Town square test

Town square test is a threshold test for a free society proposed by a former Soviet dissident and human rights activist Natan Sharansky, now a notable politician in Israel. In his book The Case for Democracy, published in 2004, Sharansky explains the term: "If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a 'fear society' has finally won their freedom."[1]

## Contents

* 1 Usage
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Usage

The test became famous after George W. Bush endorsed the book[2] and Condoleezza Rice referenced it to characterize "a fear society" in her prepared remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 18, 2005:

> The world should apply what Natan Sharansky calls the "town square test": if a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.[3]

Rice went on to identify Belarus , Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Zimbabwe as examples of outposts of tyranny.[3]

## See also

* Democracy
* Political freedom
* Free speech zone

## References

1. ↑ Sharansky, Natan; Dermer, Ron (2006), The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, Balfour Books, pp. 40–41, ISBN 978-0-89221-644-4
2. ↑ "My Sharansky" by Chris Suellentrop
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Archived copy". p. 4. Archived from the original on 2006-03-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20060325002023/http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2005/RiceTestimony050118.pdf. Retrieved 2006-03-26.

## External links

* Town Square Test in Oxford, England

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