Hver eru grunngildi íslensks samfélags?

Miriam Rose sem fór í fangelsi fyrir að mótmæla Kárahnjúkavirkjun með friðsamlegum hætti flutti ræðu í Reykjavíkurakademíunni 20.nóvember síðastliðinn.

Ræðan í heild sinni var upphaflega birt hér og einnig er til íslensk þýðing á henni.

Hér er bútur úr ræðunni.  Í neðri málsgreinunum tveim vitnar Miriam í Arundhati Roy sem skrifaði "The god of small things":

Icelandic media is controlled by a few private groups and a small state run element, which accepts private finance. What are their interests? Can company owned and sponsored media really criticise its own, or associated companies, or report fairly on their economic abuses? In whose interest was it that lies about the payment of Saving Iceland activists were published by RÚV and never revoked despite complaints made through all the official channels?

"The only way to make democracy real is to begin a process of constant questioning, permanent provocation, and continuous public conversation between citizens and the State. That conversation is quite different from the conversation between political parties. (Representing the views of rival political parties is what the mass media thinks of as 'balanced' reporting.)

It is important to remember that our freedoms such as they are, were never given to us by any government, they have been wrested from them by us. If we do not use them, if we do not test them from time to time, they atrophy. If we do not guard them constantly, they will be taken away from us. If we do not demand more and more, we will be left with less and less." (Roy, 2005)

Athugasemdir

[Elías Halldór Ágústsson, 22.1.2008 kl. 10:34]

Mér skilst að grunngildin séu að spyrja ekki út í gerðir þeirra ráðherra sem kunna að vera af Engeyjarættinni, en þeir eiga að stjórna Alþingi og dómstólunum. Einnig að nota þvagleggi til að refsa grunuðum brotamönnum á vettvangi.

[Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir, 22.1.2008 kl. 11:57]

Ég ráðlegg öllu hugsandi fólki að lesa ræðuna í heild sinni.