I recently came across a new organisation that could be useful for those interested in promoting a free speech agenda and those wishing to see enshrined in British law, something akin to the US First Amendment to the Constitution. That organisation is called Free Speech Champions. One of this organisations founders is Inaya Folarin a person who I have long admired because of her championing of freedom of speech and the organisation is also backed by those working in the arts and in academia.
Free speech, even the free speech of morons and the offensive is vitally important for a democratic society. This is because all ideas, even monstrously bad ones, should be subjected to the fires of debate and challenged in the marketplace of ideas. As one of the contributors to the Free Speech Champions site said if we have one man one vote then we also have to accept that every individual is a thinking one with their own views. Free speech in my view is also vital as societies do not get rid of bad ideas by censoring them. Bad ideas do not go away when censored, those who hold such ideas just go into dark corners and fester and radicalise and do so where they cannot be easily challenged.
One of the things that I was impressed with about the Free Speech Champions group is how they are currently having a large degree of focus on free speech in academic institutions and encouraging students to value and stand up for freedom of speech. It’s especially important to stand up for free speech in academia as in recent years too many of our colleges and universities have become bastions of censorship and that censorship needs to be challenged.
So why not have a look at the Free Speech Champions group? It might be a valuable arrow in the quiver of free speech advocates.
You can find the Free Speech Champions group via the link below.
