Freedom of the park

Introduction

Outside Hyde Park, five people were arrested and taken to court for selling newspapers in the park Orwell (1). They were charged for obstruction and all were proved to be guilty and charged. When ruling, the magistrate affirmed that the nature of the content in the newspapers did not influence him but his main concern was obstruction which is an offense and had been committed. According to the law, selling newspapers on the street is an obstruction only when a person defies a police order when they are ordered to move. It is sad thing to imagine that a person can be arrested and be charged for selling newspaper which is a business like any other.

According to Orwell (1), law enforcement is based on the judgment of the police and in this case clearly the policeman was influenced by the political deliberations. “The enforcement of the law depends on the discretion of the police.” If they had arrested other people that were selling papers that were not politically affiliated, it would have been a different case. But because it newspaper seller cannot defend himself or there are no laws to defend him, he is prosecuted. Unlike the continental gendarmerie or Gestapo, the British police support those that they consider as protectors of the individual possessions and they are not friendly to left-wing politics.

A question that is rarely talked about is, when a government is changed, what are the changes that are made in the administrative workforce Orwell (1). The existence of such manifestations of arresting people that are defenseless does not propose any changes happening. “However, the main point of this episode is that the sellers of newspapers and pamphlets should be interfered with at all”. For many years, in Hyde Park, it is normal for people who sell newspapers to position themselves and sell their publications and without being interfered with. The level of liberty that exists in the country is often overrated. There exist the right and liberty to speak which is done on any platform and in Hyde Park, which is a recognized open air space, you can say anything. No person is afraid to speak their mind and ideas from wherever they may want to do it. The freedom we enjoy is based on general thoughts because the law does not defend the common person.

The government implements laws but how they are followed is based on the general disposition in a country Orwell (2). ‘The point is that the relative freedom which we enjoy depends of public opinion” If many people are concerned with the liberty and right to speak, it is there and when the law prohibits it and the general judgment is slow, minors are charged regardless of the existing laws to protect them. The police officers have a right to arrest whoever they want and not follow the laws that have been put. There has been a reduction in the interest for individual freedom and that has reduced the concept that certain ideas cannot be heard. Intellectuals who do not differentiate between democratic and open disobedience have made it reflect in the increasing indifference to tyranny and lack of justice.

Conclusion

Arresting and charging people for merely selling newspapers is not a big issue when you compare it to what is happening in the world today. Very more serious issues that need to be looked into by the government are being overlooked.  It is a bad manifestation that anything like this is happening Orwell (2). It would be great if this and other incidences that have foregone raise a truly approved clamor and not lenient praise in the segments of the opposition press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

George Orwell. Freedom of The Park: The Orwell Foundation Retrieved from

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-

works/freedom-of-the-park/