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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

The Chinese students policing Britain’s universities Self-censoring academics live in terror

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“Surreal.” This was how Professor Michelle Shipworth described her ordeal at University College London, after a Chinese student complained about an innocuous presentation slide on slavery in China. Instead of leaping to her defence, UCL accused her of being anti-Chinese and endangering its lucrative income from Chinese students. After she was banned from teaching her “provocative” energy and social sciences course, her case was taken up by the Free Speech Union, which presented documentary evidence of what they called “undue deference to the sensitivity of some Chinese students that is utterly incompatible with academic freedom”

Sam Dunning, Unherd, 20th March 2024.

British universities have a China problem

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Sir Iain [Duncan Smith] was reacting to news that University College London (UCL) has banned Michelle Shipworth, an associate professor at its Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources — and a member of the Free Speech Union (FSU) — from teaching a “provocative” seminar on China in order to protect its commercial interests.

Freddie Attenborough, The Critic, 19th March 2024.

Ministers vow to ‘name and shame’ extremists banned from government funding as Michael Gove unveils new definition – despite fears that feminists and Christians could be ‘cancelled’

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Writing in the Spectator magazine, Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, said: “Is there a risk this new definition, which includes phrases like ‘aims to… negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others’, will also be applied to gender critical feminists, anti-abortion activists and other betes noires of metropolitan radicals?”

James Tapsfield and David Barrett, Daily Mail, 14th March 2024.

Simon Fawthrop and Bryn Harris: Why Bromley has become a free speech council

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Bromley Council has passed a landmark policy to enshrine free speech in its policies, procedures, code of conduct and constitution. This decision didn’t come about by accident. Many months of work alongside the Free Speech Union have gone into getting this policy right, and this is only the beginning – the many years of local authorities getting free speech wrong need to be put right.

Simon Fawthrop and Bryn Harris, Conservative Home, 12th March 2024.

UCL bans lecturer from China course to protect its ‘commercial interests’

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Ms Shipworth’s case has been taken up by the Free Speech Union, which has written to UCL’s provost to demand that all restrictions be lifted. A Free Speech Union spokesman said: “The documents we have seen reveal an undue deference to the sensitivity of some Chinese students that is utterly incompatible with academic freedom. Academics and students have every right to discuss and even criticise China, even if it is inconvenient for institutions increasingly in hock to Chinese student fees, and we will defend that right.”

Robert Mendick, The Telegraph, 8th March 2024.

European Parliament Reprimands Yet Another MEP Over ‘Hate Speech’

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Following a four-week ‘hate speech’ investigation, the European Parliament has formally reprimanded a Flemish MEP for referring to the EU’s asylum policy as a form of “organised replacement” during a plenary debate. Tom Vandendriessche, of the populist political party Vlaams Belang, and who has represented the Flemish separatists since 2019, made the comments at a Strasbourg debate marking the start of the Belgian presidency of the European Council in January.

Frederick Attenborough, The European Conservative, 7th March 2024.

The North Face offers huge discount only if customers complete woke course

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But Free Speech Union founder Toby Young criticised the programme and said: “The irony is that The North Face is implicitly acknowledging here that all its customers are white. After all, why would black customers need to take a course about ‘white privilege’ to get a 20 percent discount? But if all customers are white, shouldn’t it be examining the beam in its own eye?”

Cally Brooks, Daily Express, 5th March 2024.

Pastor in Bristol Wins Free-Speech Case Against British Law Enforcement

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“Thankfully, with support from ADF UK and the Free Speech Union, I have received some measure of justice after having been wrongfully silenced by authorities,” Moodley said after the decision. “But this creeping culture of censorship is detrimental to all of us in society, whatever we believe, and we must challenge it wherever we see it.”

Madalaine Elhabbal, Catholicvote, 27th February 2024.

Police admit attempt to ‘silence’ Christian street preacher for criticising other religions and atheism was ‘disproportionate’ as they back down in free speech row

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Bryn Harris, Chief Legal Officer for the Free Speech Union, said: “The state does not hold a monopoly on truth and the ability to discuss and debate ideas, including religious ideas, is the lifeblood of any genuinely free society.. Yet, repeatedly, we see this principle violated by unaccountable police officers and local councils who aggressively pursue their own ideological causes rather than using scarce public resources to tackle real crime.”

Rory Tingle, Daily Mail, 27th February 2024.

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