This essay, on the importance of free speech for those without power, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on Shamima Begum and British citizenship.) It was published on 19 July 2020, under the headline ‘It’s the powerless who suffer when free speech is threatened’. The cartoon shows a bearded man in paradise, reclining on a couch in a tent, with a virgin on either arm. God pokes his head in. ‘Do you need anything?’ he asks. ‘Yes, […]

Categories: Free Speech, Justice & Liberties • Tags: arab world, cancel culture, censorship, charlie hebdo, free speech, freedom struggles, joking about jihad, naked hattar, privilege