Comparison in the Issue Between USA and South Africa Essay

This paper seeks to make a comparison on freedom of expression between the United States and South Africa. The question to be answered in contained the definition of the problem. II. Definition of the Problem (or Issue/Topic) Is the freedom of expression now in the Republic of South Africa now comparable with that of the United States? III. Nature and Extent of the Problem in the Two Countries The Republic of South has evolved into a republic not many years ago which signifies its adoption of democratic framework which basically includes the freedom of expression as part of the rights of the citizens. The US Constitution which includes the freedom of expression on the other hand has been in existence much longer in number of years as compared with RSA’s. Given the extent of the proliferation of the technology and the universal nature of human rights at this point, it is interesting to evaluate whether the rights or freedom of expression are comparable or have close similarities between the two countries. IV. Dynamics of the Problem This part would refer to the factors that could create or perpetuate the problem or those that would tend toward elimination/resolution of the problem. What could create the problem may include lack of vigilance of the citizens in protecting their rights. Democracy requires vigilance of its citizens (Shaw, S. , 2001; Africa Research Bureau, 1981) and the failure of these citizens to assert their right could result to the demise or non-enjoyment of the right. Another factor is the support of the courts to uphold the right of the citizens by the nature of the decisions made. It is also required that courts need to have independence from the political branch of the government (Lieberman, 2006; Bowman Iii, 2005). What could work towards elimination or resolution could come from the factors that c could create or perpetuate the problem. If the citizens therefore are vigilant, there is a great chance that the right would triumph in the court battles. Similarly if the courts are independent from the political branches of government and that the resulting decision are based on the spirit and letter of the rights or freedom of expression (Pasqualucci, 2006; Pannill, 2002), they by all mean, the conflict if any on these rights may be resolved in favor of their assertion and eventual enjoyment by its citizens V. Analysis on the Degree of Comparability It could be cited that RSA’s ratification of its 1996 Constitution, signaled the adoption of some of the best practices from the different part of the world including that of the US. Since US is believed to the leader in the area of human rights, it could be thought the RSA may actually have improved on what is has adopted. The IFLA/FAIFE World Report: Libraries and Intellectual Freedom (1998) indicates that South Africa still requires more time to have its freedom to be considered comparable to the US. There is thus the RSA court decision involving the freedom of expression thing and what came out was that the Supreme Court has just even overruling previous decisions in favor of the upholding better right of freedom of expression. This means that RSA’s judicial system needs more time to really attain what the US as leader in human rights has attained as to freedom of expression. The IFLA/FAIFE World Report: Libraries and Intellectual Freedom (1998) has cited a decision on defamation in favor of â€Å"City Press† where the court has recently removed the unfair burden of legal liability on media. Without this ruling, the media would continue to be inhibited in its ability in championing the right to freedom of expression. This recent ruling was therefore considered as a victory of the principles of freedom of expression as contained in RSA’ Constitution. Since it was just made recently because of the RSA’s history of more repressive regimes, it could be asserted that it may require more time before RSA could match the kind of right now enjoyed in the US. VI. Conclusion Based on recent rulings of South Africa’s Supreme Court, it could be deduced that citizens of RSA could now be having more freedom of expression. But as stated in the dynamic of the problem, there are factors that could determine the resolution of conflicts pertaining to the right and the same factors could also be influenced the decrease or demise of the rights to expression. One of this is vigilance that must be asserted by the citizens of South Africa. The present level of technology could be a great help for them to use to protect their right by their acts of vigilance. The courts too need to be independent from political branches of government and be not cowed by the experiences of past regimes in South Africa. It has taken South Africa to adopt those of the US principles on human rights including the freedom of expression. It should be enough to conclude, it could not be that fast to reach what the US has attained in many decades for RSA’s freedom expression of expression to attain high degree of comparability with the US. VII. References Africa Research Bureau (1981) Africa Research Bulletin, Africa Research, Ltd. , 1981 Bowman Iii (2005) Mr. Madison Meets a Time Machine: The Political Science of Federal Sentencing Reform; Stanford Law Review, Vol. 58 ICL (2008) The Constitution of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, {www document} http://www. servat. unibe. ch/icl/sf__indx. html, Accessed November 11, 2008 IFLA/FAIFE World Report: Libraries and Intellectual Freedom (1998), {www document} http://www. ifla. org/faife/report/south_africa. htm, Accessed November 11, 2008 Lieberman (2006) Sorting the Revolutionary from the Terrorist: The Delicate Application of the â€Å"Political Offense† Exception in U. S. Extradition Cases; Stanford Law Review, Vol. 59 Pannill (2002) Free Speech, â€Å"The People’s Darling Privilege†: Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History; Journal of Southern History, Vol. 68, 2002 Pasqualucci (2006) Criminal Defamation and the Evolution of the Doctrine of Freedom of Expression in International Law: Comparative Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 39 Shaw, S. (2001) South Africa’s Transition to Democracy: An African Success Story : a Resource Book on the Positive Changes of the Nineties, The Author