2 Open-air free speech
-
Edward Packard
Abstract
With a particular focus on the origins of Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park in the mid-nineteenth century, this chapter describes how individuals first carved out this enduring space for public speech and how, from the beginning, it included platforms advocating controversial political and religious opinions. The process of ‘creating’ Speakers’ Corner involved a complex relationship between the forces of authority (including government agencies) and the park’s users. It invited still-relevant questions about access, ownership and use of public space. Nineteenth-century governments vacillated between suppressing controversial speakers in Hyde Park or tolerating them as a form of democratic safety valve. Indeed, despite its popular image as a site of free speech, Speakers’ Corner has always been tightly controlled from above, whether tacitly through the belittling of what is said there, or explicitly through official regulation. In this regard, this chapter concludes that the key lesson from the history of Speakers’ Corner is not to focus on the preservation of the site in its current state, but to continue the struggle to protect individual rights to speak, listen and debate in public spaces.
Abstract
With a particular focus on the origins of Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park in the mid-nineteenth century, this chapter describes how individuals first carved out this enduring space for public speech and how, from the beginning, it included platforms advocating controversial political and religious opinions. The process of ‘creating’ Speakers’ Corner involved a complex relationship between the forces of authority (including government agencies) and the park’s users. It invited still-relevant questions about access, ownership and use of public space. Nineteenth-century governments vacillated between suppressing controversial speakers in Hyde Park or tolerating them as a form of democratic safety valve. Indeed, despite its popular image as a site of free speech, Speakers’ Corner has always been tightly controlled from above, whether tacitly through the belittling of what is said there, or explicitly through official regulation. In this regard, this chapter concludes that the key lesson from the history of Speakers’ Corner is not to focus on the preservation of the site in its current state, but to continue the struggle to protect individual rights to speak, listen and debate in public spaces.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
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Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
-
Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
