The Right to Know and Speak

Sor Juana fought for women's right to educate themselves and engage in public intellectual discourse at a time when authorities restricted both. This principle extends directly to anti-corruption work: corruption thrives in secrecy, and only transparent access to information and free speech enable citizens to identify and challenge it. The right to know includes access to public records, financial disclosures, meeting minutes, and decision-making processes. The right to speak includes protection for whistleblowers, journalists, investigators, and ordinary citizens who report wrongdoing without fear of retaliation. Corrupt systems actively suppress both rights—through classification, censorship, legal intimidation, and violence against those who expose them. Fighting corruption therefore requires establishing robust legal protections for information access and expression, creating independent media and oversight bodies, and building cultures where questioning authority is respected rather than punished. Sor Juana's own advocacy for intellectual freedom becomes a historical precedent for understanding that restricting who can know and speak directly enables abuse of power.