When 'Freedom' Equals Fascism (Freedom House)

[Ian David]

Western countries are shrieking about Vladimir Putin's crackdown on foreign NGOs, but in the case of Freedom House, it is an act of self-defense.


Vladimir Putin's moves to tighten controls over foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has recently been portrayed in the West as yet another example of Russia's savage authoritarianism and anti-Western paranoia. While only a drunken apologist could deny Putin's authoritarianism, the real question is whether or not the crackdown on NGOs is a symptom of classic tyrant-paranoia, or if it has a valid basis.

If the Putin regime is being paranoid, then the case of blue-chip NGO Freedom House -- an American NGO whose name seems to pop up more than any other in this part of the world, particularly when it comes to the push for democracy -- provides a clear example of Henry Kissinger's dictum that "even a paranoid has some real enemies."

Freedom House was founded innocuously enough in 1941 by Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president and one of the great modern champions of human rights, and Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for president in 1940, uniting the mainstream American political spectrum to ensure that it would not be accused of being ideological. It was founded, according to its website, out of concern "with the mounting threats to peace and democracy a vigorous proponent of democratic values and a steadfast opponent of dictatorships of the far left and the far right."

Who today is the far-left/right dictatorship that Freedom House steadfastly opposes?

James Woolsey, who chaired Freedom House for the past three years and only recently stepped aside, told Radio Free Europe in an interview in October that Russia was one of, if not the, main target. "We are really quite honored that President Putin, who is increasingly coming to head a government that is edging towards fascism in Russia, would be critical of what the NGOs, including Freedom House, were doing to help bring about a movement toward democracy in Ukraine," he said.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/story/30691/