If you pay for a building filled with foreigners calling themselves “the embassy,” who owns it?

Actor George Clooney recently decided to test the limits of Free Speech in the District of Criminals this Friday when he knowingly remained on a piece of earth despite threats of kidnapping by agents of the state. Those agents were given orders to kidnap and cage anyone who crossed a line which exists only in their imaginations. Clooney was totally peaceful and even aided in his own kidnapping because he wanted to bring attention to his cause: helping some oppressed people in Africa live free. In his act of civil disobedience, he brought attention to an arguably bigger issue: the caging of political activists who courageously speak truth to power and use as their soapbox public property for which they are forced to pay.

With the recent passage of what’s being called “the Indefinite Detention bill,” which permits agents of the state to secretly cage, torture, and kill any person for any reason, it is likely that stars such as Clooney are among the privileged few who have little to risk when doing this type of activism. Were he to make this controversial statement in a speech, he would be putting his life and freedom at much greater risk, but fortunately actions speak louder than words.

I cheer Clooney’s goal of peace and freedom for people in Africa, but I hope he will have the same courage to speak in support of complete freedom for all individuals.