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Protests outside Oxford University
Photo: Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Gavin Williamson, the British education minister, has a mission to defend freedom of speech.
In a guest article for the Telegraph he warned of a “very real and alarming danger of censorship and“ cancel culture ”at our universities”.
This danger is so great in his eyes that he wants to protect freedom of expression more strongly with a new law.
Critics see it as a new culture war, supporters as protection from the militant left.
This reignites a debate that has been smoldering in Great Britain for years.
Williamson is primarily concerned with so-called no-platforming.
What is meant is the phenomenon that discussions are disrupted by protests and speakers from events are unloaded.
The new law is intended to enable unloaded persons to sue the organizers for compensation.
In a strategy paper, the Ministry of Education also proposes to appoint a "Free Speech Champion" to investigate violations of free speech.
The topic has long been relevant to the Conservative Party because many of its voters feel constrained by "political correctness" and left-wing "wokeness".
Boris Johnson pledged to protect academic freedom and freedom of speech at universities in the 2019 election manifesto.
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