Have you ever lived in a country ruled by a dictator? Do youknow what it is to
have all communication censored? Have you ever been followed?Do you know what
it feels when your phone is being monitored? Do you know whatit is to live in a
place where you have no idea if the person sitting next toyou is spying on you?
I do. Why? I grew in up in Portugal when Salazar ruled.Because of that, freedom
of speech is precious to me. Let me explain.
To establish and grow a dictatorship you need a minimumof two key ingredients.
The first is to keep the population in the dark. Dictatorscannot have their
rules questioned in any way, hence censorship. The firstthing to be censored is
the news – all news. Back then, that meant newspapers,television, books,
magazines and documentaries (local and international). Nowit also must include
the internet.
Because the population started to communicate in other ways,the censorship was
extended to include song lyrics, theatre and movies. Butthat was still not
enough, so "agitators", as Salazar called them, were dealt with: aspecial
branch of police was formed and given extreme powers. Many Portuguese suddenly
disappeared some never to be seen again. It was easy enough – most of the
special jails were convenientlylocated next door to cemeteries. And with the
military under the control ofSalazar, fear, the other key ingredient for a
dictatorship, was established.
To save themselves, some "agitators" left Portugal. They hadto do it in secret,
using illegal means (border control was strict) and go tocountries that didn’t
have an extradition agreement with Portugal. And they hadto say goodbye to
their families not knowing if and when they would see themagain, as their
families were now also under supervision.
But what to do with word of mouth? Easy! Unless approved, allpublic gatherings
were banned and strongly dealt with if courageous (silly?!)people went ahead
and held them. And remember, you never knew who was next toyou. How strong was
the dictatorship? With the police and the military, Salazar ruled Portugal for
36years and his followers continued for another six.
So why have I recounted the history of the Portuguesedictatorship? Because now,
here in Australia, my written communication is beingsupervised. Having tried to
publicly and privately ask a number of questionsfrom the ASTC Committee and
never receiving an answer, I have recentlydiscovered that I have been added to
LinkedIn’s moderator’s list. In essence, Ican be censored. Who will be next?
And what can I expect? As an active memberof the Society for over 15 years, am
I going to be expelled? And if I am, whois going to ask the hard questions? Is
the membership going to let theCommittee rule like Salazar – absolutely and
with no accountability? Over toyou.
Ana Young
