Filtering by category 'Politics' containing 269 posts

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					What is ‘dehumanising’ speech?
				
Eric Heinze provocatively argues that no-platformers need to look into the mirror and examine their own blind spots. 

					The Pnyx and the Agora
				
Designers need to pay attention to the architecture of theatres as possible political spaces, argues Richard Sennett.

					Are you sitting comfortably? How safe spaces became dangerous
				
We must distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate safe spaces, argues Eric Heinze.

					The UK can show the way on platform regulation. But not by treating Facebook and Google as publishers
				
Mark Bunting argues that the tech giants should accept ‘procedural accountability’.

					The left’s version of hate speech: guilt by association
				
Leftists who argue for hate speech bans ignore the far left’s own version, argues Eric Heinze.

					Russia: ‘The Church has an enemy in every home.’ It’s television.
				
Helen Haft explains how the Orthodox Church has eroded freedom of the media and lobbied for the 2013 law against offending religious feelings.

					The internet alone will not set Africa free
				
Iginio Gagliardone explores the surprising technopolitics of two competing visions of the internet, US and Chinese, in Ethiopia.

					Should I go to that conference in Hungary?
				
Boycotts betray free enquiry, but Viktor Orbán’s moves against the Central European University at least make them worth debating, says Eric Heinze

					Barack Obama, John Kerry, and the Palestine saga
				
Avi Shlaim explores whether there was anything Obama could have done to salvage his reputation in the remaining weeks of his lame-duck presidency.

					Antizionism and antisemitism in British politics
				
Avi Shlaim explores the quality of debate within British politics of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and argues that an anti-racist movement has been portrayed as a racist one.

					Should Indian politicians be allowed to appeal to voters based on their religion, race, and caste?
				
Udit Bhatia discusses a landmark ruling concerning the conduct of elections and its potential to stifle democratic debate.

					Can you teach people how to disagree without being disagreeable?
				
Tony Koutsoumbos explores the lessons from his own experiences in building an environment of robust and strong public debate.

					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.

					Between Islamists and secularists: debating free speech in the Arab world
				
Sara Khorshid reports from a panel discussion that brought together former hate preachers, feminists and ordinary Arab youth to debate the limits of free speech in the new Middle East.

					Hyperreality beats free speech in Turkey
				
Kerem Öktem describes the dramatic deterioration of Turkey’s media landscape after the attempted coup of July 2016.

					Noam Chomsky: Does America have uncensored, diverse, and trustworthy media?
				
Noam Chomsky talks about Edward Snowden, laws regulating historical memory, no-platforming, internet echo chambers and the lack of diversity in the American media.

					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.

					Citizens United: how the US Supreme Court struck down limits on corporate electioneering on the grounds of free speech
				
Max Harris analyses the case and the applicability of US First Amendment rights to corporations.

					Shirin Ebadi on the fight for free speech and human rights in Iran
				
A transcript of our conversation with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, who spoke to Free Speech Debate about her book ‘Until We Are Free’.

					Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi: How has free speech changed in Iran?
				
Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi talks to Free Speech Debate about her book Until We Are Free and the state of free speech and human rights activism in Iran.

					When is speech dangerous?
				
Jonathan Leader Maynard examines the difficulties in assessing and managing the role of speech in violence.

					The rise and fall of free speech under Turkey’s Islamists
				
Looking at the long sweep of the AKP’s rule, Kerem Öktem shows how the window of free speech in Turkey has closed.

					Self-censorship in Israeli society, or: what can and cannot be said about Gaza
				
Maja Sojref examines the subordination of free speech to politics and security in Israeli society.

					‘Lee Kuan Yew is Finally Dead!’ blogger prosecuted
				
Julian Simmons examines a Singaporean’s expletive-laden video on the recently deceased leader and his conviction for wounding religious feelings.

					The rise of the left and the fall of free speech in Latin America
				
Maryhen Jiménez Morales explores how leftist political leaders in Latin America have limited free speech in their countries through populist discourse and political propaganda. 

					From taboo to tort – free speech and the Israeli ‘boycott law’
				
Maja Sojref examines how a law on the prevention of harm to the State of Israel exposes the tension between freedom of expression and national security. 

					The battle for balance on Ireland’s airwaves
				
Declan Johnston explores whether regulatory requirements for Ireland’s broadcasters worked well in its referendum on same-sex marriage.

					What do artists say about freedom of expression in the arts?
				
Tore Slaatta investigates Norwegian artists’ views on their freedom of expression in contemporary society.

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

					Silencing India’s daughters
				
Vanya Bhargav explains the battle behind the Indian government’s ban on a BBC documentary about a notorious gang rape.

					What is it like to be a satirical cartoonist in Malaysia?
				
Malaysian cartoonist Zunar talks about what it means to be a satirical cartoonist in Malaysia.

					How a Weibo post gets censored
				
Jason Q Ng traces the path of a censored Weibo post and tracks keywords that trigger automatic review.

					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. 

					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 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.

					Egypt: the show is over
				
Bassem Youssef and the Egyptian struggle for freedom of speech.

					How an attempt at ‘libel tourism’ rebounded on a Tanzanian tycoon
				
A British citizen blogged about a Tanzanian media magnate involved in throwing her and her husband off their Tanzanian farm. He sued for libel in a British court. Dominic Burbidge explains.

					The world through the eyes of Russian state television
				
Robert Coalson looks at how Russian television depicts everything from the crisis in Ukraine to the war in Syria.

					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. 

					Hong Kong: two systems, one country?
				
Samson Yuen and Kitty Ho argue that the stabbing of a former Hong Kong news editor is a symptom of a broader squeeze on the city’s freedoms.

					Nineteen arguments for hate speech bans – and against them
				
Free speech scholar Eric Heinze identifies the main arguments for laws restricting hate speech and says none are valid for mature Western democracies.  

					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.  

					The way Xi moves: free speech under assault in China
				
Shi Yige examines different approaches to censorship in China, and argues that while internet controls might avail the leadership in the short term, they are unsustainable.

					Homage to Catalan
				
Timothy Garton Ash introduces a translation of our ten principles into Catalan and a reflection on having Catalan as your native language. 

					The importance of speaking Catalan
				
Pere Vilanova reflects on his personal experience of learning his ‘native’ tongue – as a third language.

					From incitement to self-censorship: the media in the Kenyan elections of 2007 and 2013
				
Katherine Bruce-Lockhart looks at the media’s role in two Kenyan elections and argues that peace and critical media coverage should not be mutually exclusive. 

					Germans are not especially concerned about privacy and sovereignty
				
Nazi past? Stasi past? Sebastian Huempfer challenges the conventional explanations for Germany’s strong reaction to Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA snooping.

					Who is threatening free speech in post-revolutionary Tunisia?
				
Middle East specialist Rory McCarthy examines the role of Islamist movement Ennahdha in shaping, and constraining, freedom of speech in Tunisia after the Arab Spring. 

					Using the rhetoric of press freedom to thwart free speech
				
Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust, argues that the British press has denied the British public a proper debate on press regulation. 

					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.

					Internet access in the age of the surveillance state
				
Oxford University’s Ian Brown asks what Europe can do to protect our digital rights and privacy. 

					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.

					Is Facebook just the new chamber of commerce and Twitter the new telegraph?
				
Political theorist Rob Reich discusses what adaptations we need as freedom of speech and association move increasingly from the offline to the online world. Can the old principles still apply in new circumstances?

					Why ramp up internet surveillance in Nigeria?
				
The Nigerian government is rumoured to have sealed a $40m dollar contract for internet surveillance technology. There is no clear justification for this “secret” deal, and no assurance that the technology would be used fairly, given Nigeria’s lack of established rights for citizen privacy. By Nwachukwu Egbunike and Dominic Burbidge.

					Why did the famous Indian painter M.F Husain feel he had to leave India?
				
Shruti Kapila, Patrick French and Faisal Devji discuss freedom of expression and the arts in India.

					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.

					Why Turkey’s mainstream media preferred penguins to protest
				
Kerem Oktem, in Istanbul, reflects on the pernicious influence of the government and business interests on Turkish broadcasters.

					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.

					The ‘Brandenburg test’ for incitement to violence
				
In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court made history by ruling that, to merit conviction, the violence advocated must be intended, likely and imminent. By Jeff Howard.

					When does hate speech become dangerous speech? Consider Kenya and Rwanda
				
The forthcoming trial of Kenyan broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang poses vital questions about the connections between words and violence, argues Katherine Bruce-Lockhart.

					The three George Orwells and the three Burmas
				
Timothy Garton Ash delivers the Orwell Lecture at an unprecedented literary festival in Rangoon. He talks about three Orwells and three Burmas.

					Is Myanmar sliding back into censorship?
				
For all its talk of press freedom, the Burmese government has produced a surprise new bill containing oppressive provisions and undermining the press council it created. Ellen Wiles reports.

					How has the internet changed the relationship between the writer and the state?
				
The relationship between writers and the state is complex, multifaceted and changing. At the Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 a panel of experts explores some of the issues faced by writers around the world.

					China’s public expression philosophy: a case of too little theory?
				
The Chinese government’s stance towards the question of free speech is guided by a philosophy that is complex but intelligent. Rogier Creemers diagnoses the underlying causes.

					“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.

					The Southern Weekly affair: No closer to the Chinese dream?
				
2013 began dramatically in China with a standoff between journalists and state propaganda authorities over a drastically rewritten New Year editorial.  Timothy Garton Ash introduces English translations of the original and finally published versions.

					Can the treatment of animals be compared to Nazi concentration camps?
				
Not in Germany, said the German courts. And the European Court of Human Rights agreed. 

					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 crumbling fourth pillar
				
The Indian media is in danger of losing its moral compass to the pressures of the new capitalism. It may be a time for a boycott in order to stop the rot, argues Manav Bhushan.

					Pressing for freedom: the protest over China’s “Southern Weekly”
				
The Chinese Communist Party aims to control privately owned media without appearing to do so. A strike at a local newspaper imperils that balance, writes Liu Jin.

					In the Philippines, be careful of what you retweet
				
A new cybercrime law in the Philippines would give unfettered powers to the state to monitor internet users, take down websites and imprison citizens writes Purple S. Romero

					Prashant Bhushan: The case for a referendum and how Kashmir could become “another Afghanistan”
				
If the territorial dispute over Kashmir is not addressed through open debate, it may become “another Afghanistan”, says the Indian supreme court lawyer. 

					Is self-regulation of the media in India sufficient?
				
In a panel John Lloyd, T.R. Andhyarujina, Harish Salve and Daya Thussu discussed whether self-regulation can continue to remain a viable way forward for the Indian media.

					Arundhati Roy on national security & the Indian media
				
The award-winning Indian novelist and activist speaks to Manav Bhushan about the limits to free speech in India, including government censorship through the media and “goon squads”.

					War is not cricket!
				
An Indian and a Pakistani student at Oxford reflect on how their countries covered the same story in their own ways.  By Zahra Shah and Debanshu Mukherjee.

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

					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.

					Should Russian speakers be obliged to learn Estonian?
				
FSD’s Olga Shvarova criticises the language-based discrimination ethnic Russians face in Estonia.

					Brazil confronts Google – and it’s personal
				
A top Google executive was arrested in Brazil when the company refused to remove YouTube videos that made accusations against a local mayoral candidate. Felipe Correa discusses the case.

					Can Google’s algorithm slander a politician’s wife?
				
Type ‘Bettina Wulff’, the name of a former German president’s wife, into Google and the autocomplete function will add ‘escort’. Is this algorithmic addition a form of defamation? Sebastian Huempfer explores the case.

					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. 

					The silenced sex? Women’s voices in US election coverage
				
A new report shows only 12% of US election coverage on the abortion debate quotes women. Judith Bruhn explores why this under-representation of women’s voices is undermining women’s freedom of speech.

					Satire or sedition? Political cartoons in India
				
Indian Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was recently arrested on sedition charges. Manav Bhushan discusses how an archaic section of India’s penal code has been used to silence government critics.

					Zambia’s secret freedom of information bill
				
If a decade of stalled attempts to enact Zambia’s Freedom of Information bill seems comical, there is underlying tragedy in how politicians have fallen short of their free speech rhetoric, writes Dominic Burbidge. 

					Egypt’s one-way traffic in books
				
Historian Khaled Fahmy describes how historic Egyptian books are more easily found in Western than in Egyptian libraries – and how a scholarly history of the Middle East was recently banned from entering Egypt.

					Censoring a billion voices to save a nation
				
Manav Bhushan, an Indian member of the Free Speech Debate team, makes the case for blocking hate-filled websites in his country.

					India’s textbook cartoon affair
				
In May 2012, India’s parliament withdrew a series of school textbooks that contained a political cartoon some MPs considered denigrating. Antoon De Baets discusses whether reputation, rights and public morals should ever trump educational free speech.

					How ‘brown envelope journalism’ holds back sub-Saharan Africa
				
Dominic Burbidge explores the corrupt links between political elites and mainstream media that suffocate genuine democratic debate in Africa.

					Should journalists need a diploma?
				
Brazil’s Supreme Court renewed a law that requires journalists to hold a university degree in journalism. A currently discussed Amendment to the Constitution could further restrict the country’s media writes Felipe Correa.

					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. 

					Pussy Riot, Putin’s Russia and the Orthodox Church
				
Was punk band Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin performance in a Moscow church ‘religious hatred hooliganism’ or an artistic form of political dissent? Olga Shvarova considers the case.

					Why the EU’s “harmonisation machine” should stay away from history
				
Claus Leggewie and Horst Meier explain why memory laws are the wrong way for Europeans to remember and debate their difficult pasts.

					Haiyan Wang: What is it like being an investigative journalist in China?
				
Former investigative journalist Haiyan Wang describes the ways in which Chinese reporters push the boundaries of press freedom. Interview by Judith Bruhn.

					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.

					Guilt by association: the London 2012 Olympics
				
The drive to control all references to the Olympic Games is part of a global creep of intellectual property law that has led to a “right of association”, writes Teresa Scassa.

					Hitler’s Mein Kampf as satire
				
The German comedian Serdar Somuncu recites extracts from Mein Kampf to highlight the absurdity of Hitler’s propaganda, writes Sebastian Huempfer. 

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

					The case of the Russian ‘spy’
				
Igor Sutyagin, the Russian nuclear researcher sentenced to 15 years for espionage, found himself at the centre of a spy-swap deal in 2010, writes Olga Shvarova.

					How open access to scientific journals can help the developing world
				
Open access publishing models are having a significant impact on the dissemination on scientific information but their impact on the developing world is uncertain, writes Jorge L Contreras.

					Japan: Korean ‘comfort women’ photo exhibit sabotaged
				
A South Korean photographer explains his ordeal in holding an exhibition in Japan that documents ageing ‘Comfort Women’, writes Lee Yoo Eun.

					Improving media ethics in Turkey
				
A grassroots organisation set up by journalists attempts to create positive change in Turkish media, writes Yonca Poyraz Doğan, a correspondent at Today’s Zaman.

					Free speech in an unfair world
				
Free Speech Debate’s 10 draft principles benefit those in positions of privilege and power, writes Sebastian Huempfer.

					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.

					Maureen Freely: Why is there a sustained hate campaign against the Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk?
				
Writer Maureen Freely talks about the sustained hate campaign in Turkey against the author and Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk.

					Ukraine: a raiders’ state
				
Ukrainian cultural journals have become the target of “raiders” – shady groups working on behalf of powerful interests who use bogus property claims to close down businesses, says Mykola Riabchuk.

					Frontline SMS: How can mobile technology be used to help social change across Africa?
				
Amy O’Donnell explains how she’s using text messages to help African radio stations engage their listeners on important political issues.

					The tension between data protection and freedom of expression
				
EU member states should reform the data protection framework to address the realities of life in the Web 2.0 age, writes David Erdos

					Is China actually helping free media in Africa?
				
China may provide censorship tools to autocratic regimes in Africa, but western companies still dominate this market, writes Iginio Gagliardone, a post-doctoral fellow at Oxford University.

					The vital presence of the past
				
History is a sensitive issue in China with some of it desperately remembered and some, deliberately forgotten, writes Judith Bruhn.

					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.

					Open government in Chongqing?
				
Environmental information is tightly controlled in China despite the existence of access to information regulations, writes Sam Geall.

					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.

					Media ethics & the Anders Behring Breivik trial
				
Killer Anders Behring Breivik’s testimony should be broadcast live to deter extremism, argues Anne Ardem, executive editor at Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

					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.

					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.

					Hasan Cemal: Freedom of expression in Turkey
				
From communism to Kurdish separatism, the Turkish state has used a series of pretexts to deny freedom of expression to its citizens, says journalist Hasan Cemal.

					Moez Chakchouk: Can the Tunisian Internet Agency defend net neutrality?
				
Online censorship is futile as it can almost always be circumvented, says Moez Chakchouk, the head of the Tunisian Internet Agency.

					Hungary’s new media regulation
				
In 2010, the Hungarian prime minister passed a series of laws, giving excessive control over all private media to the government, writes Peter Bajomi-Lazar, a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford.

					Rebecca MacKinnon: How do we ensure that the consent of networked citizens?
				
The co-founder of Global Voices discusses the nexus between governments, internet companies and citizens.

					The Mexican journalist and the ‘alcoholic’ president
				
Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui was fired for publicly calling on President Felipe Calderón to clarify rumours that he suffered from alcoholism, writes Felipe Correa.

					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.

					Rede Globo & the 1989 Brazilian election
				
Beyond Citizen Kane, a documentary on the 1989 Brazilian election, argues that broadcaster Rede Globo manipulated the montage in favour of one of the two remaining candidates, writes Felipe Correa.

					Can Europe and the Middle East agree on the terms of freedom of expression?
				
A lecture by Timothy Garton Ash in Egypt at the AUC New Cairo.

					Paolo Mancini: Will the internet transform Italian politics?
				
Professor Paolo Mancini argues that while new technologies offer opportunities, they also lead to political and social polarisation.

					The trial of Naguib Sawiris
				
Naguib Sawiris was accused of contempt for tweeting an image of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, respectively sporting a bushy beard and veil, writes Jacob Amis

					Turkey’s new reform bill
				
The Turkish government has proposed a bill that will suspend all media offences committed before December 2011. But will the draft law actually improve press freedom, asks Funda Ustek.

					Is criminalisation an effective way of eradicating fascism?
				
The co-chair of the German Green Party tells Free Speech Debate that fascist ideologies cannot be banned and must be confronted in a democratic way.

					Death of a journalist in Pakistan
				
Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad was found dead after publishing an article on the links between al-Qaida and Pakistan’s military, writes Ayyaz Mallick.

					The private life of a national hero
				
A documentary depicting the Turkish Republic’s founder, Kemal Atatürk, as a “drunken debaucher” was seen as an attack on “Turkishness”, write Irem Kok and Funda Ustek.

					How Turkish taboos perpetuate immaturity
				
Professor Ayşe Kadıoğlu of Sabancı University speaks of her experience growing up in Turkey where taboos, many imposed by law, have trapped citizens “in a state of immaturity”.

					Turkish journalists: Şık and Şener
				
In March 2011, two prominent investigative journalists were arrested in Turkey because of their alleged ties to a terrorist organisation. Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener faced 15 years’ imprisonment if they were convicted, write Funda Ustek and Irem Kok.

					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.

					Blasphemy law and violence in Pakistan
				
In 2009, Aasia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman was accused of blasphemy. The governor who called for a review of her case was killed two years later, writes Ayyaz Mallick.

					Yan Xuetong: When can a value such as free speech be considered universal?
				
For values to be considered universal, at least half the world should accept them, says Professor Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.

					Tim Wu: Why do information empires fall?
				
Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, tells us why Facebook should not go into China and why Twitter’s new take-down policy may harm the microblog

					Timothy Garton Ash at the Brandenburg Gate: Should we all become a bit more German, or not, when it comes to privacy?
				
Speaking at the Brandenburg Gate on the 22nd anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Timothy Garton Ash, director of Free Speech Debate, discusses the new barriers to information and communication. 

					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.

					Does money have the right to speak?
				
The US supreme court’s decision on Citizens United raises a vital issue: should corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals? Brian Pellot discusses the case.

					Geert Wilders on trial
				
In 2011, Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders was cleared of charges of group defamation, incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims. Rutger Kaput looks at the case.

					When doing nothing is free expression
				
In 2011, the Belarusian police arrested scores of people at a silent protest in Minsk. Annabelle Chapman looks at the case.

					Aryeh Neier: Why more speech is the cure to bad speech
				
The president of the Open Society Foundations talks about free speech as a universal aspiration, group libel and the Skokie controversy. 

					The Israeli whistleblower
				
Israeli whistleblower Anat Kamm leaked 2,000 classified military documents obtained during her service with the Israeli Defence Force. Maryam Omidi discusses the claims of national security versus public interest.

					Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s ‘perp walk’
				
Was it right to make Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the IMF, do the “perp walk” after he was charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York? Clementine de Montjoye argues no.