France is backsliding on free speech

In recent weeks, Macron has been on the warpath with the Anglophone media. His grievances are justified but the consequences are not. The US media, in particular, have been woeful. At best, the reporting around Samuel Paty seems to have been filtered and refracted through the prism of America’s culture wars. At worst, it has descended into outright apologism for Islamist rage.

Speaking to the New York Times, Macron chastised the English-language media for ‘legitimising violence’. He had two pieces in particular in his sights. One in the FT, which misquoted Macron and essentially accused him of Islamophobia, and one on Politico, which blamed French secularism for radicalising Islamists. Both have since been pulled. In the case of the Politico article, this is the first time the publication has ever withdrawn an opinion article after publication. Response pieces were quickly published by the French government in both outlets, though no one could read the pieces they were responding to. The order of events has left many to suspect the Élysée demanded their deletion.

In France, the crackdown on Islamists has also crossed a line into the state policing of speech. Macron has launched a crackdown on radical Islamists who have been ‘spreading hate’ online. As Mick Hume has argued on spiked, it is paramount that we make a distinction between those who conspire to commit terrorist acts – who should be ruthlessly pursued by the law and severely punished – and those who hold and express extreme views. The existence of extremist views should prompt more debate, more discussion and a more vigorous defence of our liberties, not censorship in the name of freedom.

But even beyond the question of terrorism, the Macron government is chipping away at free speech. This week, parliament has been debating a bill which would ban the dissemination of any video or image which could be used to identify police officers. Civil-liberties groups and even the UN have warned of the threat this poses to free expression. The kind of videos which revealed the out-of-control police violence towards gilets jaunes protesters, which led to nearly 900 injuries, would be banned.

The government has also tried to pass laws removing ‘hate speech’ from the internet, though thankfully much of the worst of these measures were struck down by the courts in June.

Everyone in the West must support France in its battle against Islamist attempts to impose censorship at the end of the gun and the knife. And that is all the more reason to demand more from our own governments – and to criticise them when they fall short in respecting free speech.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/11/18/france-is-backsliding-on-free-speech/

After recent free speech controversies, Iowa Board of Regents instigates review of university policies

With First Amendment issues churning at Iowa’s public universities — including controversial coursework, spurned student groups and contentious social media posts — the Board of Regents has created a committee to review its free speech policy and evaluate its campuses’ compliance.

Additionally, board President Mike Richards this week tasked the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa presidents to provide an update at the board’s February meeting “on exactly how each institution is protecting free speech on campus and in the classroom.”

“Everyone has the right to express their own opinion,” Richards said. “Disagreeing on issues and having a respectful debate about those issues should happen on our university campuses. What should not happen is preventing another person or group’s opinion from being expressed, or threatening those opinions with possible repercussions. This is not who we are, and it is not right.”

Richards, in making his comments, didn’t reference any particular incident on the campuses his board oversees — although there have been many First Amendment and free-speech-related debates and concerns.

But he noted the board last year adopted a free speech policy after both ISU ad the UI ended up in court over separate issues, prompting legislators to enact a new law on “speech and expression at public institutions of higher education in the State of Iowa.”

The board’s committee of three regents will evaluate implementation of its new policy. Regents David Barker, Nancy Boettger and Zack Leist — the board’s student regent, from ISU — also will research best practices at other institutions and recommend changes “that need to be made to strengthen our efforts on free speech.”

“This board will not tolerate the violation of anyone’s freedom of speech on our campuses,” Richards said.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/after-recent-free-speech-controversies-iowa-board-of-regents-instigates-review-of-university-policies-20201120

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