Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression

We are a group of Liberal Democrat members and supporters united by a common passion for defending and promoting the fundamental right to freedom of expression.

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

Kais Saied's rise to power and his destruction of the democracy that emerged in 2010. Quite chilling as you get to know some of the victims in the course of the documentary. https://t.co/e6aY8i8xPa

[Bassam Khawaja @Bassam_Khawaja]

Five employees of the Tunisian Council for Refugees will stand trial on Wednesday, after appealing criminal sentences for their work assisting asylum seekers and refugees. The Tunisian authorities should end the abusive prosecution https://t.co/Ld6DcXEI5S

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years for exercising the #freeExpression that #China itself guaranteed #Hongkong in 1997. #freejimmylai #JimmyLai

[Ed Davey @EdwardJDavey]

Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment and persecution at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party is an outrage.

The Prime Minister should summon the Chinese Ambassador today, and demand Jimmy Lai's immediate release and the quashing of this trumped-up sentence.

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

The case law on this is clear: Seven federal circuit courts have already ruled that filming law enforcement is protected by the First Amendment. Exercising your freedom of speech does not make you a "domestic terrorist." That should transcend politics.

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

How the People's Republic of China step by step destroyed free expression in Hong Kong. https://t.co/LhforPJbyX

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

University of Austin's treatment of the Mill Center demonstrates how easy it is to succumb to the temptation of defending the free expression only of those you agree with. https://t.co/IuiI3mZO7x

[IFEX @IFEX]

IFEX regional editors Reyhana Masters and Laura Vidal delve into issues impacting journalists forced into exile with a focus on the human rights crises driving this displacement of journalists in Africa and Latin America/Caribbean: https://t.co/mNBjwVEexF

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

Trump’s suing of the pollster who predicted Harris winning Iowa will fail but the expense of defending her First Amendment rights is intended to be a warning to others.

https://t.co/YBUUG2X83v #FreeSpeechUnderThreat

[IFEX @IFEX]

#Tunisia: With elections a month away, authorities banned the latest issue of @jeune_afrique as part of a broader crackdown on independent media.

Read more: ⬇️ https://t.co/ou6QNr2Fbu

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

2/2"Hundreds of academics and students have been hounded, censured, silenced or even sacked over the last 20 years for the expression of legal opinions" https://t.co/LBQLqbBKmi

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

1/2 Why the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act is needed #HEFOE "The decision to halt [the act] appears to reflect the view, widespread among opponents, that there is no ‘free speech problem’ in UK universities. Nothing could be more false.

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

Just because you run a smallish city council doesn't mean you can ignore your country's First Amendment https://t.co/B9yE82RUDf #FIRE

[Sarah Ludford 🇬🇧 🇮🇪🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @SarahLudford]

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[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

It most certainly is the job of government to protect #FreeExpression when it is under threat and #Labour is failing in that duty by freezing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023” #HEFOSA #BridgetPhillipson https://t.co/edP5jfNg2y

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

Did the University of Pennsylvania, accused of inconsistency in the way they restrict or defend free speech, decide to more consistently restrict free speech?
https://t.co/Gtar0wHYIs

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

The Right isn't more pro-free speech than the Left. That perception is an illusion stemming from the fact that the Right currently holds less institutional and cultural power, prompting Right-wing authoritarians to feign support for free speech.

However, once the balance of power shifts to the Right, these Right-wing authoritarians will become just as authoritarian as the woke Left is now.

As always, it's the liberals on the Left and Right whose support for free speech does not fluctuate with the tides of politics.

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

2/2 However, Zourabichvili's opposition despite her originally being
elected with support from the #GeorgianDream demonstrates how
authoritarian that party has become. #Georgia #NoToRussianLaw
#DemocraticBacksliding

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

1/2 It is likely that Salome Zourabichvili's veto of Georgia's ruling
party's media bill will be overturned by the votes of the Georgian
Dream in the Georgian parliament.
https://t.co/kIlSaRqsEw

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

3. And religious texts should not be protected from protest and criticism. Therefore any additional law outlawing the burning of them is unnecessary and an overreach

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

1. Book burning is a contemptuous and often censorious act. It can be used as criticism and protest of text or to incite hatred and violence towards a group. Usually the latter and thus as a form of protest, could be considered quite objectionable. https://t.co/rzZtcr9Scw

[Lib Dems for Freedom of Expression @LibDems4FOE]

2. Laws should be designed to protect forms of protest whilst preventing incitement. Understandably this is incredibly difficult thing to balance. However we (and the Danes) already have robust hate speech laws that cover this.