Free speech secures the truth

Despite a certain football match, nearly 30 people turned out for a panel discussion on the topic Free Speech or Truth? Managing The Marketplace of Ideas In a Polarised World, with barrister Dr Anna Loutfi and author and political adviser Yair Zivan .

The event was hosted by 104 London Debaters and a Cambridge University student group for the promotion of free speech, supported by the The Free Speech Union .

Vice President PR for 104LD, William Hagerup , opened the meeting and welcomed Jan Macvarish from the Free Speech Union to say a few words about what they do to help people who get into trouble for sharing their perfectly legal views whether online, at the workplace or any other setting where the rot of cancel culture is chilling the free exchange of views and ideas.

Engaging discussion

William then handed over to the founder of 104LD, Paul Carroll, DTM, to chair the panel discussion, and after presenting the panellists, he opened by posing a question to them: do we in fact face a stark choice between either truth or free speech??

Yair believed it was important we do not allow free speech merely to be defended by the fringes and that it becomes associated with “right-wing”. For centrists it is important, he said, to stand up for the right to say things with which one disagrees - it is easy to defend the rights of those you agree with, but liberal democracy requires us to defend also the right of those with unpleasant views.

Anna focussed on the word “idea” in the sub title of the topic. Too often, she said, social media companies and others use the term “information” where actually the old-fashioned notion of “idea” is more appropriate. By calling views and ideas “information” it becomes too easy to censor the views they don’t like by branding them “mis-information” or “dis-information”. She also believed it is problematic that a monopolistic entity such as the BBC purports to be neutral fact finders, not least through its discredited “Verify” project, whilst in fact also having an ideological view point. There are many versions of “the truth”, she claimed.

The discussion also covered the “right” to be given a platform, national security concerns and toeing the party line on contentious issues from trans to the Ukraine war.

Engaged audience

It was then opened up for floor contributions, and the questions ranged from who defines extremism in a situation where 60% of British people feel they cannot freely share their views, to the use of bots, Julian Assange, cancellation by stealth in places of study, and many more.

So eager was the audience that we had to extend the Q&A session.?

After the meeting Yair had to rush off to an interview but Anna and Jan stayed back and chatted with members and guests, who enjoyed a drink or two and the total absence of football.

A great big thank you to Yair and Anna for taking time out to come and address our club on this extremely current and important issue.

Yair is currently in Britain to promote his new and very interesting book, The Centre Must Hold – Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarisation, with contributions from Tony Blair, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Turnbull, Baroness Ruth Anderson and many more.