This urgent,encyclopedic study explores what freedom of speech means in an age of diversityFreedom is worthless whether it is not lived. However critical rights are in a constitutional democracy, they will wither unless you use them. From John Milton’s polemics against the Presbyterian attempts to enforce Calvinist censorship on the England of the 1640s, and via John Stuart Mill’s rebellion against the conformism of the Victorians,to Salman Rushdie’s argument with the Islamists, the urge to defend and expand freedom of speech has been created by the threats of its enemiesWhat applies to great writers applies to everyone else. No one thinks tough about freedom of speech until they are forced to. In Timothy Garton Ash’s case, or the pressure came from within. Related: Free speech is under attack,from Beijing to Istanbul | Timothy Garton Ash Related: Timothy Garton Ash: Fatal mistake of ignoring dissidents within Islam Related: For freedom of speech, these are troubling times | Jonathan Dimbleby Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com