On Sun, 22 Jun 1997, Karl Carlile wrote:
> KARL: Just a while ago I had a discussion with some people from the
> radical left concerning fascism. They were of the view that the Left
> should fight for the denial of free speech to fascists.
> Basically I argued that it is politically incorrect for
> revolutionary socialism (which is virtually non-existent) under
> present conditions fight for the denial of free speech to fascists in
> public places or in acadmeci institutions etc.
Although I am rather ambivalent on whether fascists should be
silenced, I reject the usual bourgeois platitudes about "freedom of
speech."
What is freedom of speech?
More importantly for WHOM is freedom of speech?
It is a chimera hoisted by the bourgoisie to lend moral legitimacy to
their asphyxiating control over the means and modes of communication.
Freedom of speech is for those who can afford it, not for the masses that
are tossed the leftovers and are regaled with tales of freedoms they can
barely sniff let alone taste.
The line they feed us with is that "there are always two sides to a
story," or "one must be fair," or "one should be balanced," blah, blah,
blah...
Oddly enough, such principles never apply to the dominant discourse they
force-feed us with!
Word,
Dennis Grammenos
_______________________________________________________
| Dennis Grammenos dgrammen@prairienet.org |
| Departments of Geography |
| & Russian and East European Studies |
| University of Illinois Phone:(217) 333-1880 |
| Urbana, Il 61801 Fax: (217) 244-1785 |
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