The Free Speech Union

BREAKING: As you may have seen, the teenager accused of murdering three young girls in Southport has today been charged with possessing a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual, and the manufacture of ricin poison. Read our statement below. https://lnkd.in/eTrnU_G9 The mass stabbing perpetrated by Axel Rudakubana targeted children at a Taylor Swift dance workshop in Southport on Monday, July 29th. Along with the fatalities there were 10 people injured, including eight children. On July 30th and over subsequent days there were outbreaks of civil disorder in England and Northern Ireland. We suspect some of the prosecutions of people for saying supposedly inflammatory things on social media may now be unsafe — for instance, the man in Cumbria sentenced to eight weeks in jail for reposting three allegedly ‘Islamophobic’ memes on Facebook. At the very least, it may be grounds for appealing their often draconian jail sentences. And what about the many people arrested in August for social media posts about the Southport attack who came under enormous pressure from the police to plead guilty? Did the police know at that time that the news about the link to an Islamist training manual would eventually come out and that once it had it would be more difficult to persuade a jury to convict these people? If so, that may be a good basis for a law suit. We’ve provided legal assistance to several of our members who did get into difficulty over the summer for saying things about the Southport attack on social media, including a Royal Marines veteran prosecuted for a Facebook video who has pleaded not guilty. His trial is forthcoming and we’re paying for a solicitor and a barrister. Click the link to find out what we're doing to protect the speech rights of our members, on and offline, in the wake of today's news. https://lnkd.in/eTrnU_G9

A "right-wing" former prison officer has been acquitted of stirring up racial hatred in a series of social media posts shared before and after the Southport killings. Leicester Crown Court heard that Mark Heath – who had been employed at HMP Peterborough over a period of five years – repeatedly posted false claims that the offender behind the attacks was an asylum seeker named Ali Al Shakati on X. He denied publishing “threatening, abusive or insulting” material to X between July 22 and August 6 this year, telling the court that these were his “strong opinions” that “did not encourage violence”. Full details below. https://lnkd.in/ewGH_NRY

UK Lawyers for Israel have written to the Publishers Association to alert the organisation and its members to the legal consequences of participating in a "discriminatory" boycott of Israeli publishers organised by various pro-Palestine groups — full details below. https://lnkd.in/eMZrGdcC From trigger warnings and morality clauses, to the rewriting of classic works and, now, boycotts of Israel's cultural institutions... can literature survive the politicisation of everything? The FSU recently hosted an event to discuss the issues with an expert panel including poet and essayist Jenny Lindsay, award-winning author Kate Clanchy and literary agent Matthew Hamilton — the video of the event is now available on our YouTube channel at the link below. https://lnkd.in/eCmJ6EtM Since the FSU launched in 2020, a growing number of authors have come to us for advice and support — Gillian Philip, Julie Burchill, Helen Joyce, Allison Pearson, Holly Lawford-Smith — and over 250 authors have joined as members. It has become increasingly clear to us that freedom of expression is under severe pressure within the literary world, with publishers and literary agents often failing to defend their authors when their speech rights come under attack. You can find out more about the support we offer to our author members and join us at the link below. https://lnkd.in/e_rTBHEG

“I wanted to make sure that you’re aware [we're] firmly pro-Palestine. I just wanted to make sure that that aligns with you.” An LGBT running club has been reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for alleged breaches of the Equality Act 2010 after allegedly barring an Israeli photographer from covering one of its events after he refused to confirm whether he was “pro-Palestine”. Full details below. https://lnkd.in/eCD7Ws5i

At the newly established University of Austin (UATX), staff and students "have the right to pursue their academic interests and deliberate freely, without fear of censorship or retribution”. Between the freshly painted walls, students are encouraged to vociferously disagree with each other, there is no Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and invoking violence is the only thing that could see someone no-platformed. Welcome to the world's first “anti-woke” university — full details below. https://lnkd.in/eJuRwhtK

With the election for the next Chancellor of the #UniversityofOxford now open, the Free Speech Union (FSU) and our friends at campaign group Alumni For Free Speech (AFFS) are recommending four candidates based on their responses to a detailed questionnaire we sent all candidates asking them about their position on #freespeech at UK universities. Full details here. https://lnkd.in/eBv84Xja While the Chancellor of Oxford University has no executive responsibilities, it is more than symbolic. As the titular head of the University, the Chancellor provides advice and guidance to the University, particularly to the Vice-Chancellor. The Chancellor also holds the role of the Visitor, an external figure of authority on whom the University can call for advice and for arbitration if insoluble dispute arises amongst its governing body. Any student who has completed an eligible degree at Oxford is eligible to vote in the election, as long as voter registration was received by 18th August, and their degree was conferred by 1st October.

AI chatbots display bias towards Left-wing and ‘progressive’ thinking in the information they provide to users, according to a pioneering analysis. When asked to provide policy recommendations across 20 key policy areas, more than 80 per cent of bot responses were left of centre. This was particularly marked on issues including housing, immigration, the environment and civil rights. Full details below. https://lnkd.in/eVEGSksE

Afghan women already face primitive, pre-Enlightenment restrictions on their ability to move, work and be seen in public — but in a shocking new decree, the Taliban's Minister of Virtue has banned them from allowing their voices to be heard by other women. Full details below. https://lnkd.in/eBK2KePe

The FSU is hiring! We’re looking for a content creator to help beef up our social media offering. It’s a part-time role, but could easily become full time. Click the link to find out more! https://lnkd.in/ePCkFqWg

The government has opened up a new front in its war on #freespeech, announcing plans for a "full, trans inclusive ban on conversion practices". Click the link to find out more — and use our campaigning tool to voice your opposition by writing to your MP. Full details below https://lnkd.in/eTKyt9sF