Egypt Will Never Be the Same: What I saw on the streets of Alexandria, by Kareem Amer (Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2011)

(I was involved, with many others, in the four-year Free Kareem campaign. It is good that he is free. I want him to remain so.)

Egypt’s Front Pages, from The Economist

I’m referring to the shocking display (ABC News clip here) of the so-called “Fourth Amendment” to the so-called “Constitution of the United States of America” being written by a man on what he evidently considers his “own chest.”* How sick can you get? Next it’ll be the so-called “First Amendment” to defend his filthy “right” to express his ideas. Not in this country!

*Scholar’s note: On the relationship between self-proprietorship and freedom of conscience, see the discussion of Overton and other Levellers, as well as of John Locke and James Madison, in George H. Smith, “Philosophies of Toleration,” in George H. Smith (“Philosophies of Toleration,” in George H. Smith, Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies [Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1991]). Such “self-propriety” serves as the philosophical justification for the resister’s strategy of “going limp” when arrested by state agents, as Overton argued in refusing to walk to prison when ordered to do so: “My Leggs were borne as free as the rest of my Body, and therefore I scorne that Leggs, or Armes, or hands of mine should do them any villeine-Service, for as I am a Freeman by birth, so I am resolved to live and dye, both in heart word and deed, in substance and in shew.” Overton was quite cruelly dragged by the hair from prison as a consequence. His remarks on this experience remind us of the clear relationship of self-propriety and moral agency: “But in case you object, that I knew well enough, that if I would not go, they would carrie me, therefore it had been better for me to have gone, then to have exposed my selfe to their cruelty, I answer, 1. If I had known they would have hanged me, must I therefore have hanged my selfe? 2. A good conscience had rather run the hazard of cruelty then to abate an hairesbreadth of contestation and opposition against illegality, injustice, and tyranny. 3. If they had had any legall jurisdiction over my leggs, then at their Commands my leggs were bound to obey: And then, (in that case) I confesse it had been better to obey, then to have exposed my person to the cruelty of threatening mercilesse Gaolers: But being free from their Jurisdiction from the Crowne of my head to the Soale of my foote, I know no reason, why I should foote it for them, or in any the least dance any attendance to their Arbitrary Warrants; their Lordships may put up their pipes, except they will play to the good old tune of the Law of the Land, otherwise their Orders and Warrants are never like to have the service of my leggs or feet, for they were never bred to tread in their Arbitrary Steps, but I shall leave their Orders and their execution to themselves. And therefore, Sir, concerning that action of mine, I shall continue in the said esteeme thereof, till my defense be made voide, and it be legally proved, that by the Law of the Land, I was bound to set one legge before another in attendance to that Order.” [Overton, Richard "The Commoner's Complaint," in Overton, Richard, “The Commoner’s Complaint,” Tracts on Liberty in the Puritan Revolution, 1638-1647, Vol. III, W. Haller, ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), pp. 381-382. James Madison (“Property,” National Gazette, March 27, 1792, The Papers of James Madison, R. A. Rutland and others, eds. [Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983]) expressed the basis of property in conscience when he wrote, of every individual, that “He has a property of peculiar value in his religious opinions and the free communication of them.” (p. 266)

A. Barton Hinkle asks some very smart questions in his newspaper column “Debates of 2010 Raised More Questions.”

Treating the failure to take someone’s money away from him as if it were the same as giving money to him is a very funny way to talk. By contrast, we would never say that a childless couple had “given a child” to a family of four, simply because the childless couple did not kidnap one of the children from the other family. The liberal Democratic penchant for describing tax cuts as giveaways discloses an assumption: that people, especially rich people, have no right to their money to begin with. In fact, it is not really theirs. After all, you cannot give something to someone who already owns it.

I wish more newspaper columnists could write so clearly.

I address some of the issues and questions he raises in my essay “Saving Rights Theory from Its Friends,”* which is downloadable here and is also reprinted in Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice.

*Reprinted from Individual Rights Reconsidered: Are the Truths of the U.S. Declaration of Independence Lasting?, edited by Tibor R. Machan, with the permission of the publisher, Hoover Institution Press. Copyright 2001 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.

Some countries don’t allow it internally; almost no country allows true freedom of movement externally (passports are required). Most people don’t think about it, but the US has essentially required the internal passport over the past few years, as you can now be required to provide identification whenever it is demanded by a state official and in order to get on an airplane or a train you are now required to show, or be prepared to show, a “government-issued ID.” A good book to read to understand the positive benefits and the overuse of identification is Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood, by James Harper.

The Central Asian Free Market Institute, based in Bishkek, but active throughout Central Asia, has called for elimination of the propiska, or internal passport and residency permit. (China still has the same system, known as the hukou system, and Chinese libertarians are working to eliminate that, as well. It has been described as “China’s own apartheid system.”)

Text follows: link to English text here.

Elimination of Propiska for freedom of movement in Kyrgyzstan

Central Asian Free Market Institute offers its recommendations on reforming Kyrgyztan’s policy on internal migration. The current article is part of “Kyrgyzstan’s Reform Program” that was prepared by CAFMI. For all questions on this chapter and the reform program please contact the Institute.

VISION: Right of a person to free movement and choice of place of residence within a country is defined not only in natural rights of person, but also in the Constitution of Kyrgyz Republic.

PROBLEM: The registration regime, known as propiska in Kyrgyzstan and other post-Soviet countries, exposes Kyrgyzstan’s population, in particular the poor segment, to myriad difficulties. The propiska was introduced in the USSR in 1932 for the following reasons, “Accounting for population of cities, worker settlements and new buildings and unloading cities from persons not engaged in socially useful labor, as well as removal of kulaks, criminals and other antisocial elements in order to strengthen dictatorship of proletariat”.

Although Kyrgyzstan has been an independent country for 19 years now, the propiska still exists, and the political leadership seems uninterested in revisiting one of the sorest problems facing the country. According to propiska’s requirements a citizen who changed his place of residence, shall, within 10 working days from date of arrival to a new residence register with government authorities. For this purpose, one has to present:

1. passport or equivalent document proving one’s identity;
2. accommodation document, which is the basis for accommodation of a citizen (such as an order, rent contract or a statement of landlord or other document), or a certified copy of the document;
3. reference from chairman of local housing district, confirming place of residence with a street and house number;
4. proof of change of residence, in case of prior disposal of registration;
5. certificate, proving release from prison;
6. for male youth- military card (certificate of registration in draft office) with a note about removal from military account

Losses from propiska are hard to calculate in monetary terms, however, they are high and can be grouped in the following two categories:

I. Visible costs of citizen

1.1. Fiscal losses. Costs from state budget for the administration and enforcement of the propiska. These costs also includes expenses for police conducting raids named “illegal” with the aim of detention of people without a local propiska.

1.2. Individual losses. To change place of propiska one must incur real costs- the cost of a trip to home village / town and back and the time and cost of un-registering and then re-registering. This entire process requires up to six documents and.

II. Invisible costs of a citizen

2.1. Missed opportunities for citizens for a better life by making public services inaccessible without a propiska: legal system, education, health care, opportunities to register a company and to acquire and dispose of real estate.

2.2. Losses from detention:. Each detained person for lack of a local propiska incurred the following types of losses- the loss of time during the detention, the amount of fines or bribes one had to pay in order to be released, and other associated risks, such as beating and harassment.

2.3. Propiska has become a hotbed of corruption, which thrives on the despair of the poorest of the poor. According to research 56% of those arrested, get away with bribes. At the same time, 26% of those arrested, were physically attacked. According to research by Social Research Center at the American University of Central Asia, migrants with lower income are also more likely to have their documents checked and detained.

2.4. Not everyone is ready to pay the expenses to obtain a propiska and those without it experience lower quality of life, social stability and increased illiteracy, thus, pushing them to criminal activities.

SOLUTION

The system of registration like that in Kyrgyzstan is not only outdated but not used anywhere, except in some post-communist and communist states. In countries such as England, France, Germany, Italy, USA and Brazil propiska does not exist. Russia and China do have a propiska but are looking at abolishing it. Georgia, Latvia and Estonia have long ago understood the economic and moral benefits of free movement of citizens and eliminated propiska.

In some countries utility bills are used for confirming people’s residence. In Greece residence is determined by the workplace, while in Italy according to the individual’s own will. In Brazil, the state is interested in the citizens place of residence only at the time of tax collection or at the point of opening of their business. The United States operates an electronic system of registration of citizens, where each citizen has the right to receive information stored on him/her and has the right to correct it.

Kyrgyzstan should not repeat the mistakes of Russia and Belarus, in which registration system was replaced with a bit more simplified registration system but the problems arising from root cause remain intact. It is necessary to follow in the footsteps of developed countries, which remain true to the cause of freedom of movement and abolish propiska.

RESULT

By abolishing the propiska, Kyrgyzstan’s government would ensure:

* => Fulfillment of all international and constitutional norms that call for respect of the rights of citizens to freedom of movement within the country;
* => Labor mobility, which is an essential tool of modern economics;
* => Stopping discrimination of immigrants in regards to private and public services;
* => Maximum integration of citizens across regions;

Save citizens’ time and money that can be directed to other activities that bring concrete value to their living standard.

Author: Central Asian Free Market Institute

I don’t recommend this sort of thing, but I think it’s good that police officers know that they shouldn’t arrest people for mocking bureaucrats, and that as public officials, they should be videotaped doing their job. (And, as has been pointed out, videotaping can vindicate wrongly accused police officers, and has done so, just as it can vindicate wrongly accused citizens.)

The referendum is about to begin in Kyrgyzstan, to choose a new constitution which, despite its flaws, will put greater limits on presidential power and, it is hoped, avoid authoritarianism and promote civil peace. Young people around the country, organized by the Central Asian Free Market Institute and similar civil society groups, are working to promote peace and suppress hatred, revenge, and violence. The shirts (see below) say on the front “I Want Peace in Kyrgyzstan” in Uzbek, Kyrgyz, and Russian, and on the back, “One Homeland! One People! One Future!,” also in Uzbek, Kyrgyz, and Russian.

The libertarians in Central Asia are planning to open an office in Osh, as well, to promote peace, liberty, and limited government in the area that has seen so much deliberately provoked violence by people who prefer force and power to persuasion and freedom. It’s not too late to make a modest donation to make that possible. (Ten dollars actually buys something there, and no donation is too small.) Click here for the information. We’ve already raised a few thousand dollars, enough to pay to open the office and equip it, just from Facebook and a few notes, mostly in small donations. Every penny helps!

Peace Activists at the Office of the Central Asian Free Market Institute

Some Faces of Friendship

Getting Ready to Distribute Peace Shirts to Kyrgyz Young People

The Economist: “What happens when you display “Forbidden art”

From Prof. Andrei Zorin of Oxford University (and a contributor to InLiberty.ru and speaker at InLiberty.ru events):

There can be no doubt that a guilty verdict will dramatically change the political climate in Russia and deal a powerful, if not a mortal, blow to the much-hyped modernisation plans of President Dmitry Medvedev. Whether economic and technological modernisation can succeed without political reforms is the subject of intense discussions in Russia. But no one can hope to modernise society without freedom of conscience and the freedom of thought.

Russia’s image abroad, which had just started to improve, will be ruined for at least another decade. The damage to the country’s reputation may prove even longer-lasting than in the Khodorkovsky case. Businessmen are pragmatic people and can sometimes be prepared to trade one of their own to save their investments. Artists and intellectuals are less forgiving.

The story of an art curator and human-rights activist jailed for arranging an exhibition will haunt Russia and all its projects of cultural integration with the West. In such an environment who needs grandiose events like the current “Russian year” in France?

You can sign the petition.

It would advance justice and greatly help to promote peace in Central Asia.

CAFMI Executive Director Mirsulzhan Namazaliev at 2009 Cato University

Kyrgyz libertarians are leading a series of coordinated voluntary efforts to provide emergency aid to the victims of the vicious attacks of the last few days in their country and to promote peace throughout the nation and the region. I’ve been in regular touch with our friends there, and on Tuesday evening I talked to Central Asian Free Market Institute (CAFMI) Director Mirsulzhan Namazaliev by Skype, as he was interrupted by a stream of volunteers working late into the night in the CAFMI offices. He made their resolution clear:

“We are helping those who are suffering, but we are doing more. For me personally this is not only a fight for life. It is a fight for freedom. We don’t want to be ruled by any authoritarian Central Asian or Russian regimes that would exploit this awful violence. The violence we are suffering is a provocation designed to generate chaos and to overturn the chance for a constitutional regime. We will not stand for it. We want peace, we want freedom, and we want a lawful government.”

I was in Kyrgyzstan just last month to work with CAFMI and with the new acting minister of economic development, my friend Emil Umetaliev, a founding member of CAFMI’s board of directors. (CAFMI was founded by two Cato graduates, former Cato intern Seyitbek Usmanov and Cato University graduate Mirsulzhan Namazaliev.) There was guarded optimism about the country’s future, after the corrupt and increasingly authoritarian regime of Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in an uprising after he tried to suppress demonstrations with deadly force. But there was also fear of Bakiyev’s machinations, especially after the revelation of a recorded cell phone conversation between his son, Maksim, and his brother Janybek (who had given the orders to shoot protesters in April), in which they clearly plot violence to derail a new constitutional process and regain power, even proposing how many “fighters” to hire, arming them with iron bars and other implements, and how much to pay them to launch attacks. The recording was chilling. And with the money they looted from the country, they found the thugs to launch attacks on both Uzbek and Kyrgyz villages, in order to spark revenge attacks. Their plans bore fruit this month, as hundreds were murdered, homes and businesses were burned, and between 80,000 and 100,000 people were made refugees.

As Namazaliev put it to me, “We will not stand for it.”

CAFMI Volunteers Load Supplies to Deliver to Refugees

CAFMI’s staff and volunteers are almost all under 25. Few have backgrounds in defense or security. But they immediately put the talents they do have to work. CAFMI volunteers worked with others to solicit, gather, and deliver humanitarian assistance for the thousands of people – mainly mothers and children – who had been driven from their homes, and to create a message of communal peace – of Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Russians, Uighurs, Tajiks and others who were standing together for peace and against murder and hatred. They called together teams of computer experts, technological wizards, social networkers, and activists to build an umbrella coalition: “I Want Peace in Kyrgyzstan” –“Мен Қирғизистонда тинчлик бўлишини истайман!” in Uzbek, “Мен Кыргызстанга тынчтыкты каалайм!” in Kyrgyz, and “Я хочу мира в Кыргызстане!” in Russian.

I Want Peace in Kyrgyzstan -- in Three Languages

Some Peace Graffiti (this one in English)

The “I want Peace in Kyrgyzstan” campaign has five coordinated elements:

1. Use cell phones, databases, and the internet to organize volunteers effectively and to create and disseminate maps (using Google Maps and other techniques) to guide deliveries of aid to victims and to help people to avoid areas in turmoil, burning buildings, and road blocks and ambushes set up by thugs.

2. Create a modern campaign for peace in three languages (Kyrygz, Uzbek, and Russian) – with a brand, a logo, street graffiti, slogans, t-shirts, stickers, leaflets, hand-written letters from children, radio interviews and public announcements, text messages, and other means to calm tensions and promote peace. Representatives of the various ethnic groups appear together to pledge peace and to build the rule of law and freedom together.

3. Combat disinformation and misinformation that might fuel ethnic hatred and violence, and respond rapidly to malicious rumors and hate campaigns before they bear their evil fruit.

4. Contain the spread of reprisals and hatred throughout Central Asia, by providing reliable information to media, helping to combat ethnic smears and suppress revenge attacks against minorities in other countries, and quickly rebutting calls in nearby countries for military intervention into Kyrgyzstan, which carries the very real danger of regional war.

5. Create a “Peace Room” (not a “War Room”) in CAFMI’s Bishkek offices to be open 24 hours a day to coordinate the collection and dissemination of information. Volunteers in the Peace Room utilize cell phones, social networking sites, twitter, text messages, phone trees, and more and monitor mass media constantly. The CAFMI office is now fully staffed with volunteers and working around the clock.

The young volunteers and staff of CAFMI are donating their time, risking their lives, and contributing their scarce resources, in a country with a per-capita income of about $2,100. If you’d like to stand with a group of very brave, very determined, and very committed libertarians to stop the violence in their country, provide emergency aid to the victims, avoid regional war, and lead the region to peace and freedom, you can send a tax-deductible donation to the Central Asian Free Market Institute (CAFMI) through the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, which has provided support to CAFMI. Please write to Erin.Grant@AtlasNetwork.org and 100% of your donation will be dedicated to CAFMI’s work in Central Asia. Even small donations will help. It would be a decision you would not regret. (You can follow CAFMI’s work on their Facebook page and Namazaliev writes in Russian and in English on NewEurasia.net, Twitter, and other media. He covered the April uprising against Bakiyev’s authoritarian regime in The Independent and was quoted frequently by CNN and many other news organizations.)

Volunteers Collecting Donated Supplies in Bishkek Neighborhoods

CAFMI Volunteers After Days of Loading Donated Supplies at Manas Airport to Send to Victims of Violence in Osh and Jalalabad

The trade embargo against the people of Gaza is itself a crime, and the incompetence and avoidable deadly violence of the Israeli authorities in dealing with the aid flotilla are further arguments that it should be lifted.

Searching for weapons is one thing, but embargoing trade and aid altogether is another. How can the Israeli authorities expect peace from people who, in the end, feel that they have nothing to lose? Free the trade with Gaza and let the people there work, produce, and flourish. Let them trade with Israelis. Search for weapons, but do so with intelligence, not rank incompetence that results in the spilling of blood.

Once again, the Israeli authorities have shown that, when a trap is set, they are quite willing to step into it. A bad policy coupled with utter stupidity and incompetence will prove disastrous for everyone. Perhaps the Israeli authorities may learn something from what happened. I hope so.

There is a great deal of evidence that freeing trade creates or supports peace. The Israeli authorities should consult it.

Dan Griswold on “Peace on Earth? Try Free Trade among Men”

Jagdish Bhagwati on free trade and peace

Some updates:

These articles are well worth reading, to give a sense of what is included in the embargo, which goes far beyond the quite justified interdiction of weapons and war material:

CBS: “Israel’s Gaza Blockade Baffles Both Sides”
Wall Street Journal:Gaza Blockade Hampers Private-Sector Economy

Daily Telegraph: “Nick Clegg: tell us the laws that you want scrapped”

The public will be asked what laws they want ripped up, in far-reaching reforms designed to put back “faith in politics”, the Deputy Prime Minister will say.

The reordering of power will sweep away Labour legislation and new criminal offences deemed to have eroded personal freedom.

It will involve the end of the controversial ID cards scheme, the scrapping of universal DNA databases – in which the records of thousands of innocent people have been stored – and restrictions placed on internet records. The use of CCTV cameras will also be reviewed.

Dubbed the “Great Reform Act”, the measures will close down the ContactPoint children’s database. Set up by Labour last year, it includes detailed information on all 11 million youngsters under 18.

In addition, schools will not be able to take a child’s fingerprint without parental permission.

In an attempt to protect freedom of speech, ministers will review libel laws, while limits on peaceful protest will be removed.

HT: Jim Peron

Mr. ‘Abdul Hamid al-Fakki is in danger of execution in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International has issued an “Urgent Action” memo on the case. The memo offers information on the case and some very concrete things you can do to save the life of a man charged with a non-crime.

In the case of Ali Hussain Sibat, there is no news. I wrote on his case for the Daily Star of Beirut with my friend Raja Kamal, of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies: “Ali Hussein Sibat must not be executed“.

Letters help, my friends. I have sent letters. You can also sign an on-line petition to save the life of ‘Abdul Hamid al-Fakki here.

Someone I know is in prison in Egypt for the heinous crime of blogging. It is important to let the Egyptian authorities know he is not forgotten. He has suffered not only the loss of his freedom, but terrible abuse. Please help by writing to him. And please follow the guidelines and not include anything incendiary or likely to lead to his being harmed further.

URGENT REQUEST: Flood the Jail with Mail

The Case of Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.

That victory for the interventionist,therapeutic state destroyed the lives of two men who loved each other. Not in 1950. In 2008.

David Bernstein on the rather, um, selective history of “Progressivism” given by the “Center for American Progress”: “Whitewashing Progressivism”

One could add many, many sins to the account of so-called “Progressives,” including prohibition, victimless crime laws generally, vice squads, public morals legislation, and generally attempting to replace the rule of law by the rule of wise and moral “experts,” i.e., themselves.

New York Times: “Putin Visits Venezuela to Discuss Oil and Arms”

Mr. Putin’s one-day visit built on a relationship rooted in billions of dollars of Russian arms sales to Venezuela over the past decade. Venezuela has also emerged as one of Russia’s most vocal supporters, recognizing two Russian-backed separatist enclaves of Georgia in 2009 and applauding Russian efforts to advance the ambitions of an embryonic group of gas-rich nations.

New York Times: “Criticism of Chávez Stifled by Arrests”

When Judge María Lourdes Afiuni issued a ruling in December that irked President Hugo Chávez, he did little to contain his outrage. The president, contending on national television that she would have been put before a firing squad in earlier times, sent his secret intelligence police to arrest her.

CNN: “Detained gay couple to face trial in Malawi”

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested in December at their home in Blantyre, Malawi, for professing love and marriage in the traditional way. Police discovered the couple when local newspapers reported on their engagement ceremony, known as a chinkhoswe.

….

Monjeza and Chimbalanga appeared in court this week. They were together, bound to each other — by handcuffs.

The CNN has an update on the awful case of Ali Hussain Sibat, “TV presenter gets death sentence for ‘sorcery’”

I co-authored an article on his case, calling for his release, with Raja Kamal, “Ali Hussein Sibat must not be executed” (It was also published in Arabic in a number of Arab newspapers.)

Respectful letters to the King of Saudi Arabia, directed to the embassies, may help.