The 4 Freedoms Library2024-03-29T14:18:22ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DDhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/66096223?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://4freedoms.com/group/freespeech/forum/topic/listForContributor?groupUrl=freespeech&user=3g0oedh53p9am&feed=yes&xn_auth=noMark Steyn's pushback against OFCOM censorshiptag:4freedoms.com,2023-07-31:3766518:Topic:2792342023-07-31T16:45:23.166ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<h1>The Illegal Acts of Ofcom</h1>
<p><b>by Mark Steyn July 31, 2023</b></p>
<p><b>[This does not concern Islam, but is an insight into the growth of state censorship in the UK]</b></p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom</a></b></p>
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<h1>The Illegal Acts of Ofcom</h1>
<p><b>by Mark Steyn July 31, 2023</b></p>
<p><b>[This does not concern Islam, but is an insight into the growth of state censorship in the UK]</b></p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom</a></b></p>
<div><div><p><img border="0" height="370" src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/eujxWJ7pPUz5VdzdeQDLP_4YlXXVWS_KNF1UBizDn4WLXwhw82AX6HKNejeDL3i8TJ8-m9u69YOwaR3duzsP-IJG=s0-d-e1-ft#<a href="https://www.steynonline.com/pics/large/6932.jpg">https://www.steynonline.com/pics/large/6932.jpg</a>" width="370" class="CToWUd a6T"/></p>
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<div><p>Greetings from my Adriatic sick bed. As you'll recall, just a few weeks ago, my main ambition was to live long enough to be buried at sea on the Mark Steyn Cruise. I failed to pull that off, so my ambition now is to live long enough to confront the totalitarian commissars of the UK state censor Ofcom in the English High Court.</p>
<p>Ofcom have twice "ruled" against me for<span> </span><i>The Mark Steyn Show</i>'s coverage of the Covid "vaccines" - a medical product that around the world has crippled and killed in sufficient numbers to warrant total withdrawal under any previous regulatory standard. Lord Grade's first pseudo-conviction against me was issued earlier this year, and we promptly<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/documents/13522.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">filed suit in the King's Bench Division of the High Court</a>. My second pseudo-conviction was therefore entirely predictable: it was because of an interview with my friend, the fearless Naomi Wolf, on what she has discovered in the documents Pfizer attempted to hide from the public for most of the remainder of this century. God bless the judge who threw that self-serving racket out of court.</p>
<p>You can see my conversation with Naomi in full<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/mark-steyn-show/13473/delicacy-and-tyranny" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here at SteynOnline</a>. You will never see it again on UK television - and, indeed, if Michael Grade and Dame Melanie gain the jurisdiction over the Internet that the woeful faux-Tories are minded to give them, you are unlikely to be able to access it from a UK-based laptop or mobile telephone. This level of state censorship is now treated as perfectly normal by the London media.</p>
<p>On<span> </span><i>The Mark Steyn Show</i>, we began our coverage of this issue by talking to the victims - widows of the Covid vaccines such as<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/mark-steyn-show/12425/an-unreported-scandal" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vikki Spit and Charlotte Wright</a>, or those crippled by them such as<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/mark-steyn-show/13619/the-damage-theyve-done" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alex Mitchell and John Watt</a>. In the early days, I would always say "We invited AstraZeneca to come on the show and respond" or some such. But Big Pharma<span> </span><i>never</i><span> </span>replied - even as they were dispatching their legal terms to coroners' courtrooms across the land to monitor inquests of their victims. So the natural corrollary to interviewing Vikki and Charlotte is digging deeper into what did Big Pharma know and when did they know it. Naomi Wolf is one of the few people on the planet to have taken the trouble to do that.</p>
<p>However, even a castrated and cowed media operating within Michael Grade's shriveled bounds of non-free speech can't ignore that, back in the real world, the mountain of evidence grows taller. Last week our friend Laura Rosen Cohen spotted this one in the mega-prestigious<span> </span><a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2306683" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New England Journal of Medicine</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><b><i>Potential 'Healthy Vaccinee Bias' in a Study of BNT162b2 Vaccine against Covid-19</i></b></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you're wondering what that means in layman's terms, well, one of the co-authors summarises it<span> </span><a href="https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/boosters-studies-from-israel-that" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">thus</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>Boosters studies from Israel that the US FDA relied upon were COMPLETELY WRONG</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>- as the authors now admit. But for Lord Grade, Dame Melanie Dawes and their anonymous enforcers at Ofcom, Year 2020 is forever and can never be permitted to end. Just to be clear:</p>
<blockquote><p>~It is an entirely rational decision to decline to be "vaccinated" and "boosted".</p>
<p>~Whereas there is nothing rational (or scientific) whatsoever about discriminating against citizens on the basis of their vaccination status.<span> </span><a href="https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/provincial/sudbury-man-refused-kidney-transplant-due-to-vaccination-status-dies-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nevertheless</a>:</p>
<p><i><b>Sudbury man refused kidney transplant due to vaccination status dies: Report</b></i></p>
<p><i>Garnet Harper, 35, leaves behind a wife and five children</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am barely in better health than poor Mr Harper, but I cannot accept the muzzle imposed by the control freaks of Ofcom in service of what has proven to be the most dishonest state propaganda. My estimable King's Counsel Gavin Millar recently won<span> </span><a href="https://www.matrixlaw.co.uk/news/sir-van-morrison-appeals-granted-by-northern-ireland-court-of-appeal/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an important appeal in Belfast for the great Van Morrison on another Covid case</a>, and writes brisk briefs that do not descend into legalisms but stand on core first principles. In my<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/documents/13656.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Statement of Claim</a>, we advance four objections to Ofcom:</p>
<p>First, their ruling is unlawful - it doesn't get more basic than that:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>This is a misconstruction of the sub-section, and the error has led Ofcom to misunderstand and misapply its regulatory powers, exceeding them improperly.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Second, Ofcom's "reasoning" and "proof" and "evidence" are all but non-existent:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>The postulated harmful material (ie potentially causing injury or damage) could only be the "claims" by [Naomi Wolf] that the mRNA vaccine had side effects and was unsafe. But<span> </span><b>for this to be harmful material the claims would have to be wrong, and the vaccine safe and effective</b>... Not only does the decision contain no finding to this effect, even if it is read as containing an implied finding to this effect no evidence is identified in the decision to support such a finding.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Third, the conviction is a breach of my free-speech rights:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>The decision amounts to a violation of [Steyn]'s right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>As you're probably aware, I'd much rather stand on Magna Carta, but the twenty-first-century UK is what it is. And if the ECHR can protect an Albanian "migrant" from being flown to all-expenses-paid acccommodations in other Commonwealth countries it can surely do its bit for my free-speech rights.</p>
<p>And fourth, there is a total lack of basic legal protections - such as the right to mount a defence:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>[Steyn] had an interest in the outcome of the Ofcom investigation which entitled him to be protected by procedural fairness. He was not given, but should have been given, a fair opportunity to make written representations to Ofcom against the proposed finding of rule breach.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ofcom are relaxed about such critiques: Anonymous judges convicting the accused in absentia - hey, what's the big deal? Works for North Korea, right?</p>
<p>As Gavin Millar points out, Ofcom's logic is entirely circular:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>Ofcom also tries to suggest that the lack of a finding that the mRNA vaccine was safe and effective was not necessary because:</i></p>
<p><i>'Health authorities (including those in the UK) have continued to recommend the use of the mRNA vaccine...'</i></p>
<p><i>But the whole point of the criticism raised by [Naomi Wolf] was that health authorities were wrong to do this because the mRNA vaccine was unsafe. Her statements could only be harmful if she was wrong about this.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>And Ofcom cannot demonstrate that in court - or prove that the vaccine is "effective". Indeed, such continued "recommendations" as still apply have gone very<span> </span><i>sotto voce</i>. As we noted on the very show Ofcom convicted us for, Scandinavian governments were the first to check out and cease to recommend the jabs for ever expanding categories of citizen. Switzerland then decided to abandon them for anyone, and cautioned that, if you wished to defy the government's advice and get the shot, you're on your own.</p>
<p>And even in the UK the government that shamefully showered knighthoods and damehoods on the creators of "the great British success story" has quietly withdrawn the AstraZeneca vaccine from the market.</p>
<p>So that "continued recommendation" shtick is unlikely to hold up in the witness box - and, as our Claim points out, the reasoning is bollocks: You're not permitted to criticise governments pushing the mRNA vaccine because governments are continuing to push the mRNA vaccine. So there.</p>
<p>I need this lawsuit like I need a bi-monthly AstraZeneca shot. But someone has to push back against the ever tighter bounds of state censorship: The UK media are like 007 when he's trapped in one of those elevators where the walls and the ceiling are closing in on him. But the difference is that, on Covid and climate change and grooming gangs and illegal immigration and an ever lengthening list of other topics, most TV and radio hosts seem to like it. I don't. The King's Bench courtrooms are, as I recall, big and airy, and I hope the cleansing rays of judicial sunlight can pierce even the dank processes of Ofcom.</p>
<p>~Many readers, listeners and viewers have inquired about how to support this landmark lawsuit against an ever more powerful state censor. Well, there are several ways to lend a hand, including:</p>
<blockquote><p>a) signing up a friend for a Steyn Club<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/club/gift-membership/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gift Membership</a>;</p>
<p>b) buying a chum a SteynOnline<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynstore.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/msteyn/sc/order.cgi?fromid=order.cgi&storeid=*20d8b94cf50031447ae51bbc72a196e8a0b7&cert=gift" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gift certificate</a>; or</p>
<p>c) ordering a copy of my latest book<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynstore.com/product38.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Prisoner of Windsor</a>. You won't regret it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the first two methods, one hundred per cent of the proceeds and, in the last, a significant chunk thereof go to a grand cause - and you or your loved one gets something, too.</p>
<p>~Speaking of<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynstore.com/product38.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Prisoner of Windsor</a>, my contemporary inversion of<span> </span><i>The Prisoner of Zenda</i><span> </span>set in twenty-first-century London at the dawn of the reign of an unpopular monarch (imagine that):</p>
<blockquote><p>*If you absolutely can't live without your full-price hardback being personally inscribed,<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynstore.com/product38.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">that we can do</a>.</p>
<p>*However, if you disdain my John Hancock, Amazon is<span> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997387912?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_XPDQVWBYTQ8Z2SGRT3WA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">selling the book at a discount</a><span> </span>- and the shipping will be rather less, too. Likewise, if you order from<span> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0997387912?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_T2VKYQNWQWRT73H14EBR" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a>. (An alternative option north of the border: for a hardback direct from the University of Toronto Press, click<span> </span><a href="https://utpdistribution.com/9780997387919/the-prisoner-of-windsor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>
<p>*For digital versions of the book, please scroll down the page.</p>
</blockquote>
<p align="left">~Notwithstanding my one-step-forward-three-steps-back health, we had a busy weekend at SteynOnline, starting with Andrew Lawton back at the helm of our<span> </span><i>Clubland Q&A</i>, but this time<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13662/binary-barbie" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">with his Barbie doll</a>. Rick McGinnis's Saturday movie date grappled with Christopher Nolan's atomic blockbuster<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13663/destroyer-of-worlds-history-and-christopher-nolan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oppenheimer</a>, and my Sunday<span> </span><i>Song of the Week</i><span> </span>offered a spectacular song inspired by<span> </span><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13665/i-cover-the-waterfront" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the view from my sick bed</a>.</p>
<p>If you were too busy getting out your Ken doll to play with Andrew's Barbie, we hope you'll want to check out one or three of the foregoing as a new week begins.</p>
<p>~Finally, if you are way beyond print copies of books,<span> </span><i>The Prisoner of Windsor</i><span> </span>is also available in digital format.</p>
<p>For Nook, see<span> </span><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-prisoner-of-windsor-mark-steyn/1143328826?ean=2940161007297" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>For Kobo, see<span> </span><a href="https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-prisoner-of-windsor/9780997387926-item.html?ikwid=steyn+windsor&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=2a8e237e8cf8fd0645b6a240535b589f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom">https://www.steynonline.com/13666/the-illegal-acts-of-ofcom</a></p>
</div> Bristol University Fails to Fully Support Professor Who Revealed Truths about Islamtag:4freedoms.com,2021-10-11:3766518:Topic:2740232021-10-11T16:23:03.181ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p>By JAKE RYAN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY</p>
<p>PUBLISHED: 11 September 2021 | UPDATED: 08:33, 13 September 2021 </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9980927/University-clears-don-anti-Islam-cancels-course-anyway.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9980927/University-clears-don-anti-Islam-cancels-course-anyway.html</a></p>
<ul>
<li>University clears don of being anti-Islam but then cancels his course anyway after students launched 'vicious and militant'…</li>
</ul>
<p>By JAKE RYAN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY</p>
<p>PUBLISHED: 11 September 2021 | UPDATED: 08:33, 13 September 2021 </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9980927/University-clears-don-anti-Islam-cancels-course-anyway.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9980927/University-clears-don-anti-Islam-cancels-course-anyway.html</a></p>
<ul>
<li>University clears don of being anti-Islam but then cancels his course anyway after students launched 'vicious and militant' campaign</li>
<li>University chiefs rejected complaints Steven Greer expressed 'bigoted views'</li>
<li>But after a five-month investigation, his module was still pulled from syllabus</li>
<li>Critics said his lecture slide about 2015 Paris terror attack was 'Islamophobic'</li>
<li>Students had for the module at Bristol University's law school to be scrapped</li>
<li>Mr Greer accused senior academics of 'capitulating' to the threats of students</li>
</ul>
<p>A professor has hit out at cancel culture after his lectures were axed following a 'vicious, militant' campaign by students who branded him Islamophobic.</p>
<p>University chiefs rejected complaints that human rights expert Steven Greer had expressed 'bigoted views' after a five-month investigation – but have still pulled his module from their syllabus.</p>
<p>He accused senior academics of 'capitulating' to the threats of students who had called for the module at Bristol University's law school to be scrapped over his 'reported use of discriminatory remarks and Islamophobic comments'.</p>
<p>An online petition which was launched by members of the university's Islamic Society, Brisoc, attracted 3,700 signatures. [see below]</p>
<p>University chiefs rejected complaints that Steven Greer (pictured) had expressed 'bigoted views' after a five-month investigation – but have still pulled his module from their syllabus</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Prof Greer said he had to flee the family home amid fears for his safety following the campaign against him.</p>
<p>Critics claimed a lecture slide that mentioned the 2015 terror attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a magazine that had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, was 'Islamophobic rhetoric'.</p>
<p><strong>Prof Greer also highlighted the inferior treatment of women and non-Muslims in Islamic nations, and the harsh penalties handed out under sharia law.</strong></p>
<p>But he believes he largely came under attack because he supports the Government's Prevent programme to stop radicalisation, which critics have branded anti-Islamic.</p>
<p>Prof Greer, who has worked at the university since the 1980s, told The Mail on Sunday: 'Brisoc's campaign has been vicious and punitive and has put me and my family under intolerable stress. It has been very threatening and frightening.'</p>
<p>He revealed that he 'came across a stranger loitering outside our home' shortly after news of the controversy emerged, adding: 'They gave an implausible excuse and left.</p>
<p>He accused academics of 'capitulating' to the students' threats who called for his Bristol University (pictured) module to be scrapped over his 'reported use of discriminatory remarks'</p>
<p>'Was it just a coincidence or a reconnoitre? We'll never know. My family and I were, of course, very rattled by this.</p>
<p>'Taking no chances, my wife and I fled our home to stay somewhere safer for several days.</p>
<p>'Going public in The Mail on Sunday may increase or decrease the risk to my personal safety. I just don't know.</p>
<p><strong>'But the attack upon me is an attack upon a fundamental freedom and this is something worth standing up for, even if I'm harmed as a result.'</strong></p>
<p>Although a formal investigation came down in favour of Prof Greer, he received an email from academic chiefs last week which said his module on Islam, China and the Far East was being dropped so Muslim students would 'not feel that their religion is being singled out or in any way 'othered' by the class material'.</p>
<p>Prof Greer said: 'Militant minorities are increasingly intent on dictating the content and delivery of university education through vilification, intimidation and threats.</p>
<p>'Their purpose is to silence lawful and legitimate opinion simply because they disagree with it.</p>
<p>'The law school has capitulated in a manner which is at variance with the result of the university's inquiry into my case.'</p>
<p>Prof Greer faced particular criticism over his defence of Prevent, but said the allegation that the programme was Islamophobic had been 'resoundingly discredited by the best and most recent research… it simply doesn't stack up against the evidence.'</p>
<p>Of the 697 cases taken on by Prevent last year, 43 per cent were for far-Right extremism and 30 per cent were Islamist.</p>
<p>An online petition which was launched by members of the university's Islamic Society, Brisoc, attracted 3,700 signatures.</p>
<p><strong>Prof Greer, whose book, Tackling Terrorism In Britain: Threats, Responses And Challenges Twenty Years After 9/11, will be published next month</strong>, is due to retire at the end of this academic year, but has been signed off work by a doctor because of the impact of the saga on his health.</p>
<p>Students can appeal the ruling in favour of Prof Greer, and a Bristol University spokesman said: 'Our student complaints procedure has two stages and remains ongoing until both stages are complete.</p>
<p>'Material from the unit in question is still being taught but in a new format. This change is quite independent of the complaint raised and conforms with normal practice in the school in allowing the development of new teaching material to match students' current interests.'</p>
<p>Avon and Somerset Police said it was investigating a complaint of harassment. Brisoc did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Their online petition referred to 'a pattern of what can only be perceived to be hostility and bigotry towards Muslims which Prof Greer freely disseminates under the pretext of 'academic freedom'.'</p>
<p>Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, said: 'Bristol's treatment of Prof Greer is outrageous.</p>
<p>'By kowtowing to the Islamic Society, the university has issued a gold-embossed invitation to activists to submit vexatious complaints about its employees.' [See two attachments below.]</p>
<p>--END--</p>
<p>These are the people who seek to protect Islam from scrutiny and who cried ‘Islamophobia’ against Professor Greer.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bristolsu.org.uk/groups/university-of-bristol-islamic-society-brisoc">https://www.bristolsu.org.uk/groups/university-of-bristol-islamic-society-brisoc</a></p>
<p><strong>WELCOME TO YOUR NEW BRISOC FAMILY:</strong></p>
<p>Here are our<strong> 5 main aims for the year 21-22,</strong> which by God’s will, will guide and fuel our direction as a society, as well as giving you as a member, a better understanding of your new family</p>
<ol>
<li>To facilitate a communal space for all Muslim students to cultivate our shared values as firm believers in God and His Messenger ﷺ, by focusing on soul-nurturing programmes, personal development, and mentorship scheme</li>
<li>To equip, develop and inspire our members to think critically, by empowering them to become well-grounded in all aspects of life, including the important Islamic sciences</li>
<li>To showcase our beautiful religion and way of life to the wider Bristol community by engaging in beneficial and impactful community wellbeing projects </li>
<li>To increase engagement with our members by providing you with diverse and engaging social, educational and welfare programmes consistently throughout the year - creating a home away from home</li>
<li>To continue engagement with core challenges the British Muslims are facing, by creating politically conscious and engaged students on campus</li>
</ol>
<p>If you are a non-Muslim and want to learn anything about our beautiful religion and way of life, we are here to help and offer you some guidance from its sources. So, whoever you are, Brisoc is here to cultivate you.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>For a larger discussion on the vague and nonsense word of ‘Islamophobia’ see:</p>
<p><a href="http://4freedoms.com/group/uk/forum/topics/appg-on-british-muslims-islamophobia-defined">http://4freedoms.com/group/uk/forum/topics/appg-on-british-muslims-islamophobia-defined</a></p>
<p> </p> Hatun Tash at Speakers Cornertag:4freedoms.com,2021-07-27:3766518:Topic:2733122021-07-27T15:57:11.869ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<h2>Charlie Hebdo T-shirt-wearing woman is STABBED at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in attack caught on video as police hunt man dressed all in black who fled the scene</h2>
<ul class="mol-bullets-with-font">
<li class="class"><strong>Woman suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down her face</strong></li>
<li class="class"><strong>The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away from the scene</strong></li>
<li class="class"><strong>Police have not said whether there was…</strong></li>
</ul>
<h2>Charlie Hebdo T-shirt-wearing woman is STABBED at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in attack caught on video as police hunt man dressed all in black who fled the scene</h2>
<ul class="mol-bullets-with-font">
<li class="class"><strong>Woman suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down her face</strong></li>
<li class="class"><strong>The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away from the scene</strong></li>
<li class="class"><strong>Police have not said whether there was a motive for the attack but video footage shows the woman was wearing a blue Charlie Hebdo T-shirt</strong></li>
</ul>
<p class="author-section byline-plain">By<span> </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Rachael+Bunyan+For+Mailonline" class="author" rel="nofollow">RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE</a></p>
<p class="byline-section"><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-published"><span class="article-timestamp-label">PUBLISHED:</span><span> </span>20:04, 25 July 2021<span> </span></span>|<span> </span><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-updated"><span class="article-timestamp-label">UPDATED:</span><span> </span>11:34, 26 July 2021</span></p>
<div><p class="mol-para-with-font">A woman wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt has been stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park as police hunt for a man dressed in black who fled the scene. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The 39-year-old victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face after the stabbing at the site where people gather for public speeches and debates on Sunday. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police. </p>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-58342db8534b8f57" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/19/45875941-9823935-image-a-90_1627238444343.jpg" height="442" width="634" alt="Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded"/></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park</p>
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<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-1873a0d596e0ddf6" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/19/45875943-9823935-image-m-94_1627238653055.jpg" height="446" width="634" alt="The woman, who was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt, was stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">The woman, who was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt, was stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park</p>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her before she cowered and walked shakily away as the man ran in the opposite direction. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The woman is later seen clutching her right hand close to her body and with what appears to be blood at her temple as she is helped into a police van by officers who were nearby.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The Met Police, who described it as 'a very distressing incident' for the victim, said officers attended Hyde Park at 3.34pm to reports of a woman being stabbed at Speakers' Corner. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The victim, who was wearing a blue-T-shirt with Charlie Hebdo written on it, was seen being treated as she sat inside the police van before being taken to hospital for further treatment of minor injuries. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The attacker, who was dressed in all black, had fled shortly after the attack and a crime scene has been put in place. Police said a knife was recovered nearby. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The Metropolitan police have not said whether there was a motive for the attack but video footage of the attack shows the woman was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt.</p>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-81712e0eb6ebedd6" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/19/45875945-9823935-image-a-92_1627238458905.jpg" height="379" width="634" alt="The victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face on Sunday" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">The victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face on Sunday</p>
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<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-725da5d5c026d679" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/25/19/45875939-9823935-image-a-93_1627238649541.jpg" height="417" width="634" alt="The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police</p>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine based in Paris, lost 12 employees in an al Qaida attack in 2015 by French-born extremists Said and Cherif Kouachi.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">Their primary targets were staff at the satirical magazine which had published a series of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley, of the Central West Command Unit which covers policing in Westminster, said: 'This was clearly a very distressing incident for the woman involved and officers have spent time with her, whilst she was being treated for her injury, to get an account of what happened.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'We know that this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact police.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'We remain in the early stages of our investigation and are working hard to trace the person responsible.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'I would ask people not to speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts.'</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The Met Police told MailOnline in a statement: 'Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 15:34hrs on Sunday, 25 July to reports of an assault at Speakers' Corner, W1.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'Officers attended and found a woman suffering from a minor slash injury. She was treated by the LAS before being taken to a central London hospital.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'A knife was recovered nearby.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'Officers from Westminster are working alongside the Royal Parks OCU to investigate and identify the man responsible.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">'Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101 quoting reference Cad 4376/25Jul.' </p>
</div> Gell-Mann Amnesia Syndrometag:4freedoms.com,2021-07-26:3766518:Topic:2733022021-07-26T22:59:46.018ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<div class="fl-module fl-module-heading fl-node-5cffb4e61bc46"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"><h1 class="fl-heading"><span class="fl-heading-text">Gell-Mann Amnesia</span></h1>
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<div class="fl-module fl-module-fl-post-info fl-node-5cffdbff6df6f"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"><span class="fl-post-info-date">October 10, 2018</span><span class="fl-post-info-sep"><span> </span>|<span> …</span></span></div>
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<div class="fl-module fl-module-heading fl-node-5cffb4e61bc46"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"><h1 class="fl-heading"><span class="fl-heading-text">Gell-Mann Amnesia</span></h1>
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<div class="fl-module fl-module-fl-post-info fl-node-5cffdbff6df6f"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"><span class="fl-post-info-date">October 10, 2018</span><span class="fl-post-info-sep"><span> </span>|<span> </span></span><span class="fl-post-info-author"><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/author/bhunt/">Ben Hunt</a></span></div>
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<div class="fl-module fl-module-fl-post-content fl-node-5cf68391387a9"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content"><div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/westworld004.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/westworld004.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="350" class="align-right"/></a> Westworld (1973)<br/></div>
<div class="wp-block-kadence-rowlayout alignnone"><div id="kt-layout-id_79fbc4-f0" class="kt-row-layout-inner kt-layout-id_79fbc4-f0"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-gutter-default kt-v-gutter-default kt-row-valign-top kt-row-layout-left-golden kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-m-colapse-left-to-right kt-mobile-layout-row"><div class="wp-block-kadence-column inner-column-1 kadence-column_6e9038-f3"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col"><p><strong>“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.</strong></p>
<p><strong>In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” <br/> – <em>Michael Crichton (1942-2008)</em></strong></p>
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<div class="wp-block-kadence-column inner-column-2 kadence-column_f8f8f6-95"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col"><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/crichton-2-500-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/crichton-2-500-1.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="342" class="align-left"/></a><p></p>
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<p>That’s Michael Crichton, the physician turned novelist turned director, talking about his physicist friend Murray Gell-Mann, who discovered (and named) the quark. Crichton pretty much invented the techno-thriller genre of books and film, starting with <em>The Andromeda Strain</em>, which is one of the most influential books in my life, for sure. Crichton is probably best known for his Jurassic Park novels, but take a look at his bibliography sometime … it’s astonishing how much influence he has had on modern American culture, period. That cover photo on this note, from the 1973 version of<span> </span><em>Westworld</em>, is one of Crichton’s, too.</p>
<p>I’ve written about the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect before, but I wanted to highlight it in a standalone Brief. Why? Because I think it’s the primary driver of the social pathology we have today regarding media in general and social media in particular.</p>
<p>If you or your company has EVER been the primary subject of a newspaper article, you know exactly what Crichton is talking about. The article is simply wrong. Not just wrong in minor detail, but wrong in motivation, cause, implication, fundamental facts … everything. You read it and you think, “how can I get this travesty of an article edited/retracted/rewritten? how is it possible that the writer got this situation so wrong?”</p>
<p><strong>And yet, despite having this searing experience with media articles where we actually have meaningful personal knowledge, we believe without hesitation the next story we read where we don’t! </strong></p>
<p>We are hard-wired to respond to Missionaries, and when I say hard-wired I truly mean that in a biological sense. It’s what makes<span> </span><strong><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/fiat-money-fiat-news/">Fiat News</a></strong><span> </span>– the projection of opinion as fact – work. It’s what powers the Trump Train and the Team Elite Club alike. It’s not that facts don’t matter. They do! But the presentation by a<span> </span><span class="tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips3">Missionary</span><span> </span>that a statement is a fact is enough to make it a fact within the<span> </span><span class="tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips1">Common Knowledge</span><span> </span>Game. That IS the Common Knowledge Game. All it requires is an effective Missionary.</p>
<p>Everyone is in on the secret. Everyone is in on the act. Everyone who can is playing the Common Knowledge Game as a Missionary. And everyone who can’t is being played.</p>
<p>That includes Michael Crichton, too. One of Crichton’s less remembered novels and films is<span> </span><em>Disclosure</em>, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore in the 1994 film. Here’s a still from that movie, taken as the Michael Douglas character realizes he has been set up for a false (?) accusation of sexual harassment.</p>
<a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/gell-mann-amnesia-disclosure.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://www.epsilontheory.com/wp-content/uploads/gell-mann-amnesia-disclosure.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="350" class="align-right"/></a><br/>
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<p>It’s a must-watch movie for anyone trying to figure out what the hell happened to all of us during the Kavanaugh hearings, and it’s a movie that a critical thinker can’t watch today without squirming in discomfort. Why?<span> </span><strong>Because not only is the central plot twist the construction of news and information, but so is the central plot twist of the movie-as-a-thing.</strong></p>
<p>Let me put it this way, Michael Crichton was married five times and famously would have had some … errr … difficulties in a post-Harvey Weinstein Hollywood.</p>
<p><em>Disclosure</em><span> </span>is not just a movie ABOUT the construction of<span> </span><span class="tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips5">Narrative</span>.</p>
<p><strong><em>Disclosure</em><span> </span>IS a movie that constructs Narrative, a very particular Narrative that served the interests of the Hollywood studio system and the men, like Weinstein and Crichton, that it made so wealthy and so powerful.</strong></p>
<p>This is Narrative creation. This is one of the best examples I’ve got of nested metagames.<span> </span><strong><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/why-am-i-reading-this-now/">This is why it’s so important to consume EVERYTHING with a critical eye</a></strong>. Because we are being played, constantly and by everyone. Even in our entertainment. ESPECIALLY in our entertainment. It sneaks up on us without our conscious awareness, because its purpose is to sneak up on us without our conscious awareness.</p>
<p>And what’s the dominant entertainment in the world today? It’s not Hollywood any longer. It’s not movies. It’s social media.</p>
<p>Clear Eyes, friends. Clear Eyes.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/">https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/</a></p>
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</div> FSU: Free Speech Uniontag:4freedoms.com,2021-03-01:3766518:Topic:2712532021-03-01T17:28:50.946ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p><a href="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/flZFASfl4darQr_69jKoBB4P7eGiClQzEnISmJWkXQVQv8-qN8Exr8-jdkrvmeMMg0L4gt6KiMkexM2OZAHGs-fKZmdqO2jfElSjjKsADfZ8Lo6_0IledvPJNsUoDV2t10WkdMwtEdx7rz5mpPEq7colj3JFUlgv=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/flZFASfl4darQr_69jKoBB4P7eGiClQzEnISmJWkXQVQv8-qN8Exr8-jdkrvmeMMg0L4gt6KiMkexM2OZAHGs-fKZmdqO2jfElSjjKsADfZ8Lo6_0IledvPJNsUoDV2t10WkdMwtEdx7rz5mpPEq7colj3JFUlgv=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400"></img></a></p>
<p><a href="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/flZFASfl4darQr_69jKoBB4P7eGiClQzEnISmJWkXQVQv8-qN8Exr8-jdkrvmeMMg0L4gt6KiMkexM2OZAHGs-fKZmdqO2jfElSjjKsADfZ8Lo6_0IledvPJNsUoDV2t10WkdMwtEdx7rz5mpPEq7colj3JFUlgv=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/flZFASfl4darQr_69jKoBB4P7eGiClQzEnISmJWkXQVQv8-qN8Exr8-jdkrvmeMMg0L4gt6KiMkexM2OZAHGs-fKZmdqO2jfElSjjKsADfZ8Lo6_0IledvPJNsUoDV2t10WkdMwtEdx7rz5mpPEq7colj3JFUlgv=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-right"/></a><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Screenshot-2021-02-28-at-18.06.43-1024x595.png">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Screenshot-2021-02-28-at-18.06.43-1024x595.png</a>" alt="" width="1024" height="595" class="CToWUd a6T"/><br/> Trevor Phillips speaks at the FSU’s launch party a year ago</p>
<p>The launch party for the Free Speech Union took place on 26th February last year, making the FSU almost exactly a year old. In its first year, the FSU has helped hundreds of members push back against efforts to punish them for exercising their lawful right to free speech, including bus drivers, social workers, council employees, civil servants, police officers, fire fighters, gender-critical feminists, students, teachers and academics. It has also published several briefing documents, submitted responses to numerous consultations and organised a couple of comedy nights in the brief window when we were allowed out of our homes last year. We’ve now got 12 employees, nearly 8,000 members, and are talking to free speech activists all over the world about opening overseas branches. I don’t think it could have gone much better.</p>
<p>This month, I’m delighted to report on a string of victories.</p>
<h2>Unconscious Bias Victory</h2>
<p>After the intervention of the FSU, Somerville College, Oxford<span> </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9263631/Margaret-Thatchers-old-Oxford-college-makes-students-unconscious-bias-test.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reversed a policy requiring students to score 100% on a test</a><span> </span>following a mandatory unconscious bias training course which, among other things, would have required them to affirm that they’d found the course beneficial. A student at Somerville, and a member of the FSU, asked for our help and I wrote to the College’s Principal Baroness Royall of Blaisdon saying “the relationship between conscious and unconscious bias, and the impact of unconscious bias training on a person’s real world behaviour, are subjects of an ongoing academic debate and if the college values academic freedom it should not insist all students take one side in this debate”. Baroness Royall responded by dropping the insistence that all students would have to achieve a perfect score in the course assessment. “This is an area where I should have thought further,” she wrote, “and I thank you for bringing it to my attention.”</p>
<p>You can read my letter to Lady Royall, as well as her response and my follow-up letter,<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-baroness-royall-regarding-unconscious-bias-training-at-somerville-college/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Successful Appeal to Facebook’s New Oversight Board</h2>
<p><a href="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OwRUzDXrd0DDQBWPMa9zrfGKwaxELL4xJF7bwk5Qb_eU7EovkMRH-kHLk2fZe3Qpj_SEmQa2Klk9gjIGFmkoDjrGS9gZRITJP3WD2DghjsQ_44z1RKsYJWKY5DIocPziNbabZdgyqnFJ7brJdVIxQFTM4582jz1rof7wF8x_Nj1wnpT4YXMEHVTisFkLGVc8QmwvKpxeYg=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OwRUzDXrd0DDQBWPMa9zrfGKwaxELL4xJF7bwk5Qb_eU7EovkMRH-kHLk2fZe3Qpj_SEmQa2Klk9gjIGFmkoDjrGS9gZRITJP3WD2DghjsQ_44z1RKsYJWKY5DIocPziNbabZdgyqnFJ7brJdVIxQFTM4582jz1rof7wF8x_Nj1wnpT4YXMEHVTisFkLGVc8QmwvKpxeYg=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-left"/></a><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/methode-times-prod-web-bin-3072e4a0-7539-11eb-80c3-8cc375faed89-1024x575.jpg">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/methode-times-prod-web-bin-3072e4a0-7539-11eb-80c3-8cc375faed89-1024x575.jpg</a>" alt="" width="1024" height="575" class="CToWUd a6T"/><br/> Former Brexit Party MEP Brian Monteith believes he was targetted by political activists on Facebook</p>
<p>Facebook has issued an apology to one of our Founder Members after the Free Speech Union helped to assemble a powerful coalition of MPs and peers to object to the company’s censorship of a well-known journalist and vocal critic of the SNP.</p>
<p>The parliamentarians, who included the Chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady, former chancellor Lord Lamont and former Labour MP Kate Hoey, wrote to Sir Nick Clegg the Vice-President of Facebook and Chair of its Oversight Board, criticising the decision to ban attempts by Brian Monteith, a former member of the Scottish Parliament, to advertise articles on Facebook published by his<span> </span><a href="http://www.thinkscotland.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conservative think tank</a>.</p>
<p>In an<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/free-speech-union-organises-a-powerful-coalition-of-mps-and-peers-to-sign-a-letter-to-nick-clegg-objecting-to-facebooks-advertising-ban-on-a-unionist-think-tank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open letter to the former Deputy Prime Minister</a>, the MPs and peers claimed that Monteith had been the victim of “vexatious, politically motivated complaints by SNP activists”, saying that “articles that are critical of Scotland’s SNP Government receive a torrent of abuse from independence supporters…”</p>
<p>In the letter, which the Free Speech Union pulled together, the parliamentarians pointed out that the reason given for the ban was that the articles breached Facebook’s “Vaccine Discourager” policy. Yet of the articles that triggered the ban: “one was on the similarities between Nicola Sturgeon and Nicolai Ceausescu, the second was about how more devolution would not appease the SNP, and the third was on lockdown policy – none of the articles included the word ‘vaccine’.”</p>
<p>On receipt of the letter, Facebook immediately lifted the ban and<span> </span><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/facebook-apologises-for-deleting-right-wing-ads-by-thinkscotland-9n7lx08v7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologised to Brian Monteith</a>, as reported in the<span> </span><em>Times</em>.</p>
<h2>Exeter University Lifts Ban on External Speakers after FSU’s Intervention</h2>
<p>Exeter’s students’ union wrote to all student societies at the end of January ordering them to cancel any events involving external speakers. This followed complaints after FSU Advisory Council members Claire Fox and Joanna Williams had participated in a debate at the university, proposing the motion: “This house regrets the rise of the snowflake generation.” Before they spoke, the President of the debating society produced a list of “resources that you could turn to” if students were traumatised by the debate. On 25th January, the Exeter Socialist Students posted a statement online condemning the debating society for hosting Claire and Joanna, accusing them of being “transphobic”, and saying the students who run the society “do not adequately vet their speakers and appear unable to run their society safely”, and, two days later, the students’ union wrote to the debating society and demanded they cancel all future debates until they could put more robust risk assessment protocols in place.</p>
<p>The FSU wrote to the Vice Chancellor Professor Lisa Roberts to remind her of the university’s statutory duty to uphold free speech. She initially fobbed us off, but when we pushed back she told us that the ban on external speakers would be lifted. You can read the<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-the-vice-chancellor-of-exeter-university-about-the-student-unions-decision-to-force-student-societies-to-cancel-all-their-speaker-events/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exchange of letters</a><span> </span>on the FSU website and a write-up of what happened on the<span> </span><a href="https://order-order.com/2021/02/22/exeter-university-debating-society-students-risking-online-debates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Guido Fawkes</em><span> </span>website</a>.</p>
<h2>Launch of Free Speech Champions</h2>
<p><a href="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/c7I4MrE_M-IGQ_YLS10r-1ZsC_3I3C2QOKfPipc07B1qq4pD_cPxKmgO55qmaKiM1GK3cRXmaUbdroJhuOs3JBTqlhIrxEG7wGiSAwz7HgUu9WNucWR8s7b1N5eHcYUJsuEhZTA=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/c7I4MrE_M-IGQ_YLS10r-1ZsC_3I3C2QOKfPipc07B1qq4pD_cPxKmgO55qmaKiM1GK3cRXmaUbdroJhuOs3JBTqlhIrxEG7wGiSAwz7HgUu9WNucWR8s7b1N5eHcYUJsuEhZTA=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-right"/></a><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/i-4xPWmtB-X4-1-1024x684.jpg">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/i-4xPWmtB-X4-1-1024x684.jpg</a>" alt="" width="1024" height="684" class="CToWUd a6T"/><br/> Inaya Folarin Iman, founding director of the FSU and director of the Free Speech Champions Programme</p>
<p>The Free Speech Champions – a joint initiative of the FSU and the Battle of Ideas charity – held a successful launch event on 19th February, featuring a number of speakers, including founder Inaya Folarin Iman, Greg Lukianoff the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and Cambridge philosopher Dr Arif Ahmed. Their remarks were followed by a lively question and answer session with nearly 300 guests, including several of the Champions. The event can be viewed on YouTube<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeUXq9uBE68&t=7s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a><span> </span>and donations to the new initiative can be made<span> </span><a href="https://donorbox.org/free-speech-champions-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Chicago Professor who Survived Cancellation Attempt Thanks FSU</h2>
<p>Last year, we asked members to sign an<span> </span><a href="https://www.change.org/p/university-of-chicago-president-robert-j-zimmer-affirm-prof-dorian-abbot-s-right-to-free-speech-and-uphold-the-chicago-principles?" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FSU petition</a><span> </span>urging the President of Chicago University to issue a statement reaffirming his commitment to the Chicago Principles (the gold standard of university free speech policies). This was because an outrage mob were gunning for Dorian Abbott, a professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, who’d committed the sin of criticising positive discrimination. Three days after we started that petition, the University President did exactly what we asked and the mob quickly dispersed. Prof Abbott has written an<span> </span><a href="https://quillette.com/2021/02/05/more-weight-an-academics-guide-to-surviving-campus-witch-hunts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article about his experience for<span> </span><em>Quillette</em></a><span> </span>in which he thanks us for the support: “Fortunately, at a crucial juncture in the proceedings, the Free Speech Union launched a<span> </span><a href="http://change.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">change.org</a><span> </span>petition in my support, which was signed by more than 13,000 people. … My university president, Robert Zimmer, subsequently issued a<span> </span><a href="https://president.uchicago.edu/page/statement-faculty-free-expression-and-diversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strong statement</a><span> </span>defending freedom of expression on campus. As a result, I seem to have survived my cancellation.”</p>
<h2>FSU USA</h2>
<p>The<span> </span><a href="http://www.freespeechunion.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US FSU</a>, which will be officially launched later this year, has taken action in the case of artist Emma Quintana, whose installation at the University of Tampa, entitled<span> </span><em><a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/florida-arts-professor-targeted-for-work-denouncing-white-supremacy-in-annual-staff-exhibition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White America: Supremacy, Nationalism and Patriotism</a></em>, was dismantled and rearranged by a group of offended students. Ms Quintana is a professor at Tampa. The American FSU’s CEO Designate Ben Schwartz and I<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.us/university-of-tampa-letter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote to the President of the University</a><span> </span>Ronald L. Vaughn praising Jocelyn Boigenzahn, the director of the university’s art galleries, for standing by the artist, and expressed the hope that the controversy would not affect Professor Quintana’s employment status.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in finding out more about the US FSU – or getting involved – you can email the new organisation<span> </span><a href="mailto:info@freespeechunion.us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Fans Who Boo Players Taking the Knee Should Not be Banned</h2>
<p><a href="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xbqSFCIf9444qDpMK1fNCa9UuqjOtd21Ak8rRmvzQBgzRQDaSeGBls-Tq-iJ2rKBp1Wtw8FlSrrAXcoxdrJaYGlMtS1ZDi5T3xrG1WjjdIccMzgKc0zvyQ0QX2OgajQk=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xbqSFCIf9444qDpMK1fNCa9UuqjOtd21Ak8rRmvzQBgzRQDaSeGBls-Tq-iJ2rKBp1Wtw8FlSrrAXcoxdrJaYGlMtS1ZDi5T3xrG1WjjdIccMzgKc0zvyQ0QX2OgajQk=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-left"/></a><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/newFile-1-1024x768.jpg">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/newFile-1-1024x768.jpg</a>" alt="" width="1024" height="768" class="CToWUd a6T"/><br/> QPR player Dominic Ball refuses to take the knee</p>
<p>The FSU has<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-the-football-association-about-taking-the-knee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">written a letter to the Football Association</a><span> </span>arguing that fans must be allowed to boo players who take the knee in support of Black Lives Matter. “From a free speech point of view, it cannot be fair or reasonable that people on the pitch are allowed to express their political views, but those in the stands are not,” I wrote. (The<span> </span><em>Daily Mail</em><span> </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9282101/Fans-allowed-boo-taking-knee-demands-free-speech-group.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">covered the letter</a><span> </span>in its sports pages.) We followed up by writing to the Premier League and the English Football League making the same argument.</p>
<h2>Academic Free Speech Bill</h2>
<p>Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced last month that the Government plans to appoint a “Free Speech Champion” to the board of the Office for Students to ensure free speech and academic freedom are protected on university campuses. This will be one element in a new academic free speech bill that’s likely to be included in the next Queen’s Speech. The bill, which<span> </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/16/government-can-break-spell-woke-activists-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aims to strengthen free speech protections in English universities</a>, comes after a report put out by the think tank Policy Exchange last year that, among other things, called for the creation of the new post. For the first time, student unions will have a legal requirement to uphold free speech and students and academics who are penalised for exercising their lawful right to free speech will have a new legal route to claim compensation.</p>
<p>Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics at the University of Kent and a member of the FSU’s Advisory Council, is a founding member of a secretive “group of rebel academics” set up to push back against the growing woke illiberalism in universities. In an<span> </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9263781/Academics-like-live-fear-woke-hate-mob-writes-politics-professor-MATTHEW-GOODWIN.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article for the<span> </span><em>Mail</em></a>, he welcomed these proposals. “There is a long list of academics in Britain’s universities who have found themselves marginalised or intimidated by fellow academics, administrators or students,” he wrote.</p>
<p>Nigel Biggar, FSU Chair and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford, also<span> </span><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-government-will-offer-a-lifeboat-to-sinking-free-speech-on-campuses-fbwfzqgkd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">welcomed the news</a>, saying: “As British society has become more polarised, the civic vocation of universities to train graduate citizens in the virtues and art of handling controversial ideas civilly has never been more important. The government’s plans promise to inject some energy into that culturally vital role.”</p>
<p>The<span> </span><em>Telegraph</em><span> </span>interviewed several students who have been persecuted for exercising their free speech on campus, including<span> </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/02/17/bullied-standing-free-speech-university-now-suing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FSU member Thomas Inns</a>, who was suspended from the Students’ Union at Falmouth University for sending a sarcastic email. He sought the FSU’s help and was ultimately exonerated. He said the ordeal was “emblematic of the desire [at universities across the country] not to see anybody offended. Basically it’s trying to protect students from real life”.</p>
<h2>Merseyside Police Think Being Offensive is an Offence</h2>
<p><a href="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/iqj86k5SZhmr5VJ5MP46749JEmONRZcsGdoUPEcj2w_e96TDRLoCqhY3DprEYS6lLZCtLmVEfk1wtjpoOlv-Bt_H30VZvxXwIxTYeSHUSXatmiThTspRT1HoPfK_oB2fS1i0Mc8r7usel-F-7kT2XROMWn5msBXmUSSUjUjzOFWc-VQ9zVijVvZLLmYcuyylUB3yT-2DM8gdPgmkAvcZQ_O1v-gGLX5QywbkZTs6kH71=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/iqj86k5SZhmr5VJ5MP46749JEmONRZcsGdoUPEcj2w_e96TDRLoCqhY3DprEYS6lLZCtLmVEfk1wtjpoOlv-Bt_H30VZvxXwIxTYeSHUSXatmiThTspRT1HoPfK_oB2fS1i0Mc8r7usel-F-7kT2XROMWn5msBXmUSSUjUjzOFWc-VQ9zVijVvZLLmYcuyylUB3yT-2DM8gdPgmkAvcZQ_O1v-gGLX5QywbkZTs6kH71=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href=?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-right"/></a><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TELEMMGLPICT000251680121_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqF-4esSN2zO78t4vzV_u8UGr4eXzbBBPl_gPAEexlKBg-1-1024x640.jpeg">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TELEMMGLPICT000251680121_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqF-4esSN2zO78t4vzV_u8UGr4eXzbBBPl_gPAEexlKBg-1-1024x640.jpeg</a>" alt="" width="1024" height="640" class="CToWUd a6T"/></p>
<p>The FSU has<span> </span><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-merseyside-police-about-their-advan-message-stating-that-being-offensive-is-an-offence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">written to Merseyside Police</a><span> </span>after they promoting a billboard that read “being offensive is an offence” as part of an effort “to encourage people to report hate crime”. After a tsunami of protest, Superintendent Martin Earl clarified that “‘being offensive’ is not in itself an offence”, but there are still several unanswered questions. “It’s deeply alarming that Merseyside Police have such a poor grasp of the law,” I wrote in the letter to the Chief Constable. “As Lord Justice Sedley said in a landmark case in 1999, ‘Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.’”</p>
<p>I asked the Chief Constable for assurance that Merseyside Police have not interviewed or arrested anyone for this imaginary crime.</p>
<h2>Launch Party For Andrew Doyle’s Book on 2nd March</h2>
<p>Dr Andrew Doyle, a member of the FSU’s Advisory Council and the creator of<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Titania McGrath</a>, has written a book called<span> </span><em><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Free-Speech-Matters-Andrew-Doyle-ebook/dp/B08N612Y8T/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Free Speech and Why It Matters</a></em>. The online launch party is on March 2nd and anyone can attend. Just apply for a ticket from<span> </span><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-free-speech-and-why-it-matters-tickets-137485092613" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EventBrite</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve received several requests to make it possible to share these newsletters on social media, and so we’ve added the option to post them on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. Just click on the buttons below.</p>
<p>If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website<span> </span><a href="http://www.freespeechunion.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
<p>Kind regards,</p>
<p><img src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/EgwrKbVpm8FFpj5MbdXk6NXtjyZX-rnyevY0bgyYMm5TQqg6VBvm1ZGLhkNGrxLtPD0jQqPbY-mb8eZXwQzQg5wLSkzMFhdK6eRgzH6MVI-4=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20href="/><a href="https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/sig.png">https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/sig.png</a>" alt="Signature: Toby Young" width="170" height="102" class="CToWUd"/></p>
<p>Toby Young</p> Scotland's new hate crime legislation - under Justice Secretary Humza Yousaftag:4freedoms.com,2020-05-11:3766518:Topic:2071072020-05-11T09:12:07.610ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<h1 class="sc-jUpvKA seGZw"><strong>Scotland's Hate Crime and Public Order Bill must not stifle free speech – Murdo Fraser MSP</strong></h1>
<h2 class="sc-kNBZmU ghUeXo">As MSPs consider the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, they should remember to protect people’s right to hold unpopular opinions and to say the ‘wrong’ things, writes Murdo Fraser MSP.…</h2>
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<h1 class="sc-jUpvKA seGZw"><strong>Scotland's Hate Crime and Public Order Bill must not stifle free speech – Murdo Fraser MSP</strong></h1>
<h2 class="sc-kNBZmU ghUeXo">As MSPs consider the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, they should remember to protect people’s right to hold unpopular opinions and to say the ‘wrong’ things, writes Murdo Fraser MSP.</h2>
<div class="sc-ghsgMZ iMdImS sc-fjhmcy djPYhY"><div class="sc-lnmtFM gJmpvn"><div class="sc-kEmuub iEkXyy"><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/author/murdo-fraser"><span>By</span><span> </span>Murdo Fraser</a></div>
<div class="sc-FQuPU fqjqEu">Tuesday, 28th April 2020, 4:45 pm</div>
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<div class="sc-PLyBE eqQifd"><div>With so much focus on the vital task of tackling the current Covid-19 pandemic and all its consequences, it is easy to forget there is other important Government and Parliamentary business progressing. One such example of this is the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, published by the Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf on Friday.</div>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>The Bill seeks to modernise, consolidate, and extend existing hate crime law to ensure that, in the words of the Justice Secretary, “it is fit for the 21st century”. It builds on Lord Bracadale’s recent review of existing hate crime legislation, a detailed and thorough piece of work that rewards serious study.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>The whole concept of hate crimes is in itself controversial, and the policy memorandum that accompanies the draft Bill recognises this. The majority of individuals who responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the issue were not supportive of hate crime laws at all, arguing that they restrict freedom of expression, and create a hierarchy of victims. There was, however, support for the principle of hate crime laws and their modernisation amongst organisations who responded, partly on the grounds that these “send a clear message about unacceptable conduct.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>One provision of the new Bill which I welcome is the abolition of the common law offence of blasphemy. This is a law which has fallen into disuse, having last been prosecuted in Scotland in 1843. It has always seemed to me bizarre that the power of the Christian message would require man-made laws to protect or defend it.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>It was only a generation ago that the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian” faced accusations of blasphemy, leading to protests outside cinemas. Indeed, Glasgow civic leaders of the time banned it from being shown at any venue within the city.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>That some Christians were offended by the satirical representation of the life of Jesus was undoubtedly true at the time; but there should be no right in law not to be offended by what another person says or does. That principle applies to religions, and it should apply equally to other “protected groups” within the definition of the hate crime legislation.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p><strong>Criticism of same-sex relationships</strong></p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>In this context, the provisions of the new Bill likely to prove most controversial are those that lead to new offences of “stirring up hatred”. At present these apply only in relation to racial hatred, but the proposal is that they should be extended to apply to all groups defined by reference to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and variations in sex characteristics.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>Lord Bracadale defines this as follows: “stirring up hatred is conduct which encourages others to hate a particular group…the intention of the perpetrator is that hatred of the group as a whole is aroused in other persons”, Crucially, it would not be necessary for the prosecution to prove that there was an ‘intent’ on the part of an accused person to stir up hatred, rather that, having regards to all the circumstances, hatred in relation to a particular characteristic is “likely to be stirred up thereby”.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>This raises all sorts of issues. For example, could a Christian pastor or an Islamic scholar expressing disapproval of same-sex relationships be found guilty of stirring up hatred towards the LGBT community? The issue is not simply an abstract one. Just within the last few weeks, the American evangelist Franklin Graham, son of the famous Billy Graham, had his booking for a rally at the SECC cancelled following concerns raised by Glasgow City Council, with his opposition to same-sex marriage being one of the factors quoted to justify the decision.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>Such concerns were raised by a large number of respondents to the Government’s consultation. In response, the Bill does include provisions to protect freedom of expression in certain circumstances. It specifically permits discussions or criticisms of religions, and of sexual conduct or practices, making it clear that people will still have the right to express their views both on religions’ beliefs and practices, or a change of religion, and also on particular sexual practices. While this is welcome, Parliamentarians will need to carefully consider whether these protections go far enough in order to protect free speech, and whether they have sufficient breadth in scope.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p><strong>Transgender debate</strong></p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>One of the most bitterly contested areas of public policy at present is the whole issue of transgender rights, and the perceived conflict with the rights of women, a debate so toxic that it has, on occasion, descended into violence, and led to the ‘no-platforming’ of prominent feminists at a number of universities and in other contexts.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>One target for the transgender rights activists is the writer and broadcaster Germaine Greer, who has been vocal in her view (a statement of biological fact) that: “transgender women are not women”. It is a view that has been taken up by other campaigners concerned about reforms to the Gender Recognition Act.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>Would a statement that transgender women are not women amount to a stirring up of hatred against transgender individuals, in terms of the new legislation? In such a case, the prosecution would not require to prove ‘intent’ to stir up hatred, but simply that it was “likely to be stirred up thereby”. The protections put in place to allow free speech in relation to both religion and sexual practices do not apply in relation to the protected characteristic of transgender identity, and accordingly would not be available in such circumstances.</p>
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<div class="sc-geAPOV kUTZRA">What is clear from all of this is that this is a piece of legislation that will require detailed and thorough scrutiny by Parliamentarians to fully consider what the likely consequences would be. In particular, at the forefront of our minds must be the protection of free speech.</div>
<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>According to the satirist Andrew Doyle’s creation Titania McGrath, the High Priestess of woke, “nobody is going to prevent anyone from saying the right things, so it stands to reason that the only people who require free speech are those who are planning on saying the ‘wrong’ things”.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p>It is precisely because, in a free society, we need to protect people’s right to hold unpopular opinions and express them, and to say the wrong things, that legislation on hate crime needs to be fair and balanced. The current national crisis should not prevent us from having the opportunity to scrutinise these proposals thoroughly.</p>
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<div class="sc-dznXNo sc-ekulBa dThTtt"><p><em>Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scotlands-hate-crime-and-public-order-bill-must-not-stifle-free-speech-murdo-fraser-msp-2552473">https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scotlands-hate-crime-and-public-order-bill-must-not-stifle-free-speech-murdo-fraser-msp-2552473</a></em></p>
</div> Censorship by TikToktag:4freedoms.com,2020-04-17:3766518:Topic:2069202020-04-17T10:42:40.921ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p>The Islamic fascists are using our freedoms to silence every voice that speaks against them, even extending their censorship to pressure Russian platforms. We are silenced everywhere, so what do they expect people to do next?</p>
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<p>Launched just over a week ago, the official Britain First TikTok account has gained over 1<span> </span><em><strong>million</strong></em><span> </span>video views and is…</p>
<p>The Islamic fascists are using our freedoms to silence every voice that speaks against them, even extending their censorship to pressure Russian platforms. We are silenced everywhere, so what do they expect people to do next?</p>
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<p>Launched just over a week ago, the official Britain First TikTok account has gained over 1<span> </span><em><strong>million</strong></em><span> </span>video views and is proving a very popular account on the Chinese social network:</p>
<p><img src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/hZxc4PhAOf9na5dbcobuaMdxt0hCNeYNEPYgqhW2D85xKhs4a_A8pUHTedIuCZBImeS-CFnu7ifEwGCTQHziM9WZ9Ov-tmn2-ZbvvfDJM7PsU-zU5E_iQec1jaf0AN6ZtJzz6S6l7XgRmVlOsVI5xsrgGF7r251uIIcxDG1My1qhLU6vdZwzlz4=s0-d-e1-ft#<a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/britainfirst/pages/2786/attachments/original/1587055445/TikTokBF1.jpg?1587055445">https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/britainfirst/pages/2786/attachments/original/1587055445/TikTokBF1.jpg?1587055445</a>" alt="" width="600" class="CToWUd a6T"/></p>
<p>In response to this success, an unholy<span> </span><em><strong>alliance</strong></em><span> </span>of Muslim MPs and Islamist agitators from TellMama and the Muslim Council of Britain have teamed up to<span> </span><em><strong>pressure</strong></em><span> </span>TikTok into censoring the Britain First account, as well as the popular account of Tommy Robinson.</p>
<p><span><strong>This alliance includes Azfal Khan, a Labour MP and shadow deputy leader of the House of Commons.</strong></span></p>
<p>TikTok confirmed in a report in 'Al Jazeera' that the Britain First and Tommy Robinson accounts are under official<span> </span><em><strong>investigation</strong></em>.</p>
<p>A spokesman for TikTok said:</p>
<p><em><strong>'The accounts in question are subject to a live investigation due to the nature of some of the content posted, and we will take appropriate action following the completion of this investigation.'</strong></em></p>
<p>In the meantime, both accounts have been<span> </span><em><strong>shadow banned</strong></em>, effectively ending their effectiveness.</p>
<p><span><strong>You can clearly see a huge drop in video views on both accounts.</strong></span></p>
<p>TikTok is the latest social network to succumb to leftwing<span> </span><em><strong>censorship</strong></em><span> </span>and fascist<span> </span><em><strong>de-platforming</strong></em>.</p>
<p>Freedom of speech is completely<span> </span><em><strong>dead</strong></em><span> </span>and we have entered a period of fascist<span> </span><em><strong>repression</strong></em>.</p>
<p>A full report complete with analytic<span> </span><em><strong>graphs</strong></em><span> </span>and further <em><strong>evidence</strong></em><span> </span>of TikTok's shadow banning can be found here:</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.britainfirst.org/redirection-tiktok-censorship-britain-first?e=5dffa950ba28195efdb8a9cfaa1b6155&utm_source=britainfirst&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tiktok_censorship1&n=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.britainfirst.org/redirection-tiktok-censorship-britain-first</a></strong></p> Censorship by Pinteresttag:4freedoms.com,2019-06-18:3766518:Topic:2037232019-06-18T10:13:09.987ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R_twL2a3-DQ?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R_twL2a3-DQ?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Facebook: Enemies of Free Speech and Critics of Islamtag:4freedoms.com,2019-04-23:3766518:Topic:2028662019-04-23T12:28:23.276ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2154999386?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2154999386?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></p>
<p>Facebook has stepped up its ideologically-driven mission to purge the internet of messages related to patriotism and criticism of Islam.</p>
<p>On Thursday last (18 April 2019) Facebook issued a statement and disabled the accounts of:</p>
<p><em>“Individuals and organisations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis…</em></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2154999386?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2154999386?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>Facebook has stepped up its ideologically-driven mission to purge the internet of messages related to patriotism and criticism of Islam.</p>
<p>On Thursday last (18 April 2019) Facebook issued a statement and disabled the accounts of:</p>
<p><em>“Individuals and organisations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are.”</em></p>
<p><em>“Under our dangerous individuals and organisations policy, we ban those who proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence.</em></p>
<p><em>“The individuals and organisations we have banned today violate this policy, and they will no longer be allowed a presence on Facebook or Instagram. Posts and other content which expresses praise or support for these figures and groups will also be banned. Our work against organised hate is ongoing and we will continue to review individuals, organisations, pages, groups and content against our community standards.”</em></p>
<p>This ban of course includes the English Defence League though we have never advocated violence toward any group of people or individuals. We are fiercely patriotic and critical of Islam but sophisticated companies like Facebook cannot be expected to make distinctions between belief systems and people who profess them.</p>
<p>According to Facebook the concept of being critical of ideas found in Islam is the same as targeting Muslims. This is a very Islamic view of the matter. In Islam a person is what they say they believe. To respect the person as a human being without respecting their beliefs is anathema to them. To paraphrase the vegan principle: you are what you believe.</p>
<p>In Islam, whole groups of people are categorised based on their stated beliefs. Civil and religious laws in Muslim/Sharia countries base their social structures on these categories e.g. Christian, Jewish, atheist, polytheist, hypocrite Muslims, etc. This is like apartheid which the Left are opposed to but for some reason are blind to this elephant in the societal room.</p>
<p>Furthermore Islamic teaching requires Muslims to hate non-Muslims. (See Quran 60:4 and 9:29 and the writings of Al Qaeda for just a tiny sample of sources.) So by its own criteria Facebook should also ban any promotion of Islam from its platforms. Don’t hold your breath.</p>
<p>Any individual who loves their country is a target of the Facebook police. To stem the populist tide growing in Europe and America, globalists like Facebook are coming down on those who do not share their world view that the<a href="https://tinyurl.com/y55ssko3"><span> </span>nation state is obsolete and even a dangerous thing</a>. So our national history, culture and way of doing things must be discarded and replaced by the utopian future of global interests as defined by …who? Certainly the likes Facebook executives and politicians like Labour MP Yvette Cooper. The crimes of the future start with thought control today.</p>
<p>According to the statement by Facebook, individuals are not allowed to even ‘express praise or support for these figures and groups” like the EDL. We challenge Facebook to look at our website and find any racist and violence-promoting material. It is not there.</p>
<p>Those who support us are fed up with the way their country is changing and they see widespread danger ahead unless changes happen now.</p>
<p>They hate, yes hate, the slow destruction of our beloved country;</p>
<p>They hate, yes hate, an ideology that encourages hatred toward non-Muslims; and</p>
<p>They hate, yes hate, the constant thrust of the Sharia-pushers to enforce political submission of traditional British values and culture to Islamic values and culture.</p>
<p>Are emotions like hatred and anger always and everywhere to be purged from what it means be human? Are these feelings always morally wrong? Is it not right to hate evil and wrongdoing? Ask any soldier the answer to these questions.</p>
<p>The opposite of hate is love. And they know that to love our country is to save it.</p>
<p>To love our country is to work to save it through discussion, education, debate and demonstrations in the public square. But the thought-control people like Facebook will not have it. Because they know better, because they believe that they in fact are better. Again this attitude finds its mirror in Islamic teaching. For Muslims are also taught that they are the best of peoples (Quran 3:110).</p>
<p>Freedom of speech is the most fundamental freedom of all, because without the freedom to communicate information, express our views and debate issues, our ability to defend other rights, expose crimes and corruption, advocate for our common good and come to informed conclusions are fatally circumscribed.</p>
<p>What has happened is the internet equivalent of Kristallnacht. And those who collude with these ongoing purges and blockades and ‘burnings’ reveal that they are afraid of discussion and debate. They reveal themselves to also be in favour of a dictatorship of the mind as well as society.</p>
<p>To quote Winston Churchill:</p>
<p><em>“Dictatorship … [a] state of society where men may not speak their minds, where children denounce their parents to the police, where a business man or small shopkeeper ruins his competitor by telling tales about his private opinions; such a state of society cannot long endure …”</em></p>
<p>These people dig society’s grave.</p>
<p>But the English Defence League will not be crushed. We will find other ways to organise and communicate with our supporters who will not just disappear because Facebook has told us to do so. The stakes are too high for that to happen.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.englishdefenceleague.org.uk/facebook-enemies-of-free-speech-and-critics-of-islam/">http://www.englishdefenceleague.org.uk/facebook-enemies-of-free-speech-and-critics-of-islam/</a></p> Censorship by the EUtag:4freedoms.com,2019-02-09:3766518:Topic:2000202019-02-09T17:22:16.176ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<h2>European human rights chiefs order the British press NOT to reveal when terrorists are Muslims in crackdown on freedom of speech </h2>
<ul class="mol-bullets-with-font">
<li class=""><font><strong>Report out from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance</strong></font></li>
<li class=""><font><strong>Blames increase in hate crimes and racism in UK on the 'worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in newspapers' …</strong></font></li>
</ul>
<h2>European human rights chiefs order the British press NOT to reveal when terrorists are Muslims in crackdown on freedom of speech </h2>
<ul class="mol-bullets-with-font">
<li class=""><font><strong>Report out from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance</strong></font></li>
<li class=""><font><strong>Blames increase in hate crimes and racism in UK on the 'worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in newspapers' </strong></font></li>
<li class=""><b><span>Claims Islamophobia rises when media reports when terrorists are Muslim </span></b></li>
</ul>
<p class="author-section byline-plain">By<span> </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Matt+Dathan,+Political+Correspondent+For+Mailonline" class="author" rel="nofollow">MATT DATHAN, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE</a></p>
<p class="byline-section"><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-published"><span class="article-timestamp-label">PUBLISHED:</span><span> </span>16:43, 5 October 2016<span> </span></span>|<span> </span><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-updated"><span class="article-timestamp-label">UPDATED:</span><span> </span>19:54, 5 October 2016</span></p>
<div><p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>European human rights chiefs have told the British press it must not report when terrorists are Muslim. </font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The recommendations came as part of a list of 23 meddling demands to Theresa May’s government on how to run the media in an alarming threat to freedom speech. </font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The report, drawn up by the Council of Europe's human rights watchdog, blamed the recent increase in hate crimes and racism in the UK on the 'worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians', although the research was done before the EU referendum campaign had even begun.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The suggestions sent to Downing Street urging the UK Government to reform criminal law and freedom of the press and in a brutal criticism of the British press, the report recommends ministers 'give more rigorous training' to journalists.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>But UK ministers firmly rebutted the remarkable demands, telling the body: 'The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law.'</font></p>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-8e9fe384874768a3" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/04/18/391826B800000578-0-The_European_Commission_against_Racism_and_Intolerance_ECRI_chai-a-116_1475603201692.jpg" height="358" width="634" alt="The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), chaired by Christian Ahlund (file picture) said discussions over immigration had caused increasing 'xenophobia'." class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" name="i-8e9fe384874768a3"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), chaired by Christian Ahlund (file picture) said discussions over immigration had caused increasing 'xenophobia'.</p>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The report, from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) body, said there had been an increase in hate speech and racist violence in Britain between March 2009 and March 2016.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>In an audacious move, the report recommends the British media be barred from reporting the Muslim background of terrorists. </font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>And it comes after multiple terror atrocities by Muslim extremists across Paris, Brussels, Munich and other German cities over the last year. </font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>Over the same period, there have been no major terror attacks in Britain.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The 83-page report states: 'ECRI considers that, in light of the fact that Muslims are increasingly under the spotlight as a result of recent ISIS-related terrorist acts around the world, fuelling prejudice against Muslims shows a reckless disregard, not only for the dignity of the great majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom, but also for their safety.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>'In this context, it draws attention to a recent study by Teeside University suggesting that where the media stress the Muslim background of perpetrators of terrorist acts, and devote significant coverage to it, the violent backlash against Muslims is likely to be greater than in cases where the perpetrators' motivation is downplayed or rejected in favour of alternative explanations.'</font></p>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-7cbf2f758141523" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/05/16/391F720800000578-0-image-a-5_1475682098208.jpg" height="419" width="634" alt="Theresa May's government firmly rebutted the remarkable demands, telling Brussels: 'The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law'" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" name="i-7cbf2f758141523"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">Theresa May's government firmly rebutted the remarkable demands, telling Brussels: 'The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law'</p>
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<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"><div class="mol-img"><div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img id="i-3787034a4d62f58f" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/04/18/35E54C2300000578-0-image-a-120_1475603461383.jpg" height="423" width="634" alt="The aftermath of the referendum has raised tensions on both sides of the divide but the report today warned of a rise of in racism " class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" name="i-3787034a4d62f58f"/><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery"><div class="mobile-gallery-icon"></div>
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<p class="imageCaption">The aftermath of the referendum has raised tensions on both sides of the divide but the report today warned of a rise of in racism </p>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The ECRI regularly assesses incidents of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance across the EU's 28 member states.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>It bases its analysis on 'a great deal of information gathered from a wide variety of sources'.</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>ECRI Chair Christian Ahlund, said: 'It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians.'</font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font>The report also claimed that June's Brexit vote 'seems to have led to a further rise in 'anti-foreigner' sentiment, making it even more important that the British authorities take the steps outlined in our report as a matter of priority.' </font></p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><font><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3823706/European-human-rights-chiefs-orders-British-press-NOT-reveal-terrorists-Muslims.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3823706/European-human-rights-chiefs-orders-British-press-NOT-reveal-terrorists-Muslims.html</a></font></p>
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