Comments | aethyrflux: tyranny may be able to slow our progress, but the will of the people cannot be stopped

aethyrflux

tyranny may be able to slow our progress, but the will of the people cannot be stopped

Jul 01, 2009 16:32

"Transparency is an essential condition of democracy: citizens cannot make the informed decisions self-rule requires if they are denied knowledge of the actions of their government. Government cannot be accountable if its actions are veiled. But more than this, transparency is an ethical ideal, the political expression of a commitment to honesty ( Read more... )

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Comments 2

mordwen July 2 2009, 10:20:15 UTC

A very important post and thank you for taking the time to write it. When I was editing one of Australia's first net mags, we wrote about the meme that was going around in the mid-90s that the net would lead to greater democracy and transparency, to a liberation from tyrannies in many ways. We were laughed at but I think we're starting to see the fruit from those early seeds. Information is power, to quote the cliché, and access to technologies of information has always been a precursor to a greater control by the people. Viva la revolucion!

trans_simian July 3 2009, 04:56:31 UTC

I hope that non-violent protests in Iran will bring change there. But it seems to me that Ghandi style protests work best when the powers that are being protested against have a significant democratic element (like the US in the anti-vietnam/civil rights protests of the 60s, or the British Empire with Ghandi and the Indian independence movement).