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On the brink
Freedom and democracy are on the ballot in the US presidential election
Latest news
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Free expression concerns over Online Safety Act’s age verification requirements
There are many questions around how age verification works in practise and what its consequences could be for our online speech
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Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa’s online stormtroopers target women who speak out
The Varakashi are using anonymous and fake accounts to mock, delegitimise and threaten opposition to the ruling ZANU PF party
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How India’s comedians are paying the price for free speech
An incident in which Mumbai's Habitat comedy club was vandalised by supporters of a local political group after Kunal Kamra made jokes about its le...
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Shadow of Gaza conflict hangs over education
Schools and universities in the war zone have been destroyed. Attempts to write about it have been silenced
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Spotlight: Trump's official visit to the UK
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Has President Trump launched the age of the American dissident?
A new era of authoritarianism has dawned in the “land of liberty”. What can US political activists learn from those who defied Soviet repression?
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Who’s the Boss? Trump and Springsteen’s war of words
It is ironic that the US president, a supposed champion of free speech, has threatened Bruce Springsteen for expressing his thoughts
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Could Donald Trump’s administration be a double-edged sword for free speech?
We speak with the USA-based non-profit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) about the new president's complicated approach to fre...
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Can academic freedom survive Donald Trump’s plans for thought control?
The president’s aim to remove power from universities and punish so-called “woke” ideology has chilling implications for free speech globally
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MAGAZINE
LATEST ISSUE: VOLUME 54.02 SUMMER 2025
Land of the Free?: Trump's war on speech at home and abroad
Has the USA, the so-called Land of the Free, become a dangerous country for those who question its government?
Such a notion is, of course, in opposition to the country’s founding principles. Enshrined in the 1791 First Amendment to the US Constitution are citizens’ fundamental freedoms – including freedom of religion, speech, the press, protest and petition. Conveniently glossing over its dark history of colonisation and slavery (which would continue for nearly a century after the First Amendment was ratified), it signified the USA as a global bastion of democracy, equality and civilised values. Now, Trump appears to be metaphorically setting fire to the paper these principles are written on.
This is having profound impacts within the USA and around the world. Trump was inaugurated for his second term only six months ago, but already he has sought to deport people for their views on Israel and Palestine; threatened universities with eye-watering financial sanctions if they do not adhere to his ideological viewpoints; slashed the budgets of state-funded broadcasters; deployed the National Guard to police protests, a tactic used by military dictatorships; and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), stopping the work of human rights groups globally.
In this edition, we explore these attacks on free speech at home and abroad.
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