...To Think Free Speech is Dead in the UK

[RockyBayEve]

After 3 free speech advocates American Brittany Pettibone, her Austrian boyfriend and Canadian journalist Lauren Southern are detained by UK border force, barred from speaking at Speakers Corner, deported or barred entry.

And antifa? IS ANTI FASCISM. If you’re pro fascism then I’m kinda worried tbh

Antifa call themselves anti-fascists, doesn't mean they are. They certainly use fascist tactics to silence anyone who has a different opinion. I find them as terrifying as the far right.

Ah what a shame... Not! I find it really funny when people with strong anti-immigration and anti-free travel stances then get all offended when they are subjected to the very same treatment they have been effectively asking for. Yeah, maybe you just assumed being white Canadian etc would automatically entitle you to be exempt. Good fecking riddance.

If you aren’t agreeing with the majority then you are bullied, hassled and told you are a xenophobic arsehole

Depends where you are posting. People who are xenophobic are perfectly capable of bullying and hassling people and calling peopel xenophiles (except people who do that probably don't know what xenophile means...)

I'd rather my children, and my friends children be protected from Far Right hatred,

I agree
Show me the way?

Ive been veggie for 30 years
My husband is brown
As is my beloved daughter
lsigh

@ mygoditsfullofstars: The more you suppress these kind of opinions, the more they see themselves as "martyrs" and "persecuted" blah blah.

This process you outline, seductive though it is, is wrong. Just look at the immigration hysteria in the lead up to the Brexit vote. The more controversial views are aired, the more credibility they gain in the world at large.

Yeah, maybe you just assumed being white Canadian etc would automatically entitle you to be exempt. Good fecking riddance.

no, i think it's just assumed if you are a canadian, you should be allowed in.

I find it really funny when people with strong anti-immigration and anti-free travel stances then get all offended when they are subjected to the very same treatment they have been effectively asking for

THIS! They think that such things don't seem to apply to people like them. It's for Muslims, innit.....

Worrying times. I'm Irish and it's always crap for us when these things go tits up. Muslim migrants, and others, were brought in to replace the millions killed by the Nazis and to economically/culturally punish those who did not agree with the Nazi's. Now that the native populations (many of whom have had their communities called terrorists themselves and are often totally isolated) have thrown up their hands and given up, the ruling classes are freaking out and want to liquidate the migrants just like they did the Jewish community in WW2 (with full collaboration again). Except too many of us remember those terrible times and have NO desire to repeat that.

Antifa? aren't they the lot who only go out fully masked so that nobody can identify them?

They already have their pulpit on their various social media channels. Why specifically travel to areas that they have identified 'Muslim' to bring their anti immigration message? Publicity.

" I'm Irish and it's always crap for us when these things go tits up. "

What ever do you mean?

Far left hatred is disrupting speakers who have been invited to Universities to speak to students who want to listen and debate because you have a different opinion.

Far left hatred is marching into cafes, disrupting the customers and trying to get them shut down because you think think they represent history in a way you don't agree with as well as vandalising their property.

Far left hatred is using violence to shut down opinions which you disagree with rather than discussing them and dismantling them.

I thought mygodotsfullofstars point on not allowing a "pressure cooker" build up was spot on actually. We needed more discussion on the EU and its effects over the years, not less.

And far right hatred is the holocaust.

The more you suppress these kind of opinions, the more they see themselves as "martyrs" and "persecuted" and the more they flourish in the cesspits of the internet and gain real power from like minded nutters.

And your martyred reaction to Southern's "persecution" amply proves your point!

Did you mean to be so ironic?

This process you outline, seductive though it is, is wrong. Just look at the immigration hysteria in the lead up to the Brexit vote. The more controversial views are aired, the more credibility they gain in the world at large.

how does that explain it is wrong? disagreeing with brexit doesn't make it wrong. In fact, I think it was precisely that attitude that led to Brexit. People couldn't have a reasonable debate about immigration and it boiled over.

and, it in fact does make martyrs out of people. it's an example the right's shrill call of the "fake news" - news items that pertain to certain groups are omitted. It's also used to justify other forms of censorship. Muslims in France who want blasphemy laws, rightly point out that all sorts of speech in France is banned.

And far left is Year Zero, Cultural Revolution and gulags..

DullandOld - ala Black and Tans gifted to us by none other than Winston Churchill etc.

...and all the while thinking you’re absolutely right to do so, because you’re on the side of ‘good’

People who think they’re on the side of ‘good’ have oppressed abused and terrorised others since the beginning of humankind. You are NO different.

So yes, your fascist need to shut down and no-platform everything you don’t agree with is highly offensive to me.

(Comment was on far left hatred)

I don’t care if my refusal to tolerate racists offends you. I refuse to tolerate people who want to kill me and my children for existing. 👍🏼

well if you wanted to talk about Ireland in the civil war, perhaps you should have started a thread on it.
Not sure how things now 'being crap and going tits up' are going to make Irish people suffer...
but whatever.

Was not a comment on you specifically, must make that clear!

Comment is in regards to the over-arching importance of freedom to be afforded to all except for those who specifically incite violence.

Fair enough. I really don’t see why racists should be given a platform though. All it does it put people of colour, immigrants, multicultural families and mixed race individuals at risk.

@NotAClevername I was called that rude name purely by revealing my vote in the referendum. Not by spouting any xenophobic nonsense.

But cheers for your insightful comment, MN at it’s finest.