March for Free Expression Report

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Sunday March 26, 2006 16:58 by pat c

The March For Free Expression took place on Saturday 25 March in Trafalgar Square, London. This is the Statement of Principle of the organidsation:

"The strength and survival of free society and the advance of human knowledge depend on the free exchange of ideas. All ideas are capable of giving offence, and some of the most powerful ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo and Darwin, have given profound religious offence in their time. The free exchange of ideas depends on freedom of expression and this includes the right to criticise and mock. We assert and uphold the right of freedom of expression and call on our elected representatives to do the same. We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas and we call on our elected representatives to protect them from attack and not to give comfort to the forces of intolerance that besiege them. "

The rally was a success with 600 people attending. These included Muslims, Christians and atheists, Britons, Americans, Danes, Iraqis and Iranians, socialists, liberals conservatives and libertarians. The one thing which united them was support for the principle of Free Speech. The extremists kept away: No BNP and just a few Islamofascists.

As the group put it: "It was a victory for tolerance, reason and freedom. If you want to know how badly this hurts the extremists, read some of the comments on this blog. This was just the beginning, but it was a very good beginning. "

Theres another extract from the report below and the full story is at the link.
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Despite the rain, the speeches were well received, even when the speaker was expressing a position people didn't entirely share. There were two unscheduled speakers: Ali, an Iraqi who turned up to support the campaign and felt he wanted to share his experiences of living under a regime that denied basic freedoms of expression, and Labi Shiffre. Both spoke very well and several people have commented on the quality of Labi's words.

Maryam Namazie spoke cogently, urgently and with passion. Evan Harris was funny, wise and precise. Peter Tatchell followed up on, and elaborated on the themes outlined in his essay below. Mark Wallace was well received, after the occasional controversy here. Sean Gabb spoke without notes in a structured, reasoned argument for absolute freedom of expression. Rend Shakir made a nuanced and complex case for tolerance and freedom. Keith Porteous Wood spoke about principles, but also echoed Evan Harris on some points of practical action. We shall be doing what we can to help with these in the coming weeks.