International Day for Access to Information

Reading time: 2 min.
Translation: Régine Paradis

“Information is a credible anti-‘fake news‘.” – Edith Boukeu

Are we already interested in celebrating this international day?^[1] It takes place on September 28^th and this year 2022, it is in its 17th edition. This day aims to encourage citizen participation to fight against corruption and enjoy our civil and political rights through access to information.

What is the element that sparked the interest in writing this article? Censorship.

It is not new that authorities use this stratagem. Only think of the excommunion^[2] used by the Catholic Church, or the books put on the index and more recently the suspension of university professors or health professionals, etc. This stratagem is very convenient to ensure that there is no counterpart to their discourse/narrative in order to enslave the people. The particularity in the current context is that it is globalized, identical in its means and exercised without restraint.

Censorship is an act of blame, even condemnation, which is proclaimed by persons in authority, among others politicians, professional orders, who perform acts that go against the rights giving it an official character.

Censorship is currently being used for political purposes. Traditional media, social networks, government agencies, artists and even legal authorities apply it in various ways: denigration, refusal to publish, refusal to debate, semantic manipulation of words, distortion of facts, threats, lies, exclusion, imprisonment, etc.

“One of the main principles used by those in power to remain in power is the cultivation of fear. They make a point of keeping the population in ignorance, fermenting sense of doubt and carefully misinforming, or avoiding to inform. It is always much easier to control someone who doesn’t have all the facts to understand the situation and judge for themselves.“^[3] – Rael

Why is informing essential? To inform is the action of letting someone know something, to bring it to his/her attention. To know allows us to apprehend reality and to judge it for ourselves. We then become for the authorities difficult to control.

The right of access to information is fundamental, because it is a right that opens the door to the protection and enjoyment of other rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the right to think. “When freedom of expression no longer exists, it is freedom of thought that is thrown into prison.” – Pascal Mourot

It is not so much to mark this day as to bring us back to our responsibilities as sovereign citizens:

1. To oppose through resistance a political action that goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
2. Get information from a variety of credible sources so that you can act with knowledge and conscience;
3. To use our rights is our freedom, because it is not given by any authority.

And finally, keep in mind that being indignant with common sense is a way to preserve our dignity, because nobody will do it for us. “I do not wish to harm you, but I will harm myself if you refuse me my rights.“^[4] – Rael

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[1] https://www.un.org/en/observances/information-access-day  

[2] Reverso Dictionary: Ecclesiastical censure that removes someone from the communion of the Catholic Church https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/excommunion  

[3] The Maitreya, Extracts from his teachings https://www.rael.org/eb/maitreya_en/ P. 132  

[4] The Maitreya, Extracts from his teachings https://www.rael.org/eb/maitreya_en/ P. 241