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FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The world wide web has changed what freedom of speech really means and how people all over the world express this freedom, and share their ideas, opinions, thoughts and experiences.
Freedom of speech is granted unambiguous protection in international law by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which is binding on approximately 150 nations.
The United States too takes the freedom of speech of its citizens very seriously. The political transformation of the sixties, the decade that shaped the current American generation with its sweeping reforms, was built on the platform of free speech. Within the U.S., the freedom of speech varies widely from one state to the next. Of all 50 states, the state of California permits its citizens the broadest possible range of free speech under the state constitution (whose declaration of rights includes a strong affirmative right to free speech, in addition to a prohibition paralleling the federal prohibition on laws that abridge the freedom of speech).
Though most countries provide formal legal guarantees of freedom of speech to their citizens, countries such as Cuba, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, North Korea and Central Asian Republics like Turkmenistan brutally repress freedom of speech.
Like many constitutional rights, freedom of speech is more a contested terrain than an absolute principle. However, most countries are experiencing an explosion of media (internet and new forms of low power radio stations) and the power of free speech is starting to be felt by the masses as many of the limitations to speech are being removed.
With the web as our platform, we want to encourage people to exercise this important freedom which is the cornerstone of democracy. We hope that without the limitations of geography or politics, people all over the world will interact with each other and freely express and exchange ideas, and that that exchange will help make our world a better place to live in.
We urge you to come forward, register yourself on this site (and tell your friends about it), and express yourself with your words and opinions. What you have to say might affect what others say and how they see the world.
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