Kendra Horvath Protection through Suspension June 10, 2010

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Protection through Suspension

Kendra Horvath

June 10, 2010

Humanities 30

Mr. Kabacia

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In a nation, an ideology is the foundation for the government and the people that the

government rules over. In our society and many western societies, we have embraced the ideology of

liberalism because of the rights and freedoms people are allowed to have within the nation. Liberalism

allows people the right of free market economy, the freedom to make their own decisions and to be

treated equal under the rule of law. However, sometimes a government feels that these rights and

freedoms have been stifled and restricted due to moments of crisis. In the source provided the

quotation states “Rights and freedoms are essential to a democracy; however, there may be times when

a temporary suspension of rights and freedoms is necessary to guarantee the preservation of

democracy.” This ideology of suspending rights has been exercised within liberal nations in the world

due to major emergencies throughout history. Some classical liberalist thinkers, such as Adam Smith,

would criticize this because the main idea within a liberal democracy is people are entitled to these

freedoms and should be able to have the right to practice them without restriction. Although people are

entitled to our rights within a nation, we should embrace when a government restricts our freedoms in

times of crisis in order to keep democracy alive, but not to the extent of where it is in violation of our

human rights.

When a nation is in a sever crisis that involves the well being of its people, it is up to the

government to help restore peace and wellness into the nation, even if it is through temporarily

suspending the rights of the people. One example of this is the October Crisis of 1970. This crisis was

provoked because the Francophone Quebecois desired a greater protection of their language and

culture. In the revolution of social, economic, and political growth within Quebec, there were some who

had thought it to be too slow of a movement, so a group called the FLQ’s started to resort to terroristic

acts, such as a series of bombings within Quebec and even murders of political figures. These acts

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eventually invoked the War Measures Act, which resulted in around 500 arrests of people who

supported or voiced pro-FLQ views. It was a good thing for the government to invoke the act because

the FLQ group was in violation of other citizen’s rights and freedoms by committing terrorist acts such as

the bombings and murders. Although the government was in violation of the arrested people’s rights,

the people who had supported these terroristic doings were in violation of many innocent people’s

rights.

Even though every citizen in a nation should be entitled to their own freedoms, it is necessary

for a government to stifle people’s rights and freedoms when they are in violation of other people’s

rights and freedoms. This keeps democracy effective because democracy allows people in a nation to

have rights and freedoms and when they are violated, it is the government’s responsibility to protect a

citizen in any way it can.