eupolicy.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
This Mastodon server is a friendly and respectful discussion space for people working in areas related to EU policy. When you request to create an account, please tell us something about you.

Server stats:

216
active users

#freedomofexpression

2 posts2 participants0 posts today

VK fascistisch?

Aanstaande maandag besluit de Britse Hoge Raad, of één van de oprichters van Palestine Action, juridisch bezwaar mag maken tegen het besluit van de staatssecretaris van binnenlandse zaken, Yvette Cooper, om Palestine Action te verbieden - omdat het een terroristische organisatie zou zijn (i.v.m. het onrechtmatig betreden van een militair vliegveld en het met verf besmeuren van enkele vliegtuigen - m.i. een onverstandige actie, maar geen terrorisme).

Nb. er bestaan serieuze verdenkingen dat het Britse leger Israël actief steunt bij de genocide op Palestijnen en het met de grond gelijkmaken van Gaza, onder meer door het uitvoeren van verkenningsvluchten boven Gaza.

Opmerkelijk is ook dat premier Keir Starmer, eerder als advocaat, vergelijkbare "terroristen" verdedigde (zie bijv. independent.co.uk/voices/keir-).

Voor vandaag zijn er in het VK opnieuw demonstraties aangekondigd tegen het besluit om Palestine Action te verbieden onder een anti-terrorismewet. Naar verwachting zullen weer vele demonstranten door de Britse Politie worden gearresteerd om het uiten van hun mening.

Onderstaande screenshot is van een deel van judiciary.uk/judgments/huda-am.

🧵 1/2: Remember this name: #UKLFI aka #UK #Lawyers for #Israel, a #charity and limited company that is behind the censorship, lawsuits (incl. on grounds of #terrorism) & loss of earnings for many bands incl. #Kneecap, #BobVylan #MassiveAttack & many more artists.

Today these artists together with the #artivism collective #LedByDonkeys are fighting back

theguardian.com/music/2025/jul

The Guardian · Massive Attack announce alliance of musicians speaking out over GazaBy Haroon Siddique
Replied in thread

(2/2)

As a bonus, smoking gun evidence that proprietary platforms don't really care about freedom of expression when it matters, despite their handwaving about "free speech" when it suits them;

@mysk
> Meta insisted it wasn’t a bug. When we published videos demonstrating the issue, they asked YouTube to take them down. YouTube removed one video and gave us a strike

They don't care about freedom of the press, so we must.

Continued thread

If we had #FreedomOfExpression in America, it's possible that we could have prevented the suicide of empire, but because we don't, because popular voices have been either too cowardly or misinformed to actually critique the fact that nation states kept falling into the known traps set by these insurgents, well, those traps worked. Most people have no idea why bin Laden planned 9/11. Do you?

Survey: “About three to four times more Americans said they did not feel free to express themselves, compared with the number of those who said so during the McCarthy era. (…) The robust debate so necessary to deliberations in a democracy is squelched as the views of a minority come to be seen as the only ‘acceptable’ political views.”

theconversation.com/self-censo

The ConversationSelf-censorship and the ‘spiral of silence’: Why Americans are less likely to publicly voice their opinions on political issuesNearly half of Americans say they feel less free to speak their minds.

The proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group starts tomorrow.

This is a dangerous escalation in the criminalisation of political dissent in the UK.

It’ll increase surveillance, particularly under the Prevent Duty, and censorship under the Online Safety Act.

Read our blog ⬇️

openrightsgroup.org/blog/banni

Open Rights GroupBanning Palestine Action: How the UK Government is Silencing DissentThe proscription of Palestine Action will come into effect on Saturday unless the High Court issues a temporary block on the order today.

Noa Limona details in #Haaretz how the Shin Bet intelligence service summoned a Palestinian student from Haifa University for interrogation regarding his activities with the #Hadash (left) party’s university branch.

The student underwent body searches twice - upon arrival and before entering the interrogation room. When he asked if this was a formal investigation, the Shin Bet operative said no, adding cryptically that “the investigation will be underground, without light.”

The operatives explicitly warned the student not to “cross red lines” or “even come close to them.” They allegedly threatened that if he did, they would raid his parents’ house at 4 AM and destroy it.

[…] Haaretz has learned that another Arab student who belongs to the Haifa University Hadash branch was summoned for a similar warning talk. The second student said he preferred not to talk to Haaretz for fear of the consequences.

haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-0 or

@academicchatter
@palestine
@israel
#IsraelFascism #ShinBet #freedomofexpression

Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he and five other state leaders are launching a new accreditation system for universities. This is the result of a tantrum he is having because he lost in court against the Biden Department of Education (remember when we had one of those?) when he tried to control the speech of subject area experts who were doing research and establishing university policy that he felt was too woke.

He frames this as introducing competition to the accreditation market. (Capitalists always going to capitalist). He says now universities will have a choice. And if you actually believe that, well...

The state has already prevented one university president, chosen by a cabal of trustees, one faculty member, and a student, from taking office. By installing presidents of their liking, of their political persuasion, the governors of these states will do exactly what they claim the radical left is doing - politically forming curriculum and missions of state universities. Those presidents will publicly thank the governor for introducing choice to the market, and swiftly change accreditors.

The best part? He openly acknowledges that this must be done swiftly before his term ends and the mid term elections happen.

highereddive.com/news/6-univer

#AttackOnHigherEducation
#Florida
#Gleichschaltung
#indoctrination
#AcademicFreedom
#FreedomOfExpression

Higher Ed Dive · 6 public university systems unveil plans to launch new accrediting agencyBy Natalie Schwartz

📢 The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for #humanrights Michael O’Flaherty on Thursday called on #germany to respect #freedomofexpression and peaceful assembly amid ongoing restrictions on pro-Palestinian demonstrations

In a letter addressed to German Interior Minister Dobrindt, O’Flaherty expressed concern over measures that reportedly restrict the use of Arabic language at protests in Berlin, as well as increased surveillance of demonstrators since FEB-2025

📰 MEMO 👇🏽

middleeastmonitor.com/20250619

Middle East Monitor · Council of Europe urges Germany to uphold freedom of expression amid Gaza protests – Middle East Monitor<br /> <b>Warning</b>: Undefined variable $sm_desc in <b>/www/wwwroot/middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/themes/memouk/header.php</b> on line <b>159</b><br /> ...