Portal:Freedom of speech

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The Freedom of speech portal

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)—Article 19 states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognised as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law by the United Nations. Many countries have constitutional law that protects free speech. Terms like free speech, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are used interchangeably in political discourse. However, in a legal sense, the freedom of expression includes any activity of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

Article 19 of the UDHR states that "everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice". The version of Article 19 in the ICCPR later amends this by stating that the exercise of these rights carries "special duties and responsibilities" and may "therefore be subject to certain restrictions" when necessary "[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "[f]or the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals". (Full article...)

Selected article

Marjorie Heins
Not in Front of the Children: "Indecency," Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth is a non-fiction book by lawyer and civil libertarian Marjorie Heins (pictured) about freedom of speech and the relation of censorship to the oft-cited argument "think of the children". Ordered chronologically, the book gives a history of censorship from time periods including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Meese Report, up to the present day. Heins explores whether or not children and adolescent youth are negatively impacted by exposure to media deemed inappropriate by adults, including violence and pornography. The author argues throughout the book that youths are not in danger due to sexually explicit material. Heins asserts that there is no simple tactic by which the government could censor material from children without violating the rights guaranteed to adults by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Not in Front of the Children concludes that censorship performed under the auspices of looking out for the believed negative impact on youths, actually harms these individuals through the censorship itself. Not in Front of the Children received the Eli M. Oboler Award in 2002 from the American Library Association as recognition for "Best Published Work on Intellectual Freedom".

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Selected biography

Dhondup Wangchen's wife Lhamo Tso (left) protesting on his behalf
Dhondup Wangchen (born 17 October 1974) is a Tibetan filmmaker imprisoned by the Chinese government in 2006 on charges related to his documentary Leaving Fear Behind. Made with senior Tibetan monk Jigme Gyatso, the documentary consists of interviews with ordinary Tibetan people discussing the 14th Dalai Lama, the Chinese government, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Han Chinese migrants to the region. After smuggling the tapes of the interviews out of Tibet, however, Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso were detained during the 2008 Tibetan unrest. Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for subversion. Numerous international human rights organizations protested his detention, including Amnesty International, which named him a prisoner of conscience. In 2012, he was awarded the International Press Freedom Award of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Nietzsche

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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816

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