By Miguel Angel Aguilar
The phrase “Freedom for what?” It was Lenin’s response to Fernando de los Ríos in 1920, when the Spanish socialist asked about freedom of the press and expression in Soviet Russia. This dialogue is narrated in the book My Journey to Soviet Russia. Now Lenin’s question that warned the socialist Fernando de los Ríos is made wisely today and is more insistently raised in the light of the disasters caused by the abuses and by the daring that incentivizes anonymity. That’s why the book Freedom of Expression. A History from Socrates to social media written by the Danish Jacob Mchangama and published these days by the publishing house Ladera Norte should be mandatory reading.
Our author begins by reminding us that freedom of expression is never conquered or completely lost. It happens that freedom of expression is susceptible to the agents of erosion and that as with metals, it is oxidized. Moment to remember that the world club of free democracies is losing members quickly and that those who have autocratic aspirations – from Viktor Orbán in Hungary to Narendra Modi in India – consider freedom of expression to be the first and most important obstacle they must overcome in order to consolidate themselves in power. In Islamic theocracies, blasphemy and apostasy continue to be punished with the death penalty, the execution of which is carried out by the institutions of the State or the jihadists of the environment with the capacity to take justice into their own hands.
But the retreat of freedom of expression is seen even in liberal democracies that fear the consequences of disinformation and hostile propaganda that spread at the speed of light through new technologies. Jacob Mchangama points out that the entropy inherent in freedom of expression, in addition to deriving from political causes, is rooted in human psychology and that it is the desire to please, the fear of marginalization, the desire to avoid conflict and the norms of courtesy that push us to silence uncomfortable speakers, whether on digital platforms, university campuses or cultural institutions. And he concludes that, therefore, “it is vitally important to actively promote and maintain a culture of respect for freedom of expression to ensure that the latter endures, given that the laws are not enough on their own.”
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Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is also a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).