So what, then, is an extremist?
The government tells us in its Prevent strategy that extremism means
‘vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’.
It goes on: ‘We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces.’
There are two interesting things about this statement. One is the resilience of Britain’s imperial delusions: universal values are really British values.
Second, free speech is so important that we need to stop any speech that challenges this assumption. McCarthyism worked on the same premise. (Source: Beware the ExtremistsConor Gearty London Review of Books)
As a Catholic (lapsed)surely I am free to criticise the nonsense enshrined in Catholicism, as a child in Ireland we had to eat fish on Fridays and when
the Angelus rung everybody stopped what they were doing, but Catholicism in Ireland has moved on, yet other faiths locked into quite frightening medieval nonsense and posing a threat to everybody, one is not allowed to discuss or criticise
I am not free to criticise the nonsense contained in other faiths (which I am too frightened to even mention).
So, that is free speech.
The government tells us in its Prevent strategy that extremism means
‘vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’.
It goes on: ‘We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces.’
There are two interesting things about this statement. One is the resilience of Britain’s imperial delusions: universal values are really British values.
Second, free speech is so important that we need to stop any speech that challenges this assumption. McCarthyism worked on the same premise. (Source: Beware the ExtremistsConor Gearty London Review of Books)
As a Catholic (lapsed)surely I am free to criticise the nonsense enshrined in Catholicism, as a child in Ireland we had to eat fish on Fridays and when
the Angelus rung everybody stopped what they were doing, but Catholicism in Ireland has moved on, yet other faiths locked into quite frightening medieval nonsense and posing a threat to everybody, one is not allowed to discuss or criticise
I am not free to criticise the nonsense contained in other faiths (which I am too frightened to even mention).
So, that is free speech.
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