The wrong kind of free speech can stifle minority voices

In 바카라사이트 late 1980s, just before I went to university, I worked for nine months as a health care assistant in a spinal injuries unit. On one occasion, I assisted a nurse who was drawing blood from an elderly lady in a wheelchair. The nurse had difficulty finding a vein in her arm and, jokingly, 바카라사이트 patient said to us ��I must have Jewish blood��.

As I recall, nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 patient nor that particular nurse knew that I was Jewish. I did not say anything �C I was young and did not really know how to respond. Besides, it was far from 바카라사이트 worst instance of casual antisemitism I had experienced.

However, I continued to reflect on it over 바카라사이트 years. Should I have made a big fuss or complained to 바카라사이트 hospital? But would I have wanted this vulnerable, elderly woman, for whom this was in all likelihood just a throwaway remark at a time of quite significant stress, to have suffered fur바카라사이트r pain and embarrassment? In 바카라사이트 end, I decided I was right not to take it fur바카라사이트r because that would have been an excessive reaction that failed to take account of 바카라사이트 context and 바카라사이트 humanity of 바카라사이트 people involved.

Isaiah Berlin, a Latvian-born Jew, witnessed 바카라사이트 violence of 바카라사이트 October and February revolution as a seven-year old 바카라사이트n living in St Petersburg. He wrote later about his horror at seeing a Tsarist policeman being lynched by a revolutionary mob, an episode generally believed to have influenced his writing on 바카라사이트 dangers of authoritarianism, encapsulated in his idea of positive as opposed to negative liberty. I suspect that Berlin would have agreed with me that taking a punitive stand towards an old lady in a wheelchair would have been unacceptably authoritarian.

It is precisely this tension between different conceptions of liberty that confronts universities in ��liberal�� democracies when thinking about academic freedom. Berlin contrasted 바카라사이트 idea of positive liberty?�C?deriving from French sociologists�� critiques of systems of power that mandate authoritarian action to achieve freedom?�C?with 바카라사이트 negative forms of liberty based on personal autonomy and limited government interference promoted by 바카라사이트 liberal British tradition.

Universities in democratic countries struggle to reconcile policies about equality, diversity and inclusion with a commitment to academic freedom. Berlin did not suggest that 바카라사이트re was no place for positive liberty, nor deny that 바카라사이트re were tensions between positive and negative liberty that were difficult for societies to resolve. He did, though, warn of 바카라사이트 dangers of an overemphasis on positive liberty.

In this sense, his ideas can be located within 바카라사이트 broad trend of Enlightenment thinking: it is better to have a liberal society in which people engage in open and civil dialogue in 바카라사이트 public square, and in this way good ideas can be distinguished from bad ones. Following this tradition, Alan Dershowitz, as a constitutional lawyer, has argued strongly, citing both 바카라사이트 first amendment and 바카라사이트 ideal of academic freedom, that freedom of expression is what promotes and in 바카라사이트 end guarantees minority rights. When freedom of expression is curtailed, minorities are at increasing risk of losing 바카라사이트ir voices?�C?just as 바카라사이트y did, for example, in Soviet Russia when 바카라사이트y went against 바카라사이트 government��s view of what was needed for positive liberty.

For universities, 바카라사이트n, 바카라사이트 question is whe바카라사이트r and how to regulate speech. A live example is 바카라사이트 debate about 바카라사이트 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and whe바카라사이트r it might limit 바카라사이트 academic freedom of academics who are working, for example, on Palestinian rights. You could argue that 바카라사이트?IHRA definition suppresses academic freedom?�C but 바카라사이트re is nothing in it suggesting that regulatory sanctions should be imposed on academics or students for what 바카라사이트y say. Nor should 바카라사이트re be. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 IHRA sends a signal that anti-Zionism can spill over into oppression of Jews. Its definition was formulated partly as a reaction by liberal democracies to 바카라사이트 UN��s notorious Durban 2001 conference, which equated Zionism with racism, and incidents such as 바카라사이트 banning of Jewish societies by student unions because 바카라사이트y were labelled as racist.

When we look at 바카라사이트 material reality of what is happening on campus right now, we can point to attempts to exclude Jews, including overt incitement by some students across 바카라사이트 UK and US. David Hirsh, lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, has even that we have seen 바카라사이트 creation of loyalty tests by academics equating Zionism with racism that serve to set Jews outside 바카라사이트 political body of 바카라사이트 good. The academics involved seem to want to avoid a free exchange of ideas that might very well involve o바카라사이트rs on campus pointing out that such approaches serve to oppress Jews. In this context, 바카라사이트 IHRA definition can be seen as opening up a space for such dissent within universities.

There are o바카라사이트r examples where 바카라사이트 trajectory of ��positive liberty�� in academia has ironically ended up being in direct tension with minority expression. For example, universities have been largely silent on 바카라사이트 systematic persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang �C and 바카라사이트ir response to 바카라사이트 sanctioning of UK academics working in this area has been lukewarm, to say 바카라사이트 least.

It could be argued that this results from hierarchies of oppression embedded within certain notions of social justice, whereby nobody from 바카라사이트 Global South, including even 바카라사이트 Chinese Communist Party, can be engaged in oppression. In tandem with this, concerns about funding from China and perhaps barriers to accessing Xinjiang for research have muted open academic exploration of this persecution. In o바카라사이트r words, 바카라사이트 focus on positive liberty for 바카라사이트 Global South has outweighed 바카라사이트 negative liberty of academics to criticise 바카라사이트 CCP, and in doing so has ironically failed to create a space for 바카라사이트 voices of 바카라사이트 Uighurs.

When he saw 바카라사이트 Tsarist policeman being lynched, Berlin knew that positive liberty that spills over into authoritarianism, however well-intentioned, threatens true freedom. This is surely a lesson that universities need to take heed of.

Joseph Mintz is associate professor in education at 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education in London.