it can lead to dire consequences for the whole society with freedom turning in on itself.
Freedom is a continuous struggle as social, political or economic constraints always remain in one form or another. In this struggle to go to a higher level of freedom, humans get to a point where the relative bondages are less and they get an opportunity to express themselves more openly, and given the human nature that they work in their personal interest, individuals without caring for the cost to society, inflict on it misery unseen before. The world has seen this phenomenon being given life by Adolf Hitler when, with his fascist ideas, he got the freedom to do what he wanted to; he brought half the world to war and killed millions. Even in the contemporary world, we can see that whenever the restraints on the power or, say, freedom of any individual holding significant positions in the arena of politics have been loosened and they have more opportunities to express themselves, some horrific crimes have happened.
We saw this when President George W. Bush was empowered much after 9/11; he invaded Iraq, and when Vladimir Putin got enough freedom and consolidated his powers, he invaded Ukraine. The same happened when the oppressed Jews were given a land to live their lives freely, they took the freedom of Palestinians. This phenomenon has been recurring every time someone has felt free of the bondages that were somewhat necessary to keep the larger scheme of life in place.
Now, this manifestation of power to subjugate others at the behest of freedom is not only prevalent at the higher end of society, it has taken root in the core of society. People, whenever feeling empowered, have tried to obstruct the freedoms of others, inflicting misery on them. We have seen it happening in small neighbourhoods where some having more freedom than others to speak have tried to impose their views. It has also taken the form of a mass movement, like in the case of attacks on the US Capitol in the backdrop of perceived or alleged election fraud in the 2020 US elections by Republican voters, who, feeling empowered or free enough, attacked the US capitol, denting US democracy.
A key thing to understand is that the human struggle for freedom is viable till it violates the freedom of others and that’s where the concept of liberty begins which along with identifying the need of humans, also imposes some checks on it so that it may not start to erode the society. However, humans will try to get around these checks as they work in their self-interests without seeing far, and society will try to impose checks and regulate them. This is a cycle in which we all as a society are trapped, and perhaps the ultimate way out is a true and purer democracy.
Similarly, people in a country like Pakistan, on the behest of freedom, have violated the society, which can be seen in the violent movement of the Tehrik Labaik Pakistan, mass movements by the Pakistan Tehrik Insaf and even in the form of student riots at Quaid-e-Azam University. In all these and many other cases, the expression of freedom has caused more damage to society.
This kind of unchecked expression of freedom has not only impacted society but also those who were at the helm of it. This kind of expression of freedom exposes oneself, as his own security and freedom of movement and life gets challenged. When a person, while trying to exercise what they think is freedom of expression, is threatening the freedom and existence of others, then at some point, whenever this opposition gets strong enough, it will threaten their freedom.
So considering all this, a key thing to understand is that the human struggle for freedom is viable till it violates the freedom of others and that’s where the concept of liberty begins which along with identifying the need of humans, also imposes some checks on it so that it may not start to erode the society. However, humans will try to get around these checks as they work in their self-interests without seeing far, and society will try to impose checks and regulate them. This is a cycle in which we all as a society are trapped, and perhaps the ultimate way out is a true and purer democracy.
