Examining the Origins of Free Speech
Professor Maleiha Malik of The Dickson Poon School of Law, has contributed to a new four part BBC radio series ‘The Invention of Free Speech’, due to be broadcast this summer. Professor Malik, has written extensively on discrimination law, feminism, minorities and the role of religion in modern society and her current research focuses on the intersection between sexual and cultural equality.
The Radio 4 series, led by historian Professor Fara Dabhoiwala, explores how freedom of speech came into being, with the opening programme focusing on religion from the 17th century. In the modern Western world, it can be easy to take freedom of speech for granted, however in the 1600’s, people in Britain were put to death for expressing their views.
‘Free speech is a fundamental value in contemporary societies but there is surprisingly little discussion about how it has developed in the past.’ Explains Professor Malik,‘By shining a light on the past, we can better understand contemporary free speech problems: such as claims that cartoons should be banned because they are blasphemy or the insistence that some speech should be banned because it is an incitement to hatred.’
‘The Invention of Free Speech’ is a three-part series, which begins on BBC Radio 4 on 31 July. You can find out more about the programme on the Radio 4 webpages.