Freedom Friday
Big brother is watching you – but we are also watching them. At the end of each work week we bring you Freedom Friday.
Canada
One of the nicest places to live in North America, Canada has recently passed a law which will impose a daily fine on any students who are protesting the rising cost of tuition.
It also bans demonstrations within 50m (165ft) of university buildings. Student leaders… could be fined as much as $35,000, while student groups face penalties of up to $125,000 …the government’s proposal would raise the fees by 80%, in increments of $254 per year (£160) for seven years. Source
At the end of the day, it’s not right for politicians to pass laws to stifle dissident voice and scare their citizens into submission. Democracy isn’t always pretty, but at least the people should have a say because that’s how a free society meets a consensus.
Overall, Canada is more free than others, but the tide is turning. Canada is a place where it is possible to get a 2nd citizenship, and hundreds of thousands of applicants are processed each year.
Next, we shift the focus to the middle east, and ask the question:
Would a government simply revoke the passport of one of their citizens simply because they were a dissident voice?
UAE
– Ahmed Abdelkhaleq is a political activist who runs a website detailing the pains of being stateless and living in the gulf. Oddly enough, he now finds himself in a similar position. His website and his actions were a “threat to national security” 
and he was “challenging the constitution”.
Therefore, he was stripped of his citizenship and can never return home again.
Lots of people ask me: why would I need a second passport?
Citizenship is something often taken for granted, but it is an important base on which you build the rest of your life, and why it is flag 1. To pursue a 2nd citizenship is to gain the ultimate insurance policy, in that no matter what happens in your country or your life, you still have a backup plan, and a means to go somewhere else.
Not having a citizenship, or being “stateless” would obviously be a horrendous predicament. That is why I advocate that any person of wealth or intelligence look into 2nd passport options and opportunities, even if you live in a “free” country.
Russia
According to the Economist “the Kremlin is building the legal framework for authoritarian rule” including the passage of 4 new laws:
- Criminalizing defamation making it illegal to speak ill of the leaders
- Blacklisting of sites on the internet to “protect the children”
- Fines of 300,000 roubles ($9,300) for those who attend demonstrations
- NGO’s who receive foreign funding would be labeled as “foreign agents”
- Requires ISP to allow governments to block Skype, facebook and twitter at the flip of a switch
These are scare tactics designed to scare off anyone from opposing the Russian State and they could have dangerous backlash for the government in unexpected ways.
Russian people are brilliant and brutally honest, and they have a history of dealing with the bad government. Life in Russia is better than ever before, and the country has a tremendous change to leapfrog ahead in the 21st century as a BRIC country.
If they provoke the people, they may learn that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Russian programmers are brilliant, and trying to completely block their website is practically inviting cybercrime. Why not just let the people have a voice?
Whereas in Russia they are working to block sites and spy on the internet, in America they are attempting the same things with recent legislature including PIPA, SOPA and other control of the internet acts, but it’s not all virtual…
USA
In the “land of freedom”… private enterprise is working with the government in an attempt to steal your home.
A campaign contributor to the Obama campaign, Steven Gluckstern, who hosted Obama at his home in 2007, is devising a plan to “fix” the housing crisis.
His proposal is that municipal governments use eminent domain to steal houses from homeowners that are “underwater” on their mortgages, and his company Mortgage Resolution Partners will receive a juicy fee.
Eminent domain is an action of the state to seize a citizen’s private property. Commonly used by the government to legally seize your home and compensate you at ‘market value’ if they need to build a highway on your land; it’s not meant to be used as a response to help banks, and essentially this is a private company bending an obscure government mandate to steal private property.
This represents a dangerous encroachment on the freedoms of Americans. If this action is allowed passes, the government will use be using a loophole to allow a private company to come and take your house out from under you.
Private enterprise colluding with municipal governments to screw the people and gain a profit. Russia perhaps, but that would never happen in the USA!
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Freedom isn’t something which is passively obtained. You need to work to preserve your freedom, taking conscious action.
There are places in the world which are still free, and the way to best experience life outside the direct control of government is to live is as a PT – a permanent tourist, perpetual traveler, and a prior taxpayer.
By setting up your life across strategic jurisdictions by planting flags, you remove your sovereign risk – or the potential that any one government or organization can seize control of your wealth, or well being.
Essentially, internationally diversifying is what you MUST do if you are affluent, intelligent, and a FREE-thinking individual. To start, I can help you do this through a 2nd citizenship or offshore company.
Very simply; I help you set up the foundation to establish your privacy, freedom and wealth for the rest of your life.