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Manifesto Club campaign: Free speech
- STAND UP FOR POETRY Michele Ledda, Manifesto Club member and English teacher, has launched a petition against the pulling of a poem from the school curriculum, on the basis that it encourages knife crime. See his post on the subject here; and sign the petition here. - THOUGHTCRIME IS NOT CRIME! Update: on 17 June 2008 Samina Malik, the 'Lyrical Terrorist', won an appeal against her conviction under the Terrorism Act in November 2007. This is good news and shows the value of campaigning on such issues, but it's a rather technical victory: the political assumptions behind Malik's conviction, in particular the idea that people should be criminalised for having certain kinds of opinions, are still prevalent and need to be challenged (however obnoxious or nihilistic those opinions might be). At the Manifesto Club, we will continue to make the case for free thought and free speech not simply as abstract principles, but as living realities. This is central to all our other campaigns for a radical and people-centred new politics, from opposing detention without charge to arguing for a commonsense approach to child protection and vetting. As Samina Malik awaited a sentence for writing poems about jihad, the Manifesto Club put in a word for free speech. Read the statement from Josie Appleton; see the Facebook group, Thoughtcrime is not crime. See also Manifesto Club member Shirley Dent's column in The Times
- NO TO 'NO PLATFORM' The Manifesto Club supports students across Britain who are calling for the abolition of 'no platform' policies in student unions. We believe that no speakers should be denied a platform on principle, however objectionable their opinions, and that universities should not be afraid of argument. See commentaries from students for free speech: Oxford, Sussex, and UEA. NEW: Luke Gittos from Sussex updates their free speech campaign - A NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC DEBATE, a Manifesto Club Thinkpiece, by Josie Appleton Accusing your opponent of causing you offence is a cowardly tactic. We should avoid this trap, and celebrate the virtues of open and fair argument. Download Thinkpiece (pdf) - SPEAKING OUR MIND A Manifesto Club blog, with a year's worth of observation and reflection on everyday free speech issues. See an archive of blog posts. |
We believe that free minds and free tongues are the lifeblood of a healthy public culture, and the pursuit of enlightenment. We believe that people should be free to explore ideas that others find distasteful or wrong. Above all, we believe that censorship is a cowardly tactic, a replacement for argument and persuasion.