A bill has just been passed which many are claiming will undermine free speech, free protest, the democratic process and trade unions. But you wouldn’t have guessed this from the apparently benign name of the bill: the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. To express the true nature of this…
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Police in Bangladesh recently arrested a number of “atheist bloggers” and subsequently shut down their websites. One of the more popular bloggers, Asif Mohiuddin, had been viciously attacked in January, almost resulting in his death. Islamists have given the Bangladeshi government a list of 84 “atheist bloggers” who demand that they repent or face blasphemy…
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John Milton (1608-1674) is perhaps known best for his epic poem Paradise Lost. But he also gained international acclaim because of a pamphlet he wrote in 1644, in which Milton argued against censorship and defended free speech and freedom of the press. This was the Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing. It…
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On the 25th March 2010, the UNHCR, an agency that protects and supports refugees, passed a resolution that hoped to combat the ‘defamation of religions’. In other words, support is still being given to the idea that an international blasphemy law should exist. Such a law would make it an offence to express disrespect or contempt…
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