THE WORLD'S SECULAR SPACES ARE CLOSING

Straws in the wind: recently I ran across a post by the CEO of a nationwide professional association in Canada. People like him are used to hopping across the US border for various meetings several times a month, but he was remarking on what people had been talking about at the association's recent annual conference in a big Canadian city.

- Gwynne Dyer

What his post said was: “Consensus here is that it’s risky to travel to [USA flag emoji] but if you have to go, bring a burner phone. Have a plan in case you get detained. Watch what you say. Who you meet.” And I thought “Yeah. Me too.”

I’m a journalist so I will still go to the US if I absolutely have to, but not for pleasure, not for paid lectures and things, and yes please on the burner phone.

Back when I started out in this trade half the world was off limits, especially for freelance journalists. The Cold War reached a second peak in the early 80s and you couldn't go to the Soviet Union unless you had a big media organisation negotiating for you. Even then it took months for a visa, and you were followed everywhere.

The Communist-ruled 'satellite' countries in Eastern Europe were a little easier, and China was letting tourists in to some parts of the country (but not stray journalists). Albania, North Korea and Iran were completely closed, and most of South-East Asia and much of Central and South America were ruled by military dictators who ran death squads.