PREREQUISITES OF FREEDOM

People sing and write about freedom. Sometimes they take to the streets in protest, risk their lives and even die for it.

What is necessary for freedom? First, there is freedom from constraint; it must be true that our actions are not determined by external forces and are somehow a result of our choices.

Some philosophers have suggested that, since everything follows causal patterns and arises from pre-existing conditions, we are not "really" free. It follows from this that we should cease the almost universal practice of praise, blame, criticism, carping, admiration, condemnation, etc. This is hopelessly counter-intuitive for most people (even many Buddhist monks, for example, those who protested against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.)

A less extreme position, explained by Simon Blackburn in his book Think, is to accept that people do often go through a decision-making process, and that while the outcome of our decisions is often determined by our characters (incorporating our genetic inheritance, upbringing and experience of life), it is precisely this that is up for praise and blame, namely our characters, our "software", no matter how it was arrived at.

Second, and this is crucial, we need freedom of choice. Otherwise freedom is only freedom to dream, like the characters in The Matrix at the beginning of the first film, before they realise their world is illusory.

In the political sphere, we have freedom from constraint. This is why I can express my opinion without fear of being taken away in the night by the secret police. And I don't take this lightly.

However, this freedom has been rendered impotent, because there is no substantive freedom of choice. The often trumpeted idea of "change through the ballot box" no longer applies in this country. A couple of percentage points either way on tax and spending - that's it. All the parties are representing the interests of global capital (the movements of which are truly free from nearly all constraints). There is no alternative way which offers a sane environmental policy and justice for the world's poor.

What is to be done?