Freedom of Speech: US versus UK
There is no question that limitations on freedom of speech in the United Kingdom exceed those that are applied in the United States, although the US has been increasing those limitations since Sep. 11 and even before when Bill Clinton – before George W. Bush – used the Oklahoma city bombing as a pretext to pass measures that were precursors to the Patriot Act. But when it comes to the subject of Israel and its crimes, there is more freedom of speech in the UK.
Being in the midst of a speaking tour against Israel (titled “The Case Against Israel”) on UK college campuses, I get to compare and contrast the experience between the two countries. There is no question that one can get away with more criticisms of Israel in the UK than in the US. One can maintain a teaching position at a major UK university, while holding “extreme” views against Israel. That would be unimaginable in the US. In the US, Zionist groups can interfere in the academic tenure process when they don’t like the professor who is being considered for promotion. That is how Zionist “hoodlums” – as Vanessa Redgrave called them years ago – prevented the widely published Norman Finkelstein from receiving tenure at a small college in Illinois. A Zionist professor (of law) saw fit to write the university to prevent Finkelstein from receiving tenure. Comrade Joseph Massad faced a similar onslaught. In the case of of Massad, however, the Zionist failed miserably, despite years of the most crude and vicious smear campaigns.
I got to notice the difference between the UK and US a few years ago when I was doing another speaking tour in the UK. After I finished my talk at Oxford University, my hosts took me to dinner at a local Italian restaurant and they arranged for special menus to be printed with the title: Israel Apartheid Week, or words to that effect. I had to comment to my hosts that such a gesture would have been impossible in the US. I explained that any restaurant which would have agreed to print such a menu, would have been picketed and voices in Congress would have been raised to impose penalties on that restaurant. In the US, Abraham Foxman, would have vomited his regular and casual accusations of anti-Semitism and would have invoked the Nazi threat, etc.
In the UK, there is more of a free debate on the Arab-Israeli conflict although there is a Zionist lobby in the country. But public opinion in the UK is less influenced by the Zionist lobby and its impact on the political establishment is less than in the US. But in the UK, the political class is out of step with the public: the two major parties continue to adhere to the standards British policies of supporting Israeli and its war crimes. But you may be a member of the House of Commons and be a vocal critic of Israel. It is quite different in the US: advocacy for the Palestinians can automatically kill one’s career or his/her chances of promotion within the ranks of either party.
And among college students in the UK, there is more militancy in advocating for the Palestinians. American college students are often too afraid of being accused of anti-Semitism: so many progressives either avoid the subject, or adopt a highly moderate and diluted version of advocacy.
To speak of the college theatres in the US and UK is not to say that the battle for the liberation of Palestine will be fought there. We need all the support that we can get, but the Palestinians are quite capable of liberating their own lands on their own (Oh, and NATO bombers don’t need to be deployed—but thank you for asking).
Comments
Meanwhile, John Terry is being tried for "racial abuse" for a comment allegedly said while he was playing a football game; an attempt at prosecuting this would be laughed at by any judge anywhere in America because the words would have been covered by freedom of speech guarantees. Nice "freedom of expression" laws from the land that gave birth to John Milton.
Doesn't it strike you that racist abuse would be allowed in the US because it remains obstensibly a racist nation with 90% of those being held in US jails and those on death row being black. Perhaps that's why racist language is not a crime in the US - the land of the Klu Klux Klan.
Starting an article with a provocative statement, then following it up with some minor comparisons that don't actually explore the opening statement at all. The rest of the piece has nothing at all to do with the actual legal tenets of freedom of speech but focuses on anecdotal stories related to the power of lobbyists and levels of the social (not legal) tolerance for one, narrow perspective? Pretty poor article from a touring lecturer no?
It's not that there is more freedom of speech in Britain than the US, just that some types have differing degrees of appeal in each country.
For historical reasons, Zionist propaganda enjoys less success in Britain than the US ~ to the recidivist British Imperialist, Mandate Palestine/Israel is another small colony which through illegitimate armed rebellion during a touch'n'go World War has only recently escaped their control. This painfully reminds them of that previous pint-sized backstabber, Ireland, whose [partial] success during and after WW1 set an example which helped deflate the 'glorious' Empire.
Indeed, Zionism's miltants avidly studied the IRA's 1916-21 campaign to expel the British, with Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the LEHI underground [a.k.a. Stern Gang], adopting the nom de guerre "Michael" (after Collins) and vintage IRA organisers like Robert Briscoe, a Dublin adjutant of Eamon de Valera seated in Dail Eireann since 1927, actively aiding Jabotinsky's Irgun with expertise in fundraising, gunrunning and guerrilla warfare tactics from the late 30's onward.
Even after the establishment of the Zionist State, Britain had little luck in conjunction with Israel ~ their Suez gambit of 1956 essentially setting the liquidator's seal on the Empire, after which bankrupt Britain reduced itself to being the obsequious hired henchman of USA.
In the US, on the other hand, Israeli foundational yarns of plucky rebels blasting Redcoats to Kingdom Come will always tug on republican heartstrings, no matter how confused this sentimentality is rendered by their own imperial endeavours.
I am greatly impressed with your mini- IRA History lesson. Actually, facts like these rarely see the light of day, ending up,disappearing down some Orwellian memory hole. I think these factoids go towards explaining who the neo-imperialists are (neo-cons). US Congressman Peter King comes to mind immediately. The old order, in the UK, has come and gone("liquidators seal on the Empire" nice touch). Your rare example shimmers with revalation as to why. The Zionists don't need to censor in the UK, Why? the UK is a liquidated entity. Zionist propaganda overwhelms the US because the US is not quite dead...yet.
Dear Sir,
I was interested to read your assertion that “There is no question that limitations on freedom of speech in the United Kingdom exceed those that are applied in the United States, although the US has been increasing ……….” I wondered how you feel this manifests itself.
Having lived in the both UK and the US I must remark on the lack of reverence to politicians and figures of authority in the UK and the propensity for UK citizens to be overtly critical of their leaders to the point of offensiveness.
The adulation accorded politicians in the States on their campaign trails is unseemly and thoroughly ill deserved especially given their passing into legislation of the ‘Patriot Act’ and the current barometer of US ‘freedom’ the ‘National Defence Authorisation Act’.
I would suggest that the principle of ‘freedom of speech’ has been embedded in the British society for centuries from the very graphic and often crude satirical cartoons of the 18th century, aimed at power figures of any kind, to the many satirical television and radio programmes with huge viewing/listening figures on British airwaves. This is in contrast to ‘The Daily Show’ and the ‘Colbert Report’ only in the US melange of celebrity claptrap and sitcom mania.
True the BBC and the independent news channels in the UK are no more than mainstream corporate media outlets, but their bias and lack of real analytical content pales into insignificance compared to the likes of CNN, Fox TV, CBS, ABC and even MSNBC. Their appalling distortion and omission of facts can only be construed as pro-US/anti-the rest of the world propaganda.
Also, I cannot help feeling that ‘freedom of speech’ would best be served by a country who didn’t incarcerate a whislteblower, namely Bradley Manning, in solitary confinement, naked with the threat of execution hanging over him. No whistleblower in the UK has ever been treated in such a way, and as the UK does not murder its own citizenry, no prisoner, whistleblower or not would be subject to the threat of execution.
US ‘democracy’ bought and paid for by the 17,000 paid lobbyists working for corporate interests in Washington renders any attempt by US citizenry to achieve a real democracy impotent.
I would say that the major failing of the UK is its admiration of all things proffered from the other side of the Atlantic, its sycophancy toward the US and its willingness to be subjected to criticism from a nation which has undertaken 72 interventions into other countries since the end of World War II, has no state health system which is available even in most third world countries, has for the second time instigated a worldwide financial crisis via Wall Street and its Harvard MBAs, has rampant consumerism and waste, and whose greed for the world’s resources is not ever countered by endeavouring to curtail its own consumption.
I think Mr. Abu Khalil that your sharp intellect has been dulled and indoctrinated by the morass of sloppy thinking and blinkered analysis of most US citizens to the outside world.
To re-hone your skills a move outside that country could be in order.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Bradbury
My hatred of Zionism and Zionists comes straightforwardly from the way they've behaved, subverting American democracy and American freedom, my whole life. In particular, I remember Zionists routinely sabotaging anti-apartheid activities being a big wake-up call for me.
The Zionist commenters here are simply following their standard arrogant habits. They really resent the lower classes and inferior races questioning anything. They like the way they traditionally put the lid on all debate in the US - purging everything from government to media to the academy of opposition or even free thought.
They're a bunch of Israel-first Colonel Blimps tut-tutting and harrumphing at the effrontory of the colonized.
"One can maintain a teaching position at a major UK university, while holding “extreme” views against Israel. That would be unimaginable in the US."
Doesn't Abukhalil teach at a US university? (albeit it may not be considered a 'major' one).
Doesn't his bed friend Joseph Massad teach at Ivy League Colombia alongside Rashid Khalidi, and where his hero Edward Said preceded them? Isn't John Mearsheimer teaching at University of Chicago? Joel Beinin at Standford? Juan Cole at Michigan? The list goes on and on, it's Abukhalil talking nonsense as usual.
1) Halidi is really a Zionist, as well as Cole, albeit "liberal" ones (still, Cole was denied a position in Yale)
2) As'ad tells us about Massad getting a tenure against wishes of Zionists as a rare exemption.
3) Said is long dead, RIP
4) John Mearsheimer started speak out against Israel (more or less) only recently, after having a tenure, I guess
If one wants to list all victims of Zionist witch-hunt in USA academia, the comment space would be not enough
For the AA to harangue the US for lack of free speech is theatre of the absurd. Its the primary reason he lives in the US! He speaks or blogs without censure daily, including diatribes highly critical of US govt foreign policy and individuals therein. In fact he says whatever he likes via his blog, and classroom, and any where else he is "invited" in the US. Meanwhile he rarely travels to the middle east because he fears for his own well being. But of course, this is purely the white man's fault. Such "logic" is impossible to dispute because it is so utterly illogical.
He has so little self awareness he can't even see the hypocracy of his stance. He advocates for free speech, yet he berates the pro Israel groups for speaking out against him and others of his cadre. It seems an organized and substantial rebuttal qualifies as being anti free speech. Others might just term it a thoughtful, determined and broadly supported effort. But as the AA can marshal nothing of the kind for his own purposes, therefore it must be an evil Zionist conspiracy. Natch!!
Zionist TW is SO for freedom of speech - he(?) demands form As'ad to be grateful for not being kidnapped, tortured, held indefinitely without trial or assassinated for his words (like were a lot less lucky opponents of USA imperialism and Zionism)
Then TW is calling threatening professors and their schools out of giving a known scholar a tenure ONLY on the basis of opinion unfavorable of Zionism- "free speech". Example of such sort of "freedom" include Nazi Germany.
How much time As'ad spend in the ME is HIS business. But given constant Zionist aggression against his native land - Lebanon - it is very probable that such journey could be dangerous. Of course, USA (the White men) being the prime supporter for Zionist crimes, and even cheerleaders for them (Lebanon 2006), yes, it IS White men fault.
Yes Lidia. We know you think it's all the white mans fault. Although mostly bored by such tripe, we welcome you to do something about it . Put us all in jail. Sue us in international court. Make war upon us. Just do something instead of constant whining. Yawn.
In the meantime we will keep carrying the flame of freedom and advancing humanity. Such as with the computer you are using to read my comment. Lol We will continue exploring the outer reaches of the universe with deep space probes to Mars and beyond, as the paleos build ever more exotic tunnels to smuggle goats, Russian made AK 47s and flavored hummus through.
Indeed, it is the white mans fault we lead the world forward. Its the paleos fault they remain mired in the same tunnel dirt in which their long dead ancestors are entombed.
Oh ,don't forget and call me a Zionist! It's such a funny word. There are so few that start with the letter Z you know. :)
TW, being a typical Zionist is sure that might means right. Not really. His beloved mighty IOF run from Lebanon losing boots from a several thousand part-time Hisballa warriors. His beloved USA occupation army is being hit hard by the rag-tag natives' militia in Afghanistan. And USA capitalism which bankrolls all USA imperialist wars and Zionist crimes is NOT in a good shape. So, I am an optimist. Zionism will end much sooner than TW imagines, but I suppose he would be less worrying about it then that about his own lack of livelihood.
USA imperialism is going to bankruptcy full speed, and pretty soon the last USA soldier will return form mass-murder-torture-plunder-tour of duty, and all USA-founded dictators in the ME and beyond will be a history.
But before the post-colonialist reality hits TW on the head, TW could still do better and decide - does he still prefer to spew "imperialism is freedom" nonsense, or just admit - yes, imperialism is world plunder and he is proud of it. Now he seems to somehow mess this two despicable manrtas :)
So which is it Lidia? Are we getting our butts kicked in Afghanistan, or we killing too many Afghans? You can't have it both ways. I know quite a few Americans who have served there. They have first hand experience, unlike you. We are killing the insurgents in large numbers. In direct combat they have no chance versu our superior firepowern and technogy. To suggest otherwise is absurd. How many fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery guns to your soon to be dead Taliban have? We control most of Afghanistan. How much of America does the Taliban control? Do they have troops roaming our streets in armed vehicles? You can make all kinfds of preidictions about the future, but it's pointless, because you don't know the future, do you? Tell you what. I will renounce imperialism if you will renounce all western created technology. Ok? No cars for you. No computer. No cell phone. No Internet. No airplane travel. No hamburgers..hahahahAha. I will of course forsake hummus.
Your culture is vastly inferior to American western capitalism and democracy. It's why our military and economy are the strongest in the world, and yours are pathetically weak. Even our movies, representing culture, mostly made Hollywood zionists, are hugely popular around the world. Your poor subculture is dying as I type. Your culture creates no new technology. It advances no new science. It offers now new medicines.. It is circling the drain, and wont survive mid century. Say goodbye Lydia.
TW is playing stupid (or is it NOT a play?). USA imperialism was booted out of Vietnam, while mass-murdering civilians. This is a modus operandy of every colonial army. So, TW has it both - a kicked ass and a blood of civilians up his throat. Of course, even TW is NOT ready to brag of such "feats", and tries as suitable to imperialist and Zionist to whitewash it, citing criminal colonial murderers as his "authority". Sure, the mass-murderers are the best humanitarians.
Then he tried some tortured (like Afghan civilians tortured by USA occupation army) logic - you see, the nationalist resistance fighters are guilty not of having tanks to "openly" fight the colonizers. Too bad. The guerrilla war is ALWAYS fought such way, and often is victorious. If TW is not happy with such fact, TW should STOP colonial wars. Simple enough. Afghans are NOT interested in occupying USA (even though such news could be surprising to TW). They just want to have their own country for THEMSELVES. NOT to TW and his murderous buddies aka "USA soldiers". But the billions spend on mass -murdering Afghans and still without much military "victory" are not spend in vain. They brought misery NOT only to Afghans, but to a lot of Americans as well.
And how much of America the 99% of Americans control? Are they well fed, healthy, have a decent housing and education? Are they at least safe? Sure, they still fare better than victims of USA imperialism and colonialist wars, but I suppose it is not so great solution for long-term unemployed without heathcare, for evicted from a foreclosed home, for a hungry child in family with parents working but still not making enough. Of course, the majority of Americans seems to be against the prolonging war in Afghanistan, but in democratic USA their opinion mean nothing at all. More than that, both Deps and Reps are promising more wars - on Iran, for ex. Ron Paul is only one who is not, but even this is not sure.
And while USA military is still mighty (at the expense of the 99% wellbeing, and with not much to write home about victories), the USA economy is sure not. Capitalism in USA now means cutting wages to match Chinese ones - good luck in this.
Of course, USA imperialism include the cultural (?) dimension. But with the decline of USA capitalism as a whole, it will be changed as well. Anyway, even with all Hollywood Zionism, the majority of the world do NOT support Zionism. It seems that even imperialist propaganda has its limits. After all, reality is more powerful than any stupid lies, and it seems even in USA there is some movement in the right direction. We'll see.
American limitations on freedom of speech don't appear to have much impeded AbuKhalil, who has of course dined long and well on the providence of the 'Great Satan'. Regarding the final paragraph, though, one simply must disagree. The Palestinians have been going it alone for over 60 years and nothing has halted the settlement expansion and the proliferation of ever-more-hardline Zionist policy. The biggest reason for this, as everyone knows, is the carte blanche given to Israel by the US. So it seems perfectly obvious that "the battle for the liberation of Palestine" must be fought on the campuses of the US, for only US public opinion has the power to contain Israeli expansionism. (Unless the Gulf Arabs decide to use their stupendous wealth to out-bid the Israel Lobby on Capitol Hill, which of course they show absolutely zero inclination to do.)
1) first typical Zionist smear of As'ad
2) then typical imperialist arrogance of "White men" - the only who could save Palestinians. As if USA "public opinion" could even save USA population itself even from the most open robbery, spying and even murder by perz. decision.
3) Gulf Arabs are sitting on oil wealth ONLY as a result of USA support, but, somehow, such things are not important.
In short, a liberal Zionist.
So let's see. Herr professor believes he should be able to advocate fiercely against Israel, but those who oppose him and his views should be prohibited from saying so, or stopped from advocating against his perspective. That is his definition of free speech. If he agrees with it, by all means, otherwise it is an evil zionist plot and should be banned.
Got ya! How incredibly predictable and typical!
Ruining careers through false accusations and threats is not "speech" and is not at all what Abu Khalil does!
And he is right that zionists target careers in the US and manage to limit congress to a warped homogenous voice of public support for ethnic cleansing.
Obviously he's not advocating that at all. If you had a clear understanding of As'ad AbuKhalil's blog, you would know this. But you don't, so please spare me your demagoguery and assumptions
I agree with this comparison. Israel lobbies have less influence in UK.
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