Libsyn Directory

Special Edition - Suzanne Nossel

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

Release Date: 07/31/2020

Episode 41 - Free Speech and Racial Justice: Friends or Foes?

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

This episode will focus on what role the dynamic between censorship and free speech has played in maintaining and challenging racist and oppressive societies. The episode will use American slavery and segregation, British colonialism, and South African apartheid as case studies.

Special Edition - Suzanne Nossel

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In this Special Edition, we will zoom in on current challenges to free speech – specifically in the US. With me to discuss this timely subject, I have CEO of PEN America, Suzanne Nossel, who has just published her new book Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All.

Special Edition - Daphne Keller & Kate Klonick

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

“Internet Speech Will Never Go Back to Normal” read a recent Atlantic article, that stated that “governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with a society’s norms and values.”

Special Edition - Dunja Mijatović

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

Since the coronavirus became a pandemic, governments around the world have adopted a wide range of measures affecting basic human rights. This includes many of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe all of whom are legally bound by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Special Edition - Monika Bickert

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

The Coronavirus has disrupted life as we know it. And the Internet overflows with torrents of data, news and updates about the ongoing crisis. But in parallel with the corona pandemic, WHO has warned of an “infodemic” of mis- and disinformation spreading through social media and messaging apps.

Episode 40 - The Age of Human Rights: Tragedy and Triumph

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In this episode we will explore:

Episode 39 - The Totalitarian Temptation – Part II - Der Untergang

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

Weimar Germany was deeply conflicted about the value of free speech. On the one hand, freedom of expression was constitutionally protected. On the other hand, the constitution allowed censorship of cinema and “trash and filth” in literature.

Episode 38 - The Totalitarian Temptation – Part I

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In this first of a two-part episode on totalitarianism in Communist Russia, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany, we will focus on the rise of communism and Italian fascism and the effects of these ideologies on free expression. Hopefully this journey into the darkest of pasts will help shed light on how to grapple with one of democracy’s eternal and inevitable dilemmas: What should be the limits of free speech?

Episode 37 - Expert opinion: The History of Mass Surveillance, with Andreas Marklund

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In this episode, we discuss the history of mass surveillance and its consequences for freedom of expression and information. With me is Andreas Marklund who is the head of research at the ENIGMA Museum of Communication, in Copenhagen.

Episode 36 - Expert opinion: Thomas Healy on how Oliver Wendell Holmes changed the history of free speech in America

Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In this conversation, professor Thomas Healy explains how Wendell Holmes changed his mind on free speech and laid the foundation for the current strong legal protection of the First Amendment. Thomas Healy is a professor of law at Seton Hall University School of Law and the author of the award-winning book “The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind--And Changed the History of Free Speech in America”.

More Episodes

The conversation evolves the main conclusions of Suzanne's book including matters such as:

How Suzanne´s fight against an international blasphemy law at the UN inspired her to write the book
How Suzanne's 20 principles for free speech aims to provide a toolset needed to speak one's mind in today's diverse, digitized, and highly-divided society without resorting to curbs on free expression
How we deal with hate speech without sacrificing free speech
What we can do to avoid harm when speaking
How so-called cancel culture has migrated from campus to elite media, corporate and cultural institutions
How to balance social media platforms right to control public discourse and the snowballing societal consensus that media platforms need to do more to mitigate the harms of content posted on their services.

Suzanne Nossel is the CEO of PEN America. She has also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; and held senior State Department positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

Why have kings, emperors, and governments killed and imprisoned people to shut them up? And why have countless people risked death and imprisonment to express their beliefs? Jacob Mchangama guides you through the history of free speech from the trial of Socrates to the Great Firewall.

You can subscribe and listen to Clear and Present Danger on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, YouTube, TuneIn, and Stitcher, or download episodes directly from SoundCloud.

Stay up to date with Clear and Present Danger on the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages, or visit the podcast’s website at freespeechhistory.com. Email us feedback at [email protected].

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