free speech from socrates to social media

The discussion will be followed by a wine reception, hosted by Basic Books.

This book builds on his podcast ‘Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech’, which has reached an audience of over 220,000 unique listeners in more than 120 countries across the world.ĭirector of Cieo author, Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformityĭirector, Academy of Ideas. His writings have appeared in a wide range of international outlets including The Economist, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Politico, The Wall Street Journal Europe, El Pais, France24, Deutsche Welle, and Al Jazeera. He is the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law. Lawyer, human rights advocate and former external lecturer in human rights at the University of Copenhagen. While the desire to restrict speech has been a constant, what are the threats from free-speech sceptics that we should worry about most today and how have they come to be? At a time when ideas, language and even history itself are the target of contentious interventions to restrict the free exchange of ideas, what can a wide-ranging historical perspective on free speech offer us in the contemporary battle to speak freely and challenge orthodoxies? In his new book, Free Speech: A Global History from Socrates to Social Media, Jacob Mchangama traces the fluctuating history of this idea, arguing that it is not enough to have free speech legally enshrined – it has to be culturally accepted too.

But free speech is also a challenging and even contentious principle that today is often considered to be under threat. Free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. About the bookįree speech is often hailed as the ‘first freedom’ and the bedrock of democracy. Tickets: £10/£5 (concessions), available via Eventbrite. Please join us for a public lecture and panel discussion followed by a wine reception. Academy of Ideas, Free Speech Union and Basic Books are hosting the official UK launch for Jacob Mchangama’s important new book Free Speech: A Global History from Socrates to Social Media.

Free speech from socrates to social media