Portal:Freedom of speech

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Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognised as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law by the United Nations. Many countries have constitutional law that protects free speech. Terms like free speech, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are used interchangeably in political discourse. However, in a legal sense, the freedom of expression includes any activity of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

Article 19 of the UDHR states that "everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice". The version of Article 19 in the ICCPR later amends this by stating that the exercise of these rights carries "special duties and responsibilities" and may "therefore be subject to certain restrictions" when necessary "[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "[f]or the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals". (Full article...)

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Crystal Eastman was one of the co-founders of the CLB, the predecessor to the ACLU.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, lobbying, and community education. Founded in 1920 by Crystal Eastman, Roger Baldwin, Walter Nelles and Helen Keller, the ACLU has over 500,000 members and has an annual budget over $100 million. Local affiliates of the ACLU are active in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases in which it considers civil liberties to be at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation, or preparation of amicus curiae briefs expressing legal arguments (when another law firm is already providing representation). When the ACLU was founded in 1920, its focus was on freedom of speech, primarily for anti-war protesters. During the 1920s, the ACLU expanded its scope to also include protecting the free speech rights of artists and striking workers, and working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to combat racism. By 1964, membership had risen to 80,000, and the ACLU was directly involved in a major expansion of civil liberties. In the 1960s, the ACLU continued its decades-long effort to enforce separation of church and state, and it also defended several anti-war activists during the Vietnam War who burnt draft cards or wore armbands. The ACLU was involved in the Miranda case, which addressed misconduct by police during interrogations; and in the New York Times case which established new protections for newspapers reporting on government activities. In the 1970s and 1980s, the ACLU ventured into new legal areas, defending homosexuals, students, prisoners, and the poor.

General images

The following are images from various freedom of speech-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1In Panegyricae orationes septem (1596), Henric van Cuyck, a Dutch Bishop, defended the need for censorship and argued that Johannes Gutenberg's printing press had resulted in a world infected by "pernicious lies"—so van Cuyck singled out the Talmud and the Qur'an, and the writings of Martin Luther, Jean Calvin and Erasmus of Rotterdam. (from Freedom of speech)
Image 2An "unexpurgated" edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1959) (from Freedom of speech)
Image 3Title page of Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or List of Prohibited Books (Venice, 1564) (from Freedom of speech)
Image 4The Bill of Rights 1689 grants the parliamentary privilege for freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament and is still in effect. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 5The Newseum's five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 6The Free Speech Flag was created during the AACS encryption key controversy as "a symbol to show support for personal freedoms". (from Freedom of speech)
Image 7First page of John Milton's 1644 edition of Areopagitica, in which he argued forcefully against the Licensing Order of 1643 (from Freedom of speech)
Image 8Protesters exercise freedom of speech to hold a vigil in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy in London, 2005. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 9In Brazil, freedom of assembly and expression are Constitutional rights. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 10Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a YouTube stream. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 11Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 12Orator at Speakers' Corner in London, 1974 (from Freedom of speech)
Image 13George Orwell statue at the headquarters of the BBC. A defence of free speech in an open society, the wall behind the statue is inscribed with the words "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", words from George Orwell's proposed preface to Animal Farm (1945). (from Freedom of speech)
Image 14Map showing U.S. states where anti-BDS legislation has passed, is pending, or has failed as of November 2023 (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 15Charitable organizations can use the freedom of speech to campaign and lobby government ministers. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 16A map of nations which have Lèse-majesté laws as of September 2022 (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 17A protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London against detention of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, 2017 (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 18Permanent Free Speech Wall in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. (from Freedom of speech)
Image 19A map of nations which have Lèse-majesté laws as of September 2022 (from Freedom of speech)
Image 20Local issues are often the subject of free speech. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 21Orthodox priest Libor Halík with a group of followers. Halík has been chanting daily for over five years against abortion via megaphone in front of a maternity hospital in Brno, Moravia. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 22Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)—Article 19 states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." (from Freedom of speech)
Image 23De Schreeuw (The Scream) is a memorial commemorating Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the freedom of speech. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 24Article 299's prosecution have surged during Erdogan's presidency. (from Freedom of speech by country)
Image 25This 1688 edition of Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (1260) was censored according to the Index Librorum Expurgatorum of 1707, which listed the specific passages of books already in circulation that required censorship. (from Freedom of speech)
Image 26Laws of holocaust denial 2022 (from Freedom of speech)
Image 27Punk band Visací zámek which composed a popular song "The President Is a Faggot" about Václav Klaus, 2003–2013 Czech President (from Freedom of speech by country)

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Freedom of speech on Wikinews

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Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies"). Hoffman was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale. The group was known collectively as the "Chicago Eight"; when Seale's prosecution was separated from the others, they became known as the Chicago Seven. While the defendants were initially convicted of intent to incite a riot, the verdicts were overturned on appeal. Hoffman came to prominence in the 1960s, and continued practicing his activism in the 1970s, and has remained a symbol of the youth rebellion of that era.

Did you know...

... that Judge Morris Pashman upheld a ban on the sale of the John Cleland book Fanny Hill (cover pictured) in New Jersey, calling it "sufficiently obscene to forfeit the protection of the First Amendment"?
...that California's Leonard Law applies the United States Constitution's First Amendment protections to students at private colleges and universities?
... that in San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect the use of the word "Olympics", over the objections of the U.S. Olympic Committee?

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In this month

9 May 1943 – Birth of Kiyoshi Kuromiya in an internment camp; he was a leader in the struggle to maintain freedom of speech on the Internet, participating in the successful lawsuit against the Communications Decency Act
12 May 2011 – PROTECT IP Act introduced in the United States Senate by Patrick Leahy
14 May 1940 – Death of Emma Goldman (pictured) an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
20 May 2010 – Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, held in support of free speech and freedom of artistic expression of those threatened with violence for drawing representations of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad

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