By Kevin M. Spivak One-sided censorship A decline in support for free speech and an increase in support for violence to suppress opposing views go hand in hand in authoritarian regimes. According to a recent report from Vanderbilt University’s the Future of Free Speech project, over the past decade, the number of countries limiting speech […]
By Jacob Mchangama Growing up in Denmark in the early 2000s, I rarely worried about my right to free speech. In this cozy haven of liberal values and secular democracy, speaking freely felt as natural as breathing. Few contested this state of affairs, least of all religious groups, whose influence had long since faded. That […]
By Ebenezer Obadare As a paradigm for the contemporary travails of free thought and freedom of worship, the ongoing saga of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu would be infuriating if it were not so depressing. The Nigerian musician, an adherent of the Tijaniyya Sufi Islamic order, has been running the legal gauntlet since he was first arrested in March 2020 for […]
By Katerina Nicolaou Natalie Alkiviadou, Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University (USA), argues in her new book that the European Court of Human Rights has become too restrictive on freedom of expression, often backing governments in silencing speech that is merely offensive. Alkiviadou, an expert on free expression, hate speech […]
By Jacob Mchangama In 1742 David Hume boasted that: “Nothing is more apt to surprise a foreigner than the extreme liberty which we enjoy in this country of communicating whatever we please to the public”. Voltaire saw 18th-century Britain as a paradise of tolerance and freedom that stood in stark contrast to despotic France. Today […]
By Jacob Mchangama The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a tragic illustration of the public’s collapsing belief in free speech. His arguments weren’t met with rebuttals, but bullets — a shocking affront to America’s longstanding commitment to civil discourse. For a brief moment, it seemed Americans of all political stripes might unite in denouncing the […]
By Jacob Mchangama In 1649, a group of English radicals sent a petition to the House of Commons. In it, they lamented the licensing of printing — which allowed the government to “pre-censor” books and pamphlets — as well as the harsh punishments for publishing unlicensed or “scandalous” ones. The radicals warned that this kind […]
By Andrew Tettenborn Depressingly few people care about the right to free speech these days. Pressure groups, ranging from uncompromising Islamists through trans activists to Palestinian hardliners, relentlessly demand more and more curbs on our right to say what offends them; experts clamour for the right to censor what we see to save us from […]
By Conor Friedersdorf American officials are waging a multifront attack on Europe’s approach to free speech. This month, a congressional delegation traveled to Dublin, Brussels, and London to probe and decry European regulations on digital speech. A State Department human-rights assessment issued last week pointed to objectionable “restrictions on freedom of expression” in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. All of […]
By J.D. Tuccille Last week, while visiting the U.K., United States Vice-President JD Vance warned Foreign Secretary David Lammy that his country’s government shouldn’t proceed down the “very dark path” of restricting speech. This week, the U.S. State Department released its latest reports on human rights practices around the world, calling out several European countries, particularly France, Germany, and […]