We are in a full crisis of free speech. Previously this monthAgents of glaciers detained by Mahmoud KhalilThe owner of the green card, with plans to deport it because of the content of his speech. Trump banned the AP journalists From the press -briffing press after the AP refused to use the phrase “Bay of America”, not the “Mexican Bay” in its style. And the administration is Following the threats To withdraw funding from universities, which allowed a restless speech. While Trump loses in court for many of his efforts, many corporate, university and non -profit leaders calmly obey in advance, avoiding conflicts.
In the 1960s, Movement of freedom of speech It was a cohesive cry for students and activists who understood that the right to disagree, arguing and talking freely was important for democracy. Today we need a new movement for free speech – and not just the restoration of the 1960s. The new movement for freedom of speech acknowledges that the direct authoritarian authorities of the Trump administration, and the admiration of the authorities of private monopolists is a significant danger.
For decades, the US Union of Civil Liberties (ACLU) has been seen as a gold standard for defending free speech. He stood up for the right of the Nazis to go into jumps, and made it state that the principle of free word had more than the content of which is a specific speech. But in the last 10 years several critics – including the former ACLU IRA Glasser Executive Carex – have convincingly argued what u Aklu is there compromised or even abandoned these valuesChoosing cases based on a significant vision rather than severely defending the speech regardless of its content.
One of the most famous mistakes came when ACLU’s lawyer argued to force Amazon to ban the book, saying“Stoping the circulation of this book, and these ideas are 100% hill on which I will die.” This statement was not just a stupid tweet activist; This revealed the fundamental and long -term misunderstanding of how the consolidated corporate power threatens a free word.
In the vision of ACLU, private power never pose a risk to free expression. If Instagram wants stifle Palestinian content (According to it that this is a reliable reporting), it does not concern democracy, regardless of the share of the Instagram market.
If Baisan Doj struggled Stop merger between two Goliath booksRecognizing that authors who are several possible outlets are important for the free expression, ACLU is silent. Instead, it is repeatedly Powdered panties On behalf of great technologyProtecting the freedom of the Silicon Valley to act as impossible monopolists, claiming the state is not entitled Adjust the design of large technology, Even if this is the adjustment Would make it more neutral content.
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This is not a new phenomenon. Aclu was one of the driving forces behind Buckley v. ValeoThe Supreme Court’s case that thought the money is speech and the organization boast What ACLU “has created most of the constitutional base that restricted all federal campaign financing legislation.” It was for a few The following problems for the law financing campaign as well as A strong fan Supreme Court’s decisions Citizens unitedSubmitting a short statement saying that corporations should have the right to spend unlimited money on the polls.
Such views reveal the decisive weakness of the movement for the freedom of speech of the 1960s, namely its non -lying core, which refuses to understand how the power works, and understands the censorship completely formally timed to government subjects.
Even if this approach may seem like 30 years ago, it has long passed the date of sale. Trump’s oligarchy requires us to create a more new, deep, more fundamental understanding of the free speech – one that sees both the suppression of the government and private censorship as true dangers for democratic discussions and freedom.
In Trump’s oligarchy, the border between the government speech and the private speech is unclear. Trump openly threatened Mark Zuckerberg in prison as he rose to him, questioning whether Zuckerberg was changing on Facebook and Instagram, which strangled the speech – the version of Trump’s freedom. Trump’s closer ties with Jeff Bezos (who found many ways to subsidize Trump’s empire) and Elon Musk (which controls Starlink, Twitter and most of Trump’s agenda) means that when any billionaire makes decisions based on what they need to suppress, they are fulfilled.
The history of reconstruction offers another lesson. After the Civil War, black Americans were politically active as never before in our history. Sixteen black politicians who served in the US Congress have been elected by the state legislative body, and the black -white citizens together made new state constitutions. But one of the most unpredictable methods used to dismantle the reconstruction was the use of credit monopolies.
In many parts of the south, black farmers could not get the loans needed for survival without passing through local owners of common stores whose their own merit was controlled by the Northern Banks. These monopolists possessed almost free force. They denied the merit of black farmers who engaged in political activity and dictated what crops they could grow – forcing them to grow cotton, not food to maintain economic dependence.
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The lesson is clear: control over access to essentials – whether it is a loan, land, or in today, speech platforms – can be as effective for stifling political freedom as open state bans. A society that does not recognize the speech threat of monopolistic corporations asAmazon, Google or Meta This is the one that gave up the true spirit of the free word. There is a reason that Louis Brandei, the first amendment champion, was also a brutal antimalist.
It is very bad that for many people it took the second term Trump, but the basis is now laid for a new movement for free speech. This new movement will challenge both state suppression and admit that monopolistic control over the platforms of discourse is not just a business problem, but also a question of civil rights and a fundamental to free society. Trump shows us how an inconspicuous class of corporate solutions looks like-and it looks like a lot of fear and a terrible loss of freedom.
The hard and chaotic second term Donald Trump is just beginning. In the first month, Trump’s office and his Like -Elon Musk (or this is the opposite?) Proved that nothing is safe from sacrifice at the altar without checking strength and wealth.
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Katrina Vanden Hievel
Editorial director and publisher, A Nation
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