Raul Castro Quotes

There are men—now in power in this country—who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression so long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.

Once you permit those who are convinced of their own superior rightness to censor and silence and suppress those who hold contrary opinions, just at that moment the citadel has been surrendered.

Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.

Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny.

Enemy of the People

It was only a generation ago that we learned that the burning of books may precede the burning of people.

If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me to have him shot.

The one indisputable reality of dictatorship is that dissent, insult, and malevolent language do not go unpunished if it is allowed at all.

Once you start choking the space for dissent in a democracy, people feel pushed to the wall and then it leads to further dissent and alienation.

It's very worrying at this time in the world that any point of view should be prohibited, that's banned, there are heretics that should be burned at the stake.

A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.

In contrast, fear societies are societies in which dissent is banned.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

And why do we, who say we oppose tyranny and demand freedom of speech, allow people to go to prison and be vilified, and magazines to be closed down on the spot, for suggesting another version of history.

Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

Persecution is the first law of society because it is always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.

Every censorship, however good its intent, degenerates inevitably into tyranny.

When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail.

Death to intellectuals!

The poisoning of the civil discourse always accompanies totalitarian movements.

Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.

There is social intimidation by the self-appointed brigades of the thought police… they exist in every society, whether they are of the religious, nationalistic or atheistic variety. Dogmatists, who are convinced that they know better, that only the way they think is acceptable and who would deprive others of their right to hear differing and discordant voices.. They try to achieve this by either silencing the author or scaring away the public.