Filtering by category 'Freedom' containing 200 posts

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					Las Vegas: the US is racked with impossible divisions over rights and freedoms
				
Todd Landman explores the contradictions between the American Constitution and the freedoms it seeks to preserve.

					An introductory guide to the ten principles
				
Our social media team have created a new way to explore the 10 principles on Youtube.

					Free speech debates are more than ‘radicals’ vs ‘liberals’
				
Eric Heinze argues that the radicals and liberal grounds for free speech are not mutually exclusive.

					Six monarchs, 140 dissidents, one rule: Keep your mouth shut
				
Nicholas McGeehan explores restrictions on free speech and protest in the Arab Gulf states and the foreign policy responsibilities of Western governments.

					Wikipedia at 15: The sum of human knowledge?
				
Martin Poulter, Wikimedian in residence at Oxford University, considers the active encyclopedia’s first 15 years.

					Hunting the dissident: The case of Leopoldo López
				
Maryhen Jiménez Morales examines the use of state power to silence dissent in modern Venezuela.

					A Turkish newspaper is shut down, condolences accepted
				
Ezgi Basaran cries out at the forced end of Radikal, the Turkish newspaper she used to edit.

					Russia’s law on offending religious feelings
				
Helen Haft examines the case of a blogger prosecuted after an online argument and its implications for Russian free speech.

					Why ‘no-platforming’ those who peddle hate speech does not pose a free speech issue
				
Purushottam Vikas engages with criticisms directed at a controversial petition regarding an Oxford India Society speaking event.

					John Naughton: Are private superpowers a threat to free speech?
				
John Naughton discusses the state of the internet, net neutrality and private companies.

					How and why Hong Kong’s press downplayed the ‘umbrella movement’ of 2014
				
Rebecca Wong describes the combined pressures of Chinese political power and the interests of media proprietors.

					Ian McEwan on free speech and religion
				
The celebrated English novelist on Islam’s ‘totalitarian moment’ and why freedom of expression is not religion’s enemy but its protector.

					Living in outrageous times
				
Peter Bradley argues that we should tolerate offence but be less offensive

					Free to fantasise? Pornography and its harms
				
Jo Fidgen asks what the hard evidence is for negative effects  of pornography on sexual behaviour. 

					How the British press  distorted reporting of… the British press
				
Martin Moore, of the Media Standards Trust, summarises an analysis of British press coverage of proposed new press regulation.

					Google grapples with the ‘right to be forgotten’
				
Katie Engelhart attends the public hearing of Google’s Advisory Council, set up in response to a European Court of Justice judgement.

					How can you tell what’s banned on the internet?
				
Joss Wright describes the technical and ethical challenges in investigating online censorship.

					Clueless in Gaza: Western media and the Arab-Israeli conflict
				
John Lloyd explores the history and weakness of Western media coverage, and suggests one way it could be improved.

					A new initiative to defend free speech in India
				
Hartosh Bal explains the role of the new Freedom Trust in the context of India’s media environment, and how they hope to defend freedom of expression.

					National Security: Sample our intellectual buffet. Or make your own meal.
				
Timothy Garton Ash introduces a sample tour of the content on our site. 

					Religion: Sample our intellectual buffet. Or make your own meal.
				
Timothy Garton Ash introduces a sample tour of the content on our site. 

					Privacy: Sample our intellectual buffet. Or make your own meal.
				
Timothy Garton Ash introduces a sample tour of the content on our site

					Salman Rushdie: What have been the most important changes to free speech in the last 25 years?
				
25 years after the fatwa and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Salman Rushdie discusses with Timothy Garton Ash whether there is now more or less freedom of expression in Europe, worrying developments in India and his critical view of Edward Snowden. 

					Should the LSE’s Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society have asked people to cover up people wearing religious t-shirts?
				
At the London School of Economics Students’s Union Freshers’ Fair members of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Student Society were asked to cover up their T-shirts displaying a Jesus and Mo cartoon. This panel discussion discusses the freedom to offend and how to balance freedom of expression and civility.

					US Supreme Court strikes down law creating ‘buffer zone’ around abortion clinics
				
In the case of McCullen v Coakley, the US Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling about restrictions on speech around abortion clinics.  Max Harris explains.

					Should Europe introduce a right to blasphemy?
				
Alain Bouldoires talks to Timothy Garton Ash about the survival of blasphemy laws in Europe, and calls for a ‘right to blaspheme’.

					Vote for Hong Kong – on the streets and online
				
In 2014, the citizens of Hong Kong staged an unofficial civil referendum in protest against the Beijing authorities’ attempts to undermine its independence. As Rebecca Wong reports, the majority of the votes were cast via a voting app on mobile phones.

					Imported repression in the Middle East
				
A leaked document in June 2014 from Egypt’s ministry of the interior invited tenders for cyber-surveillance technology to combat blasphemy, sarcasm and ‘lack of morality’ – the technology would likely come from the west.  Max Gallien reports. 

					EU versus intellectual freedom?
				
In a bid to synchronise hate crimes, the EU is seeking unity amongst members states against the denial of historical injustices. Is this the EU versus member states’ appreciation of intellectual freedom? Luigi Cajani explains.

					The long struggle to bury speech crimes in the English-speaking world
				
Anthony Lester and Zoe McCallum look at how the ghost of the English Court of the Star Chamber has been used to suppress free speech. 

					Regulating hate speech: lessons for Asia
				
Cherian George on how hate speech is gaining virulence in Asian countries such as Myanmar, and how peace-building workshops represent a positive step forward.  

					‘They used the oven to get tanned, you know…’
				
Marc-Antoine Dilhac recounts how he confronted anti-semitic prejudice in a French classroom, and argues that more good  comes from an open debate about hate speech than from banning it. 

					Pressing for press accountability in Britain
				
Jonathan Heawood on ten reasons why independent self-regulation is good for free speech – and how his new initiative, IMPRESS, proposes to go about it. 

					Can Australia distinguish between art and pornography?
				
Kim Wilkinson examines the case of celebrated Australian artist Bill Henson, who caused controversy in 2008 with his photography that featured images of naked teenagers.  

					Opt-in for porn? Then why not for religion?
				
Leslie Green, a distinguished legal philosopher who has written extensively about issues of obscenity and pornography, challenges our case study on online porn filters.

					Britain’s proposed online porn filters
				
How do we strike the right balance between freedom of expression and child protection? Sarah Glatte explores a proposal by the British government.

					What does George Orwell mean to people in Burma?
				
At  the 2013 Irrawaddy Literary Festival, Burmese writers including Pascal Khoo Thwe and blogpoet Pandora talk about George Orwell in the country where he was once an imperial policeman.

					Thou shall not leak: Thomas Fingar on why leaking classified information is unnecessary and dangerous
				
Thomas Fingar, 2013 winner of the Sam Adams Awards for Integrity in Intelligence, argues that leaking classified information from within the intelligence services is unnecessary and dangerous.

					Why the US needs more open debate about its failures on race
				
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington must be the beginning of the discussion of race, not the end. Bassam Gergi discusses why the depoliticisation of race in the US is problematic and only open debate can lead to progress.

					Vladimi Pozner: Why Russia does not have a concept of free speech
				
Famous Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner says he thinks Russia really has no concept of free speech. Oh, but there’s one place where you do have complete freedom of expression.

					When to be silent is to speak
				
Stephen Meili examines the contrasting UK and US treatment of people who refuse to declare a political allegiance. 

					When and where should extremists be allowed to march?
				
Protests held by far right groups in ethnically diverse areas are provocation, but banning them can have undesired effects. Josh Black looks at a ban on the English Defence League in East London.

					A right to privacy? Not at the expense of free speech!
				
Our user imos.org.uk argues with one of our draft principles challenging the idea that privacy is a condition for free speech.

					Child pornography and freedom of expression
				
Did the European Court of Human Rights wrongly considered the distribution of child pornography to be an exercise of freedom of expression in the case Karttunen v. Finland, asks Rónán Ó Fathaigh.

					Brigitte Bardot’s repeated convictions for inciting racial hatred
				
Should a world famous actress be allowed to denounce an ‘overpopulation’ by foreigners? By Michèle Finck.

					The Copyright Alert System: coming to a home near you?
				
The question of how best to respond to the unauthorised dissemination of copyright-protected expression over the internet has long troubled copyright owners. But the proposed solution of a Copyright Alert could potentially erode free speech, writes Graham Reynolds. 

					Who should guard the Guardian?
				
Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, argues that Britain needs both a free press and reform of its failed regulatory system. Since this will require both time and openness, a new independent press regulator should therefore be given a year’s trial run.

					Free speech and the gun in Libya
				
Libyan media are crippled by their Gaddafi legacy. Without new regulations and, above all, bravery to stand up to violent intimidation, freedom of speech remains a distant dream, writes Jerry Timmins.

					Has the Strasbourg court allowed too much for local taboos?
				
At the European Court of Human Rights, the case of I.A. against Turkey in 2005 acted as a controversial precedent for limiting Article 10’s definition of freedom of expression in the name of religion, explains Michele Finck.

					“If you rattle a snake…” The Kenyan government bites its media
				
 In 2006 the Kenyan police violently raided the offices and printing press of the Standard Group media organisation. What was the government afraid of seeing reported? Dominic Burbidge explores a revealing case.

					Cyber-bullying that led to suicide
				
On 10 October 2012 the Canadian teenager Amanda Todd committed suicide after years of cyber-bullying and harassment. Judith Bruhn describes a shocking case.

					“Speakers’ Corner” What should it mean today?
				
Peter Bradley describes a British initiative promoting free expression, public debate and active citizenship.

					The late Ronald Dworkin on ‘How universal is liberalism?’
				
To honour the memory of Ronald Dworkin, a brilliant philosopher and advocate of free speech, we post his remarkable 2012 Dahrendorf Lecture.

					A right to lie about government?
				
In the landmark case of New York Times v Sullivan, in 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that criticism of public officials must be protected, even if some of the claims were inaccurate. Jeff Howard explains.

					The practice of freedom
				
Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi stresses the importance of free speech but emphasises the Buddhist idea of “right speech”.

					William Dalrymple: Why Salman Rushdie was forced to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival
				
The historian and writer explains the reasoning behind author Salman Rushdie’s no-show at the 2012 Jaipur Literary Festival.

					Mismanaging India’s temples – violation of ‘freedom to practice one’s own religion’?
				
The Indian constitution grants freedom to worship freely, but the mismanagement of temples undermines this freedom, writes Avani Bansal.

					Tarun Tejpal: How has investigative journalism in India changed in the last 20 years?
				
Indian journalist and writer Tarun Tejpal speaks about development and corruption in India, and the role of investigative journalism.

					The future of free speech
				
Human Rights activist Aryeh Neier speaks about the future of free speech.

					Prevent harm, allow offence?
				
Robert Simpson suggests a way to distinguish between harm and offence.

					Two years on, is it still spring in Tunisia?
				
On 17 December 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself – and began the Arab spring. Despite Islamist pressures on free speech and women’s rights, Rory McCarthy sees continued cause for hope.

					Brazil’s online crossroads between authoritarianism and democracy
				
Despite Brazil’s democratic accomplishments, laws used to regulate websites date from the 1960s, giving arbitrary power to the state. A proposed ‘Marco Civil da Internet’ has the capacity to change this, writes Marcos Todeschini.

					You can’t be serious!
				
The birthplace of western homo-erotica cuts a gay kiss from TV, writes Judith Bruhn.

					The Kremlin’s grip tightens on Russia’s answer to Facebook
				
Russian social network VK launched six years ago and has since attracted 122 million users. But as Olga Shvarova explains, political and copyright crackdowns are limiting the free flow of information and ideas its users once enjoyed. 

					Ahmed Mansoor on blogging his way into a UAE prison
				
One of the United Arab Emirate’s most prominent human rights activists, Ahmed Mansoor was imprisoned in 2011 for criticising the country’s leadership. Here he discusses the death threats, defamation campaigns and physical attacks he continues to face for speaking his mind. 

					Licensed leafleting means lost liberties in Britain
				
Josie Appleton explains how a 2005 law that permits local councils to restrict the distribution of leaflets in public spaces is hurting free speech and community life in Britain.

					What’s your beef with my freedom to eat it?
				
Bans on eating beef and pork are contested in India. Manav Bhuhshan discusses why this is an issue of caste discrimination and can be seen as a restriction on freedom of expression.

					Reader’s comment
				
We regularly highlight comments that have made an impression on us. Today’s comes from user Martinned responding to Brian Pellot’s discussion piece on the Innocence of Muslims controversy. 

					The topless duchess
				
Judith Bruhn explores the theory and practice of privacy in Europe and whether a court injunction was enough to salvage the Duchess of Cambridge’s privacy. 

					How Turkey’s imagination was censored during the Olympics
				
During the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, a Turkish National TV presenter censored John Lennon’s song Imagine. FSD team member Funda Ustek discusses how Turkey is trying to eliminate its citizens’ ability to imagine a world without religion.

					Evgeny Morozov: What is the dark side of internet freedom?
				
Author Evgeny Morozov highlights the dangers that sometimes emerge when governments and corporations harness the internet to serve their own objectives. 

					Elif Shafak on our common humanity
				
​Acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak discusses the limits to free speech, the cosmopolitanism of her novels and the art of coexistence. 

					Shoot the Boer: hate music?
				
In 2011, a South African court banned the anti-apartheid song “Shoot the Boer” after ruling it hate speech, writes Nimi Hoffmann.

					The Japanese New History Textbook controversy
				
A history textbook underplaying Japanese imperialism caused controversy domestically and internationally, write Ayako Komine and Naoko Hosokawa.

					Westboro Baptist Church: the right to free speech?
				
In 2011, the US supreme court ruled in favour of the anti-gay church’s right to protest at military funerals, writes Casey Selwyn.

					Censoring The Scorpions
				
In 2008, six British ISPs blocked access to a Wikipedia page featuring an album cover with an image of a prepubescent naked girl, writes Maryam Omidi.

					Zuma and his spear
				
A South African art gallery removed an explicit painting of President Jacob Zuma after pressure from the African National Congress, write Nimi Hoffmann and Maryam Omidi.

					What not to wear
				
Maryam Omidi takes a look at banned clothing around the world – and concludes that women tend to be the target of dogmatic dress codes.

					Fighting for free speech in an unjust world
				
A society in which free speech marginalises, rather than empowers, vulnerable citizens is a society in which our moral vision of universal free speech has not actually been achieved, writes Jeff Howard.

					Do anti-abortion protestors have free speech?
				
A pro-life campaigner and a pro-choice activist go head-to-head in this debate about the rise of US-style anti-abortion protests outside clinics in the UK.

					Is it time for a global conversation on free speech?
				
A panel of experts joins FSD Director Timothy Garton Ash at London’s Frontline Club to discuss some of the world’s most pressing free speech issues.

					Africa: media and free speech
				
“People in Africa don’t have the freedom to speak freely and hold governments accountable,” says Nqobile Sibisi of Highway Africa’s Future Journalists Programme. 

					How can connections between the traditional press and the internet freedom movement be kept open?
				
Punishing internet intermediaries for their content will have a chilling effect on free speech, says Kevin Bankston of the Centre for Democracy and Technology.

					Punishing users of extremist websites
				
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a law to punish readers of websites promoting terrorism and violence, writes Clementine de Montjoye.

					Teaching creationism in US schools
				
A new Tennessee law will permit teachers to discuss creationism alongside theories of evolution, writes Casey Selwyn.

					Why hate speech should not be banned
				
Restrictions on hate speech are not a means of tackling bigotry but of rebranding often obnoxious ideas or arguments are immoral, argues writer Kenan Malik.

					ACTA: Open agreement secretly arrived at?
				
The secretive approach adopted by parties in negotiating the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement constrained the ability of the public to challenge limits on free expression, writes Graham Reynolds.

					Free speech in Turkey & the world – part one
				
In the first past of this debate, research fellow Kerem Öktem argues that an individual’s understanding of free speech is shaped by their personal history and geography. 

					A student’s racist tweets
				
Liam Stacey, a 21-year-old student, was sentenced to 56 days in prison for posting racially offensive comments on Twitter, writes Maryam Omidi.

					Raising a “religious youth” in Turkey
				
A new law allowing parents to send their children to Islamic schools at an earlier age has polarized Turkish society, write İrem Kök and Funda Üstek.

					Shami Chakrabarti: Why robust civility works from an ethical but not from a legal perspective
				
The director of civil liberties group Liberty calls for a review of all speech crime legislation in the UK.

					Can Christians wear the cross at work?
				
Two Christian women are taking their fight to wear a crucifix in the workplace to the European Court of Human Rights, writes Dominic Burbidge. 

					RapeLay: a virtual rape game
				
A Japanese video game that involved raping women was banned three years after its creation following an international outcry by women’s groups.

					Kazeboon: Egypt’s anti-military campaign
				
In 2011, a group of young Egyptians organised public film screenings to expose military violence against civilians, writes Hebatalla Taha. 

					History reclassified as state secret: the case of Xu Zerong
				
In 2002, historian Xu Zerong was sentenced to 13 years in jail for leaking state secrets. The classification of the leaked materials as “top secret” came only after he had been sentenced, writes Timothy Garton Ash.

					German legislation could hinder free flow of information
				
Germany’s draft ancillary copyright bill would force news aggregators such as Google News to pay German publishing houses when linking to news items produced by their newspapers, writes Maximilian Ruhenstroth-Bauer.

					Patriot Act and FISA without end?
				
How the Obama administration continues use of Bush-era powers to suppress legitimate debate about the needs of US national security. By Jeff Howard.

					The harms of hate speech legislation
				
Hate speech legislation chills freedom of expression more than it protects vulnerable minorities.  Free speech lawyer Ivan Hare takes issue with Jeremy Waldron.

					Free speech at the heart of the Arab Spring – part one
				
In this panel discussion just off Tahrir Square in Cairo, a panel of bloggers, journalists and human rights experts ask what are – and what should be – the limits to freedom of expression in Egypt today.

					Ezra Levant: “I don’t believe hate speech is a crime”
				
“If you don’t ever feel hate, you have a broken personality,” says Canadian lawyer and publisher Ezra Levant. 

					Hunger strike as free expression
				
Last year, Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old Indian anti-graft campaigner, undertook a “fast-unto-death” as a way of pressuring the government to enact anti-corruption legislation. Should a hunger strike be protected as a form of free expression? Manav Bhushan and Katie Engelhart offer  contrasting views.

					Irshad Manji on Allah, Liberty and Love: Why offence is a sign of truly free speech
				
The director of the Moral Courage Project says so-called ‘respect’ for Muslims is often lined with fear and “low expectations” of those practising the faith.

					The Berlin Twitter Wall v the Great Firewall of China
				
In 2009, the Chinese authorities blocked access to the Berlin Twitter Wall from within China following a flood of tweets calling for an end to internet censorship, writes Judith Bruhn. 

					A Saudi blogger’s “blasphemous” tweets
				
As of August 2012, Saudi Arabian writer Hamza Kashgari faced a trial for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter, writes Brian Pellot. 

					Daniel Bell: What would Confucius make of free speech in the internet age?
				
Confucianism’s defence of political speech does not necessarily apply to other forms of expression, says Bell.

					Threats of violence stifle free speech in India
				
For some, Valentine’s Day means chocolate and roses. For a group of Indian writers it has become an opportunity to reclaim freedom of expression in India. 

					Maldivian president was pathbreaker for freedom of expression
				
Deposed president Mohamed Nasheed will always be remembered as the man who brought free speech to the Maldives, writes Maryam Omidi.

					Ian Brown: How should cyberspace be regulated?
				
In part one of this interview with Timothy Garton Ash, Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute talks about the internet and freedom of expression, net neutrality, internet service providers and censorship by both democratic and autocratic governments. 

					Richard Stallman: What is freedom-respecting software?
				
The founder of the free software movement talks about internet giants Google and Facebook, Creative Commons and internet freedom.

					The basic principle
				
Our first principle says, “We – all human beings – must be free and able to express ourselves, and to receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers.” What do you think?

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