Freedom of expression is the lifeblood of democracy. George Orwell wrote that a free society should uphold “the right to print what one believes to be true, without having to fear bullying or blackmail from any side”. But in modern Britain traditional liberty is under unprecedented threat from the appeasement of religious extremism, state authoritarianism in defence of its ideology and a widespread belief that we have a right not to be offended.
As a result, the cancel culture now flourishes across the public sector, while officialdom has created a climate of censorship on a scale not even seen in wartime. According to one study, every day in 2017, nine citizens were arrested by the police for comments they made online. It’s incredible that, last year alone, the police recorded no fewer than 13,000 so-called “non-crime hate incidents,” many of them for trivial incidents, like the case of the nine-year-old child reported for calling a classmate “a retard” or the motorist investigated after a complaint that she had sounded her horn in a racist manner at a petrol station.
Far from feeling embarrassed by such absurdities, officialdom wants to go even further. Earlier this month a Home Office internal review urged that the scope of non-crime hate incidents be widened.
Nor is status any shield against this Orwellian slide into bullying groupthink. Last year, the independent peer Lord Austin had his name taken by the police for the offence of describing the Palestinian terror group Hamas as “Islamist”. His case exposes one of the darkest aspects of the war on free speech: the push by the state to outlaw any criticism of Islam.
This week Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner revealed plans to establish a new 16-strong council on Islamophobia, which will help to define the term and suggest changes in the law. Labour has adopted this course, partly because it is in thrall to identity politics and partly because it is desperate to shore up its traditional Muslim base, having haemorrhaged support during the war in Gaza because of the leadership’s reluctance to give unequivocal backing to the Palestinian cause.
At the General Election, Labour lost a string of seats in their urban heartlands and some key party strategists believe that the current mood of grievance might be lessened by making Islamophobia a specific crime.
If legislation goes ahead, it’s likely Ms Rayner’s proposed council will follow the approach of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, which in 2018 labelled Islamophobia as “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.
Free speech campaigners argue that such a move would be disastrous, resulting in the return of the ancient blasphemy laws, which were abolished in 2008 after decades of non-use. In reality, a de facto blasphemy law already operates in this country, as was dramatically illustrated this week when a man from Manchester was hauled into court on a charge of racially aggravated harassment after he burnt a copy of the Koran.
The police justified his arrest by claiming there was “deep concern” within the area’s “diverse communities”. The judge took the same morally outraged tone, telling the defendant “this is a tolerant country but we do not tolerate such behaviour”.
There are worrying double standards at work. No other religion – and certainly not Christianity – has this kind of protective forcefield around it. The reasons for this unique special treatment of Islam are twofold. First is the desire to maintain the illusion of multi-culturalism’s success by the concealment of deepening social problems, as happened in the long cover-up of predatory rape gangs. Second, demands for the redress of Muslim victimhood often come laced with menace. The book-burners who marched to demand the death of the writer Salman Rushie have their equivalents today in the protestors who sent a Batley teacher into permanent hiding for allegedly insulting Islam in a classroom discussion.
But it is precisely that kind of episode which reinforces how important it is to stand up for free speech. Collusion with fundamentalists is bound to sow divisions and breed resentment. Britain has already been transformed through the social revolution fuelled by mass immigration. We should not be losing essential, cherished liberties as well.