Books & Spoken Word
Kenan Malik
Author and commentator, Kenan Malik, discusses free speech in Britain.
“The government bans unaccceptable speakers from entering the country. Courts jail ‘hate preachers’. Social media companies delete ‘offensive’ accounts. Companies sack workers for ‘inappropriate’ comments. Student unions no-platform feminist ‘transphobes’. Twitter mobs hound people off social media. Academics set up a journal to allow researchers, fearful for their jobs, to publish anonymously.
“Is freedom of speech under threat in Britain? Are we living in particularly censorious times? How does the debate about free speech relate to the growth of identity politics? What should be the limits to freedom of expression? Does the promotion of free speech undermine campaigns to limit bigotry and hatred? How can we encourage public debate about controversial issues when many find any discussion of such issues offensive? Author and commentator Kenan Malik explores the history of free speech, analyses the contemporary status of freedom of expression, and lays out what we need to do for the future.”
This event is part of the Festival of Ideas’ Coleridge Series, inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s wide-ranging and radical lectures in Bristol in the 1790s.
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