By Alejo Schapire
In 2022, Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama (Copenhagen, 1978) published Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media (not yet translated into Spanish), an essay that traces the erratic and bloody struggle for freedom of expression in the East and West, from ancient Greece to social media. In both the book and his podcast , Mchangama explains why this “first freedom” is the cornerstone of democracy.
In the interview, we discussed US Vice President JD Vance’s speech in Munich, the curious history behind the fight against “hate speech,” the challenges of Islamic fundamentalism and censorship in the name of the oppressed, and what’s new and old in the current debates. The conversation took place via Zoom between Paris and Nashville, Tennessee, where Mchangama teaches political science at Vanderbilt University and directs the think tank The Future of Free Speech .
(Rough English Translation)
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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).