2 - A HISTORY OF LAWS ON HATE AND ABUSE

The simple quality of manhood is the solid basis of the right – and there let it rest forever.8 Douglass’s insistence on the intimate link between free speech and equality was taken up by a number of individ- uals and groups which fought the systematic discrimina- tion against African-Americans under ‘black codes’ and Jim Crow laws in the South after the abolition of slavery and 7 The Kansas–Nebra. [...] In fact, the systematic denial of free speech and inability to challenge white supremacy peacefully lay at the heart of the ultimate decision of the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) to aim to achieve its goals by force. [...] The very first paragraph of the famous Char- ter 77, co-authored by Vaclav Havel, complained that ‘[t]he right to freedom of expression … guaranteed by [ICCPR] Article 19 … is in our case purely illusory’.14 The use of human rights language and in particular the emphasis on the robust protection of free expression created a positive feedback loop allowing dissidents to challenge censorship and opp. [...] With defamation of religion the OIC sought to fuse and expand the categories of blasphemy and hate speech by incorporating the former into the latter and then use this piece of legal creationism as the platform for a free-standing prohibition on blasphemy under international law. [...] McArthur and Ashers Free speech and institutional culture Conclusion 9 The threat to freedom of speech in universities is a symptom of a wider problem Stephen Davies Freedom of thought Limitations on speech The historical basis of university freedoms Challenges to free speech in universities This is part of a wider problem 10 Free speech: the freedom that trade unions forgot Dennis Hayes Disorgani.