On Thursday last week, campus leadership dismissed UC Berkeley lecturer Peyrin Kao — the latest casualty in the administration’s war on Berkeley’s free speech foundations. Kao’s censuring proves yet again that free speech at UC Berkeley is no more than administrative marketing. It’s a principle invoked when convenient and easily discarded when costly. This semester, […]
Tag: free speech
Germany’s Free Speech Dilemma
A few supporters have gathered in front of the podium in the small eastern German town of Gera, as Björn Höcke, a far-right politician of the German right-wing extremist party AfD, addresses the crowd. He excites those present with his uniquely sounding, slightly old-fashioned, patriotic rhetoric. Waving his hands, the politician shouts, “Everything for…” and […]
UC Berkeley’s Free Speech Identity Crisis
“Speech is not violence. The Left conflates the two in order to justify its own violent reactions to differing points of view.” Michael Knowles “I go to UC Berkeley…” Usually, when a Berkeley student utters these words to those who aren’t lucky enough to attend our university, they are met with praise about how they […]
Will Backlash Over Pro-Palestine Protests Spark Change on College Campuses?
Immediately after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023—starting a regional war that continues today—college campuses across the US erupted in protest. Massive demonstrations were held at Columbia, UCLA, American University, and many other colleges. Most were in support of Palestine, calling for the US to stop giving aid to Israel […]
The Best DNC Agent: Big Tech
On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States and while there were split opinions across the nation, behind the closed doors of Twitter and Facebook, there was likely a celebration as months of working to censor conservative news stories had finally achieved its end goal. The months […]
Free Speech is Under Attack
The Problem: Censorship in higher education In March 2023, Kyle Duncan, a conservative federal judge, was invited to speak at Stanford Law School. He was met by hundreds of student protestors, who gathered outside the classroom where his talk was scheduled to brandish signs and hurl insults at Duncan. One student shouted: “We hope your […]
Orbán’s Assault on Academic Freedom
Since his election in 2010, President Viktor Orbán of Hungary has been wreaking havoc on liberal democratic institutions and channels of political and everyday freedoms. Orbán has changed the rules of the game. Among his major assaults on democracy have been changing the original constitution to override constitutional-court decisions, introducing a new constitution, and implementing […]
Brazil’s Role as a Global Laboratory of War Against Misinformation
In 2018, a video of former President Barack Obama calling his successor Donald Trump a series of expletives gained traction online. While this was engineered by deep fake technology, a tool used to digitally alter a subject’s actions and speech, the public was widely ignorant of its origins. Consequently, the video circulated primarily through social […]
Guatemalan Maya Take the Country to Court
On February 9, Indigenous elder Rodrigo Tot testified before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Agua Caliente, a Q’eqchi’ Maya community. For the first time in history, in Maya Q´eqchi´ Indigenous Community of Agua Caliente v. Guatemala, Guatemala is facing judgment in international court for violating Indigenous collective land rights. The […]
Russian Media Experienced Unprecedented Crackdown Ahead of Parliamentary Elections
Over the past few months, many organisations in Russia have been faced with new pressures from the government which severely limit their ability to function. This came at a time when United Russia — the political party most loyal to Putin — sought to secure a majority in the Duma, the lower house of the […]