Last Thursday, October 26, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the political opposition in Venezuela and the country's political prisoners. The Sakharov Prize, which was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament and was named in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Shakharov, honors those who defend human rights and freedom of thought. This year’s award went to the National Assembly of Venezuela, led by Julio Borges, as well as “all political prisoners.”
“This prize not only recognises the democratic opposition of Venezuela‘s courageous struggle – the European Parliament also wants to express its proximity to and pay tribute to the Venezuelan people: to all those who have been unjustly jailed for expressing their opinion, to those struggling to survive on a daily basis because of a brutal regime, to those families in mourning because they have lost loved ones in months of uninterrupted protests for freedom,” said the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani.
“Venezuela is experiencing a political crisis. The ruling party steadily limited the rule of law, and in March 2017 the Supreme Court of the country deprived the democratically elected national assembly of the...
Lord Acton is best known his famous expression, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887. In Acton, Historical Essays and Studies, edited by J.N. Figgis and R.V. Laurence. London: Macmillan, 1907). But there was much more to his thought than this one, pithy dictum. To understand what he meant by this phrase, we must understand his views about human nature, liberty, power, and society.
“Acton is known as the historian of freedom,” wrote Johann Christian Koecke in “Freedom of Thought and Commitment to God.” In Acton’s writing, “[f]reedom is the predominant theme, his life’s theme. There are authors who write about freedom, and yet their texts (and the authors themselves) make it appear as though there were a barricade between themselves and their subject.”
Lord Acton would never be mistaken for an anarchist. In his view, exercising power and authority are necessary to preserve the order within society. However, he condemned absolute power, because it does not respect human dignity, something he found intimately bound up with liberty.
Yet Acton, who considered himself more of an historian than a philosopher, made clear in his two...
In the 2000 movie Gladiator, the general Maximus (played by Russell Crowe) assembles his forces for battle against the Germanic tribes, near Vindobona on the Limes Germanicus. Before the battle begins, he tell his soldiers, “What we do in life echoes in the eternity.” Then he exhorts them to show “strength and honor” and “at my signal, unleash Hell.”
Although it may not have been director Ridley Scott’s intention, the legion’s ready response to Crowe’s orders show important components of justice: observance and its connected virtues, honor and obedience.
In the Summa Theologicae, Thomas Aquinas distinguished nine virtues that are potentially connected with the cardinal virtue of justice. They are: religion (religio), piety (pietas), observance (observantia), gratitude (gratitudo), vengeance (vindicatio), truthfulness (veritas), amiability (amicitia), liberality (liberalitas), and equity (epieikeia). Alongside observance, he lists honor (dulia) and obedience (obedientia).
Of these, three are specifically connected with authority: observance, honor, and obedience.
In our societies, there is always someone who excels above others through his or her personal characteristics. Leaders, heroes, saints, role models, bosses, political representatives...
Socialism has turned oppressive in Venezuela, with the arrest of opposition leaders, election fraud, and human rights abuses. The United Nations has already condemned President Nicolas Maduro’s government for human rights violations. According to the UN, between April 1 and July 31 a total of 73 people had been killed by the security forces, another 27 by pro-government armed groups known as "colectivos." More than 5,051 people have been arbitrarily detained, and more than 1,000 reportedly remain in detention. Ramon Muchacho, the mayor of Chacao and friend of the opposition, complained that the government is cracking down on them "for doing our job, for guaranteeing the legitimate right to peaceful protest and the right of all Venezuelans to exercise their civil and political rights."
