The Left needs to stand up for free speech

Freedom of expression is a principle worth defending. It is worth defending because its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages: freedom of expression is the only reliable tool we have for discovering the truth. Since all social progress depends on spreading true opinions, and diminishing the number of false ones, freedom of expression is a fundamental part of promoting human happiness.

One group that has taken up the noble cause of freedom of expression is the Free Speech Union. The FSU was founded in 2020 by Tory columnist Toby Young. According to its website, the FSU “is a non-partisan, mass-membership public interest body that stands up for the speech rights of its members and campaigns for free speech more widely.” This is wrong; in reality the FSU makes no effort to hide its partisanship.

The FSU’s leadership consists mostly of right-wing figures: Toby Young, Nigel Biggar, and Douglas Murray are three of its four directors. FSU advisors include Andrew Doyle of GB News, right-wing professors Matthew Goodwin and Eric Kaufmann, right-wing columnists Julia Hartley-Brewer and Allison Pearson, and right-wing historians Andrew Roberts and David Starkey.

Apart from its personnel, its statements on free speech make its concerns clear: “We believe that free speech is currently under assault across the Anglosphere, particularly in those areas where it matters most, such as schools, universities, the arts, the entertainment industry and the media.”

The objective of the FSU is not so much to curb government authority – particularly Tory government authority – over speech. It is to curb the censoriousness of the liberal left in some institutions. Hence the FSU tells us, “If you’re no-platformed by a university – a feminist professor who challenges trans orthodoxy, for instance – we’ll encourage you to fight back and members of our advisory councils may be able to tell you what remedies are available to you.”

It is true, and lamentable, that left-wing activists often try to prevent the expression of views they dislike. But it is ridiculous to consider left-wing activists a greater threat to free speech than a Tory government which has passed strict anti-protest legislation and openly assaulted our liberties. The FSU has been absent from the fight for the freedom to protest.

Indeed, the FSU is curiously silent about several matters that should interest an organisation that “stands for freedom of speech, of conscience, and of intellectual enquiry”. Julian Assange, famed for exposing US war crimes, is confined to a cell in Belmarsh prison while the US government seeks his extradition to face espionage charges. His case is perhaps the most important test of the government and judiciary’s commitment to free speech. What has the FSU said about it?

Virtually nothing. They have never posted about Assange on their Twitter account. It appears he has never been mentioned on their website. After all, Assange is not being silenced by the ‘woke mob’. He is being silenced by the global hegemon, which not long ago drew up plans to murder him. If only Assange had focused on trans issues or immigration instead of war crimes – then the FSU would have leapt to his defence. FSU director Douglas Murray, displaying his passionate commitment to the principle of free speech, has condemned Assange as a “ratbag” and “traitor” who led a “sinister and secretive organization”.

But even if we turn our attention away from serious issues of state-enforced censorship, the FSU remains strictly partisan. At universities, free speech on Israel has been restricted by the widespread adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. In late 2020 the government threatened universities with funding cuts if they refused to adopt it. The FSU has not published reports criticising the definition or the government’s interference with speech critical of Israel. The FSU has virtually never mentioned the IHRA definition. It is not a free speech group. It is a union for conservative speech – the only speech it cares about.

The FSU’s attitude represents a wider problem. The majority of people on all sides of politics do not care about free speech in principle. The most common approach is to support free speech for opinions you like, and to censor or otherwise suppress opinions you dislike. This approach is shared by most of the left and the right. Only a handful of people on both sides are dedicated to free speech in principle – that is, they believe in free speech as much for their political opponents as for themselves.

The socialist left should support the right to express opinions that it hates. It should be prepared to support this right not just in cases of attacks on liberties by the state, but in society generally. Free speech should be supported in most of our institutions. It is right to defend free speech because of its utility; but it is also politically wise. In capitalist society, the socialist left has no choice but to vigorously criticise the powerful: free speech is fundamental to this effort. A partisan attitude to free speech undermines both the socialist cause and the struggle for liberty in general.

Talal Hangari is a socialist writer based in London and  member of JVL’s Council.

His website is talalhangari.com. 

@TalalHangari on Twitter