Free speech is the foundation of democracy. Without the right to disagree, there is no freedom at all. Yet in the USA, Trump threatens dissenters, comedians are suspended, and protesters are labelled extremists. In the UK, Palestine Action supporters face trial for holding placards. This is the authoritarian playbook. And we must resist it.
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
Free speech is absolutely essential to democracy. Without the right to disagree, there is quite literally no political freedom. It is only on the basis of disagreement that we can work out what is the right thing to do.
In this context, what is happening in the USA is deeply troubling, and I'm going to refer to it a few days after all these events have happened because we've had time to take in the consequences of Charlie Kirk's murder.
We've had time to take in the consequences of Jimmy Kimmel's suspension.
And we've had time to think about the fact that the Trump administration is clearly trying to suppress dissenting voices in the USA.
Trump says he wants to criminalise Antifa, which stands for anti-fascist, although there is no such organisation in existence.
And we should remember that in the UK, Palestine action supporters in their thousands now, are waiting to be tried as criminals for the simple act of protest - writing two words on a piece of cardboard, and holding it up in public.
And yet, as I pointed out right at the beginning, free speech is fundamental to protecting the voices of those who want to hold power to account; so powerful that, of course, it is protected in the USA by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and yet that is now under threat from Trump.
Disagreement is not a threat.
Making jokes about the president is not a threat.
But Trump disagrees. He says that's enough for you to have your license to broadcast removed.
And yet the whole basis of the fourth estate - the power of the journalists and other institutions to hold politics to account - is dependent upon this right to actually express humour at the expense of those whom you are lampooning or those who consider themselves so powerful that they are beyond accountability.
Suppressing dissent destroys accountability, and that is precisely what Trump is trying to do with his threats to the media.
And he only has to raise the threat. That's now very clear. He doesn't even have to ban these people anymore. He just has to threaten that he might take away somebody's license, and it appears that every broadcaster jumps to his tune, something that was last seen in Germany in 1933.
And yet, without disagreement, the sort of disagreement that is fundamental to the American late-night politics show, politics simply becomes obedience, and we can't afford obedience. We have to have the right to criticise as well. And if broadcasters fear retaliation, dissenting voices vanish. That's the threat of what Trump is doing.
The threat to Antifa is also extremely nebulous because there isn't something called Antifa. Everybody who's a critic of Trump is Antifa, and that's why he's chosen this idea. Labelling everybody as an opponent, as an extremist and as unlawful - which is what he is doing - creates the ambiguity that censors everyone without censors ever having to censor anyone. And this ambiguity is destructive because it delegitimises the whole process of talking about protest.
Criminalising disagreement is the authoritarian playbook. And we are again, and I stress this, seeing this in the UK. That is what the Palestine Action movement by the government is all about. They're trying to label protesters as extremists, but let's be blunt about it, it isn't extreme to say you have concerns about what is happening in Gaza.
For anyone to say so is to simply undermine the essential humanity of those who are being arrested. 80-year-old vicars, a lot of people who are in retirement, doctors; they are saying they've had enough, but apparently, that is a terrorist act.
And no, I don't think it is, and I reserve the right to say that, because I want to live in a democracy where disagreement is allowed and not censored or punished or criminalised.
And this is the fight we have on our hands now. This is the fight that is going on in America.
This is the fight that is causing people there to feel really frightened.
And frankly, which is causing people here in the UK to feel really frightened.
There are lawyers, there are NGOs, there are people who work with immigrants, there are people who work with refugees, all of whom are saying they now feel threatened because of what they do.
I feel threatened because of what I do, and why not? Because you could argue that I'm Antifa. I do oppose fascism. A lot of the things I talk about are about how to oppose fascism. But that doesn't make me an extremist. It just makes me a democrat. It makes me somebody who wants a fair, open world where I'm not denying the right of the right-wing to talk, although they're trying to do that to people who oppose them; I'm just saying I disagree with them. I disagree with authoritarianism.
So my point is this. We have to defend dissent as a democratic necessity.
We have to defend free speech because it means the right to criticise power persists.
And this struggle is not about left or right, but it is about freedom versus control.
Those are the key points. This is about everybody having the right to an opinion. And not some having the right to remove the objection of others to the opinions that they hold.
So what should you do?
You should, I hope, resist censorship.
You should defend the right to protest.
You should protect disagreement and say that it is valid.
We do need to talk about this. In our families, to our friends, in our workplaces, to our neighbours, and say, "I don't have to agree with you. And I have the right to disagree."
Keep talking about this. Keep watching this video channel. Look at others that share this view. And promote the opinion that democracy and the right to dissent matter.
Ultimately, keep on carrying on. Because unless we do, we are going to end up without the right to say what we think, and when that happens, we are not just all the poorer; we have lost every freedom that we had.
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Steve Keens valuable you tube channel just got hacked. Make sure your defenses/passwords are secure and backups are in place.
We are doing our best..
How about this then, Richard…
“I support the right of anyone to hold up a sign saying they support the right of anyone to hold a sign saying they support Palestine Action”…
The UK is further along this road than many realise.
We are detaining journalists at borders and examining their phones breaching their right to protect their sources. We are doing the same with lawyers breaching their right to legal confidentiality.
We are arresting, bailing and tagging protest organisers with restrictions on what they can talk about breaching their right of peaceful protest.
When these cases get to court they fail, but until that happens, the victims are restrained, silenced, controlled, which suits the UK government fine – it has a chilling intimidating effect on protest and free speech. The UK government has lost some key cases recently or had them thrown out of court as improperly brought.
This has been happening for several years, and it is accelerating under Labour’s authoritarianism. If Cooper ever replaces Starmer (and she seems to be on manouevres with a “peace” plan to impose on Gaza) then it could get a lot worse very quickly because she has strong authoritarian instincts.
You are right to raise the alarm.
Crispin Flintoff has been giving good coverage.
OK – taking this post at face value then, I will say that we do not live in a democracy at all. I think Michael Hudson calls it right when he describes the UK as an ‘elective oligarchy’. That is not a democracy in my view. That is why we get crap polices of all sorts.
My corrective is as follows: what Trump is doing is preventing democracy from emerging, from developing. He is disrupting its journey. We cannot sit here – none of us – and say democracy is a fact. Nor can we say it is universal (until we actually truly understand what democracy is and agree upon it).
Democracy is a continuous process I think – it gets toyed with and messed around. In this country since 2010 – maybe since 1997 or 1989 – but particularly from 2010 the balance between capital and wider society (the main battleground of democracy) has be altered radically in favour of the former. That is what is happening.
This is the great post war (two world wars) claw back by capital.
And how do I feel I have the right to say this? Because I’ve been walking about and living and working in it for 60 years this December that’s why?
Having said that, the blog is totally right in that democracy has to be fought for I’m afraid to develop it further. But we ain’t living in one folks – OK? Maybe what we have been living in since WWI/II is just one long interregnum? We have been living in a fight for democracy, not a state of democracy.
I say this to helps us clearly understand what Trump’s threat really is. We cannot afford to be naive – like contemporary Liberalism or the hard Left.
74 years, and I wonder if the “Golden Decades” 1945-75 were a historical oddity, in the unrelenting hell of one form of feudalism or another?
It’s good question.
Clearly Neoliberalism is running out of road for the wealthy! Suppression of dissent, framing protest as extremism, and the erosion of accountability are among the early “soft” steps toward authoritarian consolidation, which precede attempts at deeper economic reordering. They want to replace Neoliberalism with something even worse to ensure the wealthy get wealthier! One traditional option at times like these is, of course, war.
Thank you, will share widely.
The late Queen allegedly said ‘beware of the powers at work’. Well, she of all people would know.
In a democracy we all have freedom to speak , and a freedom to change your mind, it seems Charlie Kirk. darling of the right did both, and was afraid of the ‘powers at work’ .
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2025/09/14/charlie-kirk-netanyahu/.
Agree there is much to understand and be curious about in the light outside Plato’s cave.
Max Blumenthal covered the Charlie Kirk story on 12th of September https://thegrayzone.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-netanyahu-israel-assassination/
Another reflection….
Since Churchill is a revered anti-fascist leader – does that make him one of the founding father’s of AntiFa, Nelson Mandela is he another founding father of AntiFa?
And all those who fought and died in the fight against fascism and totalitarianism in WW2, fighting for our freedom and democracy, so that all views could be spoken freely from left, right and centre – could they be described as early Antifa?
Surely true patriotism are the acts of those who defend our hard won value of freedom – with democracy as beating heart of that freedom.
An attack against this is surely an insult to those who sacrifice, so that we might be free?
Neither Trump, his father nor his grandfather ever stepped up to defend the republic that made them wealthy against the forces of authoritarianism. It explains much of Trump’s attitude.
“Beware, when a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside but not to enquire about its health”.
Albert Camus (translated).
I heard this for the first time recently and it seems to capture our current situation very elegantly.
Spot on
Known for his vocal support of Palestinian rights:
“George Galloway stopped by counter-terror police at Gatwick” (Last night, Sat 27 Sep)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20e4ge36e6o
“In a statement, Galloway’s party condemned what it described as “politically motivated intimidation” and said freedom of speech is lying “on the scrap heap”.
“neither were arrested and they were “allowed on their way”
I know others to whom this has happened.
Govt have got themselves into a real pickle with the PA terrorism proscription. If non violent direct action is now equivalent to ISIS who bomb and behead people at will , they are really in a absurd position vis a vis the courts and international treaties and obligations.
Making themselves look stupid. Bringing government into disrepute.
AFAIK not a single one of over 1,000 cardboard terrorism cases has come to court yet. Why not? They aren’t complicated. The “evidence” is rock-solid.
As the sentence is up to 14 years in jail, they have to come before a judge and jury.
I’m wondering what the authorities might do (via compliant judges) to prevent them descending into farce?
Hold them in camera for reasons of national security? (Because MI5 agents will be giving top secret evidence about terrorist-sourced lethally impregnated cardboard and reverse engineered Sharpie pens?)
Reinstitute Diplock courts? (no juries)
Prevent defendants offering a defence, as they tried to do with climate or red paint defendants.
Delay the cases as long as possible with tagging and prolonged restrictive bail (and reporting) conditions on the defendants (“The Rev Sue Parfitt’s words will be spoken by an actor” – maybe Gerry Adams?)
Do what DPP Starmer did in the riots – Nightingale Courts, hear them all together on Zoom, have “technical problems” which prevent the public hearing anything, and announce 1,000 simultaneous guilty verdicts, and sentences of 200 hours community service (recycling cardboard?).
This “supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation” farce needs to be made as ridiculous as possible, because it is DEADLY serious.
For those of us who remember when there were REAL terror attacks in UK, this cardboard drivel is an insult to every victim of political violence – it is spitting on their graves. It is an insult to everyone who risks their lives to prevent political violence or who has had to (literally) scrape the results off the pavement in our cities.
The politicians involved are an utter disgrace.
I like your imagination.
“AFAIK not a single one of over 1,000 cardboard terrorism cases has come to court yet. Why not? They aren’t complicated. The “evidence” is rock-solid.”
There’s an easy answer to that. There’s a judicial review of the decision to proscribe Palestine Action incoming.
It would be convenient for the government if the new Home Secretary put forward a weak justification and the proscription is annulled. It would save a lot of court time.
Enormous pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin and Italy this weekend… anywhere else? The only reason I knew is through accessing Al Jazeera. In my national press… silence. nothing happening. definitely suppression going on… by whom?
“Free speech is absolutely essential to democracy”
Says the person who is determined to ensure his blog remains an echo chamber, by censuring dissenting views!
Editorial freedom – and most especially the right to protect commentators from abuse – is a key element of free speech.
Free speech does not include the right to abuse.
Nor come to that does it include the right to be published wherever you wish.
Your claim shows you do not understand free speech, and nothing else.
Unless we have people like Richard J Murphy standing up for freedom of speech and democracy we ( the majority of citizens on earth) will go under.
I’m writing from Australia. We’ve had a few protests by ‘sovereign citizens’ but so far their numbers are low. I walked on Sydney Harbour Bridge a few weeks ago in support of Palestine with about 300,000 other people.
It was democracy in action despite police trying to stop the march in the NSW Supreme Court.
And a couple of days later the Sydney Morning Herald published my letter about the trouble free march.
Thank you, thank you Richard J Murphy.
Mick from Australia
Thank you