In
Development as Freedom Amartya Sen writes that "Each type of freedom is not only an end in itself, but leads to other freedoms" In other (less eloquent) words, different types of freedoms are mutually supportive and reinforcing. Being literate, for example, increases your ability or freedom to know what the government is doing. Freedom to join a union gives you a better chance of getting freedom from poverty. He envisions a virtuous circle, where access to one kind of freedom is not only a good in its own right, but is also the means by which other freedoms may be gained.
Amartya Sen's argument matters because democratic governance, labour rights, and freedom of expression (among other freedoms) have in too many circles been seen as antithetical to development - as `luxuries' that under-developed nations can ill-afford. By shifting the measure of `development'
away from purely economic measures such as GDP or GNP per capita (both of which are blind to the internal distribution of wealth and to spending on militarisation) and
towards broad-ranging measures, such as the Human Development Index (HDI), which also considers such markers as literacy, infant mortality rates and life expectancy, Sen emphasises the importance of individual lives and individual agency.
So here are a list of freedoms that I think are worth having as ends in themselves and that I also think are linked in various ways - some more directly than others. Though numbered, they are not listed in any particular order.
- Freedom from racial discrimination
- Freedom from war
- Free access to birth control
- Free access to neo-natal care
- Free access to post-natal support
- Freedom from forced motherhood
- Freedom from famine
- Freedom from racial harassment
- Freedom to join a union
- Freedom to organise a union
- Freedom to be active in union reform
- Ready access to clean water.
- Freedom of movement
- Freedom to vote for elected representatives in a democratic government
- Freedom to stand for election in a democratic government
- Freedom to organise for political change
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom from sexist discrimination
- Freedom from sexual harassment
- Freedom of the press
- Freedom of association
- Freedom to marry whom you choose
- Freedom not to have to marry
- Freedom to love whom you choose
- Literacy
- Free access to education
- Freedom from homelessness
- Free access to medical care
- Freedom from torture
- Freedom from the fear of torture
- Freedom from the draft
- Freedom to choose your occupation
- Freedom to work where you choose
- Freedom to live where you choose
- Freedom to know what the government is doing
- Freedom from poverty
- Freedom from rape
- Freedom from domestic violence
- Free access to legal assistance
- Freedom to divorce
- Freedom from homophobia
- Freedom from heterosexism
- Freedom from FGM
- Freedom of religion
Obviously, the precise meaning of these is subject to debate and question. What constitutes poverty? What does freedom of movement entail? For example, when I write `freedom of movement' - I'm not talking about your right to drive an S.U.V. or a snowmobile. Indeed I'm not even talking about your right to drive. But I am talking about your access to free (or at least inexpensive) and effective public transport networks, local and national and I'm also talking about your ability to cross national borders.
Also there are likely questions of conflicts between freedoms. For example, I don't think that the right to freedom of religion can be used to justify removing other people's reproductive rights or rights to education.
So which of these freedoms do you have? Which of them don't you have? Which of them did you once have, but now they're gone or under threat? Are there freedoms missing from my list - if so, what are they?
If the measure of development is freedom, how `developed' is your corner of the Earth?