Pressure on freedom of expression
The issue of freedom of expression created controversies repeatedly in 2009. The latest stirs include the allocation of the Freedom of Expression Prize to Nina Karin Monsen, the recent debate at the UN’s Human Rights Council’s meeting in Geneva in April and the winter’s failure to resurrect the blasphemy section of Norway’s Constitution. Many challenges related to freedom of expression have emerged in the wake of globalisation’s new public spaces, cultural conflicts and different views about the place of religion in society. All in all, freedom of expression is currently under pressure from quarters we could hardly even have imagined 20 years ago.
Fritt Ord invites the public to the launch of the book Freedom of Speech Abridged? on Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 11.00 to 12.00 a.m. in the Riverton Room at the House of Literature, Wergelandsveien 29, Oslo.
The contributors to the book are researchers from the Nordic countries who discuss freedom of expression as a universal human right, analyse the philosophical basis of the freedom, and address the legal and actual challenges it currently faces. Freedom of Speech Abridged? has been edited by Anine Kierulf and Helge Rønning.
Key words to describe the development trend include the Internet; the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the Mohammed caricatures. While authoritarian regimes garner new ammunition to assault freedom of expression, it is challenged in democratic societies by market liberalisation, technological development and security measures in the war on terrorism.
At the launch, the co-editors will give a brief introduction to some of the issues addressed in the book. This will establish a background for the discussions about the major international freedom of expression conference “Global Forum on Freedom of Expression” to be organised at the House of Literature in Oslo from 1 to 6 June.
Anine Kierulf and Helge Rønning (eds.): Freedom of Speech Abridged? Cultural, Legal and Philosophical Challenges. Nordicom. Gothenburg. 2009.
The book has received support from Fritt Ord.
