The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press - fundamental human rights in a democratic society

These are two of the most important human rights a democracy can guarantee. Imagine what it would be if we didn't have the right to freely express our thoughts, our opinions...if we didn't have the right, the possibility to read a free and objective press...We don't have to imagine...As Romanians, we had some experiences of that kind, during King Carol the IInd's regime during the late thirties nad, of course, during the communist regime that dominated the country for 42 years....Other European countries had similar experiences, too. Of course, other former communist countries such as: Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and so on. There also were some non-communist countries which had dictatorial regimes in the 20s and 30s such as: Germany, Italy, Spain Portugal, e.g.

  

How did these rights appear in history? The idea appeared during the 1789 French Revolution. The purpose of that Revolution, which ended on the 14th of July 1789, when the famous and feared prison Bastille was stormed by the angry mob, was to overthrow the absolutist regime, which was based on privilegies and social inequity. They wanted to build a society where all men could be equal to the law. And the managed that. The first Constitution which states all those principles is the American Constitution, which was adopted during the year of the French Revolution, in 1789. Of course, it is deeply inspired by the French Revolution and by its demands. According to those principles, every man should have the right to express his opinion, irrespective of his social rank.

Why are these two rights the foundation of democracy itself? Because a democratic system can't exist without them. No country can proclaim itself a democratic country without guaranteeing a free press to its citizens...The press is also called "the guarding dog of democracy". No democratic country forbids the liberty of speech, the liberty of saying what's right and what's wrong in their country.

Unfortunately, there are some countries where these rights are prohibited. We have North Korea, Cuba. We also had Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, e.g. Even if we live in the twenty-first century, we still have some isolated cases of dictatorial regimes. Let's hope it will end some day...Then and only then, the dream of the French revolutionaries, the dream of a fair society all over the world will be fulfilled. Until then...Let's just wait and see what the future holds.