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The Freedom of speech portal
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...)
Selected article
Freedom of Expression® is a book about freedom of speech issues with respect to concepts of intellectual property, written by Kembrew McLeod. The paperback edition includes a foreword by Lawrence Lessig. The book was first published in 2005 by Doubleday as Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity, and in 2007 by University of Minnesota Press as Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property. The author recounts a history of the usage of counter-cultural artistry, illegal art, and the use of copyrighted works in art as a form of fair use and creative expression. The book encourages the reader to continue such usages, in art and other forms of creative expression. The book received a positive reception, and Kembrew McLeod was recognized by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table of the American Library Association with the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award, which honors the "best published work in the area of intellectual freedom." A review in The American Scholar noted, "Kembrew McLeod ... delivers a lively, personal account of the ways intellectual property messes with people--and how he messes with intellectual property." American Book Review characterized the work as "a clever compendium of examples" for those familiar with its subject matter. The Journal of Popular Culture characterized the book as "an informative, thought-provoking, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny examination of specific ways the privatization of ideas suppresses creativity in contemporary culture." Publishers Weekly noted that McLeod's views echo prior comments about intellectual property by academics including Lawrence Lessig.
General images
The following are images from various freedom of speech-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Punk 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)
Image 2Orator at Speakers' Corner in London, 1974 (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 9The 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 10Orthodox 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 16Eleanor 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 17George 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 20In 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)
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (29 February 1952– 22 July 2012) was a Cuban political activist. A Roman Catholic, he founded the Christian Liberation Movement in 1987 to oppose the one-party rule of the Cuban Communist Party. He attracted international attention for organizing a petition drive known as the Varela Project, in which 25,000 signatories petitioned the Cuban government to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as well as to institute a multi-party democracy. In recognition of his work, he received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize and People in Need's Homo Homini Award. On 22 July 2012, he died in a car crash under controversial circumstances. The Cuban government stated that the driver had lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree, while Payá's children and one of the car's passengers asserted that the car had been deliberately run off of the road.
Did you know...
... that the global media alliance Project Klebnikov is dedicated to investigating the July 2004 murder of journalist Paul Klebnikov (pictured)?
26 April 1968 – 19-year old Paul Robert Cohen was arrested for wearing a jacket bearing the words "Fuck the Draft" inside the Los Angeles Courthouse, leading to Supreme Court of the United States case, Cohen v. California
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Sample 09-F9 protest art, Free Speech Flag by John Marcotte
Streisand Estate
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