Britain is becoming an increasingly oppressive place. It is no longer the nation which gave the world the concepts of liberty of thought and word, concepts that our American cousins were both inspired by and built upon. It has become instead a land where freedom of speech is becoming an increasingly rare commodity. An unholy alliance of various identity politics grievance mongers, left wing activists and a political class that in the main is actively hostile to the whole concept of free speech has brought this situation about. They have brought us to the point where Britons can be criminalised for uttering an opinion, making a joke or even quoting a song lyric that ‘offends’ someone.
Free speech is a Briton’s birthright, no matter what station in life they were born into or what class they occupy. Although not codified in a written constitution as is the American First Amendment, the general convention in the United Kingdom was that people could say what they liked, barring committing libel or credibly inciting violence. But this right, which is an inalienable right and not one that the government can grant, has been progressively removed by Conservative, Labour and Coalition governments, a situation that has been much to the detriment of all of us. The government has been assisted in its desire for censorship by private companies such as social media organisations who are routinely people from their platforms on ‘offence’ grounds even when what the person is saying is fundamentally correct.
This situation should not be allowed to continue. We have to stand up for our rights to speak and the rights of others, even those we disagree with to also speak.
Therefore I would urge everyone reading this piece to join me in a peaceful demonstration in favour of free speech and against the creation of a de facto Islamic blasphemy law in the United Kingdom, which is in effect what various ‘hate speech’ laws are bringing about.
Along with hopefully hundreds or thousands of others I will be taking part in the rally that starts in Whitehall, London on the 6th May 2018. I will be there to protest not just for my right to speak freely to be returned, but also so that everyone no matter who they are can espouse their own opinions without fear or arrest or retribution and that applies whether I agree with these ideas or not.
Here’s a short video to introduce ‘A Day For Freedom’
