Freedom House condemns the conviction and harsh sentencing of four pro-democracy activists in Vietnam and the Communist Party's ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and association.

Freedom House commends Google's decision to contest internet censorship by the Chinese authorities, despite the distinct possibility that this action will result in the closure of its operations in China.

Freedom House condemns the arrest of 19 activists in Egypt-among them leading bloggers, political party representatives, and journalists-and demands their immediate release without harm.

Freedom House is deeply concerned with the Chechen government's attempts to intimidate and discredit prominent and internationally recognized human rights organization, Memorial, which has played a crucial role in exposing human rights violations and assisted hundreds of victims of abuse.

Freedom House commends Google's decision to contest internet censorship by the Chinese authorities, despite the distinct possibility that this action will result in the closure of its operations in China.

Freedom House congratulates Oleg Orlov, Lyudmila Alexeyeva and Sergei Kovalev of human rights group Memorial on winning the 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded by the European Parliament to 'individuals or international organisations who - like Sakharov - have distinguished themselves in the struggle for human rights.'

Freedom House condemns the recent arrests and sentencing of Moroccan blogger Hazzam El Bachir and internet café owner Abdullah Boukfou and calls for their immediate release without harm. The events in Morocco reflect a troubling trend by governments in the Middle East and North Africa Region to use traditional means of repression to clamp down on bloggers and human rights activists.

As the opportunity for a year-end amnesty approaches, Freedom House calls upon the government of Uzbekistan to unconditionally release political prisoners and human rights defenders.

The Iranian government's mounting efforts to stifle pro-democracy activists have begun to threaten internet freedom for many outside of its borders as well as within. In response to this growing problem, Freedom House has developed an anti-censorship video series that provides assistance to those living in Iran and under other oppressive regimes to overcome government censorship efforts.

For the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009, as measured by Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2010. This represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report.

(From the preface of Saving America: The Generativity Solution.)

As I walked past my TV on the way to work, I saw our President addressing the White House Job Summit:

“…if there are things that we’re doing here in Washington that are inhibiting you, then we want to know about it.”

It is in the air! Not just our inability to create jobs! Not only the limits on our technological innovation! Not only the attenuation of our artificially-inflated Gross Domestic Product!

All of these problems are related to the relationship between economic freedom and entrepreneurial enterprise! Here is how it works:

Under conditions of elevated economic freedom, entrepreneurs and their companies generate the technological innovation that requires job creation and contributes to escalating levels of prosperity.

Noticeably absent from all explorations of “The Prosperity Problem” were representatives of the historic role of entrepreneurial enterprise in the generation of all prosperity. Here is how the economy and the entrepreneur work synergistically together:

The more economic freedom we give the entrepreneurs, the more they contribute to technological innovation, new job creation and, ultimately, Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Under conditions of elevated economic freedom, then:

• Entrepreneurial enterprise generates as much as 80% of the scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations.
• Entrepreneurial enterprise generates as much as 80% of the new jobs in implementing the follow-throughs on the technological innovations.

Indeed, the strongest case can be made for entrepreneurial enterprise as the driving engine of the American economy. Under conditions of elevated economic freedom, then:

• Entrepreneurial enterprise generates as much as 50% of America’s GDP.

To be sure, an overwhelming case can be made for the prepotency of entrepreneurial enterprise over all other sources of economic growth:

• Entrepreneurial enterprise dwarfs the contributions of all governmental sources, including the presidency, congress, and the federal sector that they manage.

Yet these entrepreneurial businesses are exploited by the multinational corporations which track them and trap them, “making them offers they can’t refuse.”

Moreover, the entrepreneurs are passed over by the bureaucratic czars of the public sector who favor “sole-source contracts” with “soul-less contacts, giving orders they can’t follow.”

To be sure, not all entrepreneurs are generative, capable of creating scientific “break-throughs” and innovative technologies. By our estimates, no more than one in 100 entrepreneurs are currently generative; therefore somewhere around 50,000 people out of five million small businesses qualify as “generative entrepreneurs.” In business, they may be labeled as “process engineers,” capable of designing themselves and others out of their jobs. In government, they may be characterized as “social engineers,” capable of defining spaces and empowering people to fill them.

The point is this: the other 99 of us live, learn, and work in the “draft” of their sciences, empowered by the tools of their technologies, prospering through their intelligence, their perspectives, and their good will.

RRC
January 2010
McLean, Virginia

Freedom House applauds Secretary Hillary Clinton for her remarks at Georgetown University today on 'A Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century.'

Freedom House condemns Switzerland's vote to ban the new construction of minarets in the country as a setback for religious freedom.

In response to a growing crackdown on freedom of expression around the world and in honor of U.N. Human Rights Day, Freedom House calls on human rights organizations, democratic leaders, and citizens to join in an international campaign to defend this critical right.

A public opinion survey released today showed that Zimbabweans have limited knowledge of their Constitution, but they want democratic safeguards, such as presidential term limits and an independent judiciary.

Freedom House today joined over 100 nongovernmental organizations in a statement declaring that binding resolutions combating 'defamation of religions' have no place at the United Nations and are incompatible with the fundamental freedoms outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The sentencing of two Azerbaijani bloggers to prison yesterday in a markedly non-transparent legal process is deeply disturbing, Freedom House said today, adding that the decision to silence the bloggers strikes a blow against the nascent success of new media in Azerbaijan.

It is critical that President Barack Obama emphasize the importance of human rights and democratic standards during his visit to China later this week, Freedom House said today.

As the United Nations General Assembly prepares to vote on a Canadian-sponsored resolution condemning ongoing human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Freedom House joins Iranian pro-reform activists and other human rights groups in urging member states to support the resolution.

Freedom House today submitted a statement to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs urging Congress to rescind the ban on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba.