IS THERE NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH ANYMORE?
IS THERE NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH ANYMORE?
“Mummy! Is there no freedom of speech anymore?” My angry 13 year old daughter Abigail was in no mood for jokes or banter. It was 7:00pm, we were getting supper ready, I was exhausted after a hard day and as usual, she was recapping her day at school. Furious at her teacher, I could tell that she wanted me to take her side unequivocally. She was not going to tolerate me ‘doing that Lawyer thing’ with her today; today, I was not to be a Lawyer; I was to be her Mother. I agreed with her in what I thought was a wholehearted and sincere way for 2 reasons; the kitchen was hot and I wanted to finish as soon as possible and secondly, I had brought home some work I had not quite finished and was hoping to complete it before going to bed. So I ‘hemmed and hawed’ in all the appropriate places, frowned along with her and gave her my best scandalized look when she finished telling her story.
It happened that during break, she and all her classmates removed their blazers because it was hot; the air conditioner in her class had gone off, a power outage, and there was no breeze coming in from the windows. It is the dry season after all. A teacher came into class and noticing that all the students were not wearing their blazers, admonished and punished the class. Abigail, being the class prefect, sought to defend the class by explaining to the teacher that they had their blazers on during classes, only took them off at break time because of the heat and would put them back on after break. The teacher magnanimously forgave the class, but then told Abigail that she was disappointed in her because she was not obedient enough to keep her blazer on and was defending the breaking of a school rule. She apologized to the teacher, but was fuming inside and here we were, in my hot kitchen getting supper ready.
Later as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I couldn’t help thinking about her question; ‘is there no freedom of speech anymore?’ When I was in secondary school, there was a maxim; ‘Obey before you complain…’ and I always wondered what use it was to complain after you have obeyed. How would one be compensated after obeying? Why bother to complain after obeying? Where was the justice if one could not complain? I suspect that it was this maxim that made me think of and study Law.
What has become of free speech? During our long, painful and terrible military period, journalists were practically sub-human. Beaten, imprisoned and driven out, their establishments closed, workers laid off, they struggled, bled, some died, and suffered to investigate, report the news and keep people informed. As it is all over the world, repressive regimes do their utmost to control even thought and speech. However, since democracy in Nigeria recommenced, journalism has failed to thrive and grow. It has seemingly morphed into two creatures; the first becoming the Ministry of Information for whoever is in power and the second become the town gossip. As for the online press, well, that is a totally different story. These days, one is more likely to get news from an octopus in a tank called Ollie, than from the traditional source. These days, we have to fact check everything we read. These days we have to take everything with not a pinch, but a bag of salt. These days, there is smoke without fire and fire without smoke. These days, the truth only gets out when the next government gets into power. These days people don’t care about what is happening any more. These days, people don’t even care much about the news anymore.
I decided I would tell Abigail a few things about free speech as soon as I have some time. Free speech is a wonderful thing. It is a principle that states that everyone has the right to articulate their opinions, ideas, fears, beliefs, dreams and plans without the fear of being punished. It is also called ‘Freedom of Expression’ and is one of the individual’s fundamental human rights. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 states that “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference and everyone shall have the freedom of expression”. This right is very old; it may have emerged around the 6th or 5th century BC and has survived till modern times as an inalienable right. However, it is limited by other people’s freedoms, in cases of slander, libel, pornography, obscenity, incitement, hate speech and intellectual property. It is also limited, in certain circumstances, by rules pertaining to acceptable speech codes and rules in school.
I also hope to show her some of the schools I have seen. I think if she realizes that some children would love to have a blazer, heat or not, I think she will be grateful that she is privileged to attend a school that has some level of comfort. There is nothing like gratitude to dispel anger, resentment and see things in perspective. Hopefully, she will understand that blazer wearing during school hours is sacrosanct; after all, schools do and should have a code that all students must obey. Rules help to make the society orderly and protect all in the social order. So even if ‘blazer wearing’ in a tropical country during dry season and without an air conditioner does not make sense, it is the school rule and rules are rules. But hey, if it doesn’t make sense, don’t sweat it; the Law is an ass after all!