Are you an "extremist"? Of course not; you wouldn't hurt a fly. But are you a "non-violent extremist"?
"What's one of those?" I hear you cry. Well, quite possibly, it's YOU.
The UK Government plans to introduce sweeping new powers called "Extremism Disruption Orders" and "Extremism Banning Orders" to combat individuals and organisations it deems to be "extreme". Who are "extremists"? Well, terrorists, of course. But what about political activists? Religious groups? Anti-religious groups? Trade unionists? Environmental campaigners? Are they "extremists" too? Well, they could be under the Government’s vague proposals: plans that are so opaque, poorly defined and broad in scope that they risk shutting down all kinds of legitimate speech in the UK.
Please support and publicise the Defend Free Speech Campaign, and (if you're in the UK) write to your MP.
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Copyright Notice
The excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©1955, 1966 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the University of Chicago Press. The excerpt is used in this podcast in full with express permission of University of Chicago Press.
[terrorism, free speech, extremism, Paul Craig Roberts, David Cameron, Theresa May, John Hayes, Vince Cable, Milton Mayer, Nazism, British Values, Orwell]
