Hyde Park and the Free Speech in The UK
Naziha Saleh
At a place called Speaker's Corner at the Hyde Park in the heart of London the capital of United Kingdom, you see different types of people who come to debate on different school of religious thoughts: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Speakers there may speak about any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, but in practice, the police tend to be tolerant and therefore don't intervene.
The story of this place, which was originally a medieval deer park for Henry VIII to hunt, started when huge Public riots broke out in the park in 1855, in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill, which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday, the only "off" day for working people. The said riots were described by Karl Marx as the beginning of the English revolution.
On that very same day, the government gave the riots the right to speak in Hyde Park only under the "The Parks Regulation Act 1872", instead of letting them demonstrate against the government. Thus the government worked out the issue, and since then, it became a tradition for people to come every Sunday to speak out what they think is their right in the park.
Some people come prepared and know what to say, and some others come to just listen and watch. Some well known world figures such as Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels, Orwell, Marcus Garvey and Lenin, have all debated here, giving this place great significance.
However, the freedom of speech and the attendees decreased in numbers with the recent discovery of undercover police filming and recording the speeches of participants. It seems as though this place of free speech and liberty is becoming increasingly under threat. Britain's constitution on Human Rights remained unwritten until the Parliament formally adopted the Act in the year 1998. Therefore, can any freedom of speech seeker believe that this country, which has had this traditional debate corner, enjoys real freedom? Proving the contrary, we go back to the year 2003 when the park authorities banned a demonstration set for February 15 against the War in Iraq, causing uproar by protesters and human rights association.
Mohammed, a Lebanese student who came to London to attend University, took me for a tour around the Hyde Park and explained how this corner eventually became for uneducated people, because the government plans on keeping it as a "problematic corner" rather than a platform for scientific discussion between the rational and educated people. While we were there, I attended some of the arguments, listening to the level of discussions. There was nothing but shouting and discrimination precisely against Islam.
I watched a middle aged tan British man step over the three step stairs he brought along with him. He started abusing Islam by saying: "There is no man in the world named Mohammed, and there is no proof that Mohammed existed in the past". He then started calling on the Muslims in the park to give him proof of Mohammed, and if there was any biography written about him," absolutely no, you don't have any answer", he added.
All Muslims were gathering around him and shouting at him, with no straight forward answer to his questions. Then one of crowd said: "Yes there is a man called Ali bin Abi Taleb who talked about the prophet Mohammed, and wrote about him, yes we have a biography about the prophet Mohammed." The English man laughed and started shouting to the crowd: "Hey you hear what he said, he said Ali Baba."
Few steps near this gathering stood a Jewish speaker wearing a black hat. He was explaining to a crowd of people how Islam hates the Jews, while some Muslims were among the crowd trying to defend their point, but weren't able to succeed because a man started defending the Jewish speaker, saying he hates Muslims, which eventually led to a fight.
A few minutes later, several police officers arrived, not to stop the discrimination and the bad words about the prophet Mohammed, but to make sure that the Jewish speaker and the English speaker are safe.
The police's job in the park is to observe if any of the speakers would mention the royal family or criticize the government.
Eventually, this park has a corner which is protected by the police as long as there is fighting between religions, to enrich hatred in a country with a diversity of religions, origins and cultures. The government is nourishing hatred among religions, so no one would be aware of what the government is doing; no one would ask the government about the taxes they pay for the queen and her family.
People in the UK are not allowed to raise a question why their troops are outside the UK and for the benefit of whom they fight?
In this context, the traditional speaker's corner at Hyde Park is not a free place to speak, it is rather a "cover" for the British government's actions and crimes, as it promotes people to argue and disagree with other people from different thoughts.
Instead of giving people the freedom to argue and debate or even express opposition to the government, they have turned it into an ethnic and religious battleground.
Well, here in the UK, you can do whatever you want, as long as you have no say against the government and its policies, whether the domestic or foreign.
Source: moqawama.org
At a place called Speaker's Corner at the Hyde Park in the heart of London the capital of United Kingdom, you see different types of people who come to debate on different school of religious thoughts: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Speakers there may speak about any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, but in practice, the police tend to be tolerant and therefore don't intervene.
The story of this place, which was originally a medieval deer park for Henry VIII to hunt, started when huge Public riots broke out in the park in 1855, in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill, which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday, the only "off" day for working people. The said riots were described by Karl Marx as the beginning of the English revolution.On that very same day, the government gave the riots the right to speak in Hyde Park only under the "The Parks Regulation Act 1872", instead of letting them demonstrate against the government. Thus the government worked out the issue, and since then, it became a tradition for people to come every Sunday to speak out what they think is their right in the park.
| "Undercover police filming and recording the speeches of participants" |
Some people come prepared and know what to say, and some others come to just listen and watch. Some well known world figures such as Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels, Orwell, Marcus Garvey and Lenin, have all debated here, giving this place great significance.
However, the freedom of speech and the attendees decreased in numbers with the recent discovery of undercover police filming and recording the speeches of participants. It seems as though this place of free speech and liberty is becoming increasingly under threat. Britain's constitution on Human Rights remained unwritten until the Parliament formally adopted the Act in the year 1998. Therefore, can any freedom of speech seeker believe that this country, which has had this traditional debate corner, enjoys real freedom? Proving the contrary, we go back to the year 2003 when the park authorities banned a demonstration set for February 15 against the War in Iraq, causing uproar by protesters and human rights association.
Mohammed, a Lebanese student who came to London to attend University, took me for a tour around the Hyde Park and explained how this corner eventually became for uneducated people, because the government plans on keeping it as a "problematic corner" rather than a platform for scientific discussion between the rational and educated people. While we were there, I attended some of the arguments, listening to the level of discussions. There was nothing but shouting and discrimination precisely against Islam.
I watched a middle aged tan British man step over the three step stairs he brought along with him. He started abusing Islam by saying: "There is no man in the world named Mohammed, and there is no proof that Mohammed existed in the past". He then started calling on the Muslims in the park to give him proof of Mohammed, and if there was any biography written about him," absolutely no, you don't have any answer", he added. All Muslims were gathering around him and shouting at him, with no straight forward answer to his questions. Then one of crowd said: "Yes there is a man called Ali bin Abi Taleb who talked about the prophet Mohammed, and wrote about him, yes we have a biography about the prophet Mohammed." The English man laughed and started shouting to the crowd: "Hey you hear what he said, he said Ali Baba."
Few steps near this gathering stood a Jewish speaker wearing a black hat. He was explaining to a crowd of people how Islam hates the Jews, while some Muslims were among the crowd trying to defend their point, but weren't able to succeed because a man started defending the Jewish speaker, saying he hates Muslims, which eventually led to a fight.
A few minutes later, several police officers arrived, not to stop the discrimination and the bad words about the prophet Mohammed, but to make sure that the Jewish speaker and the English speaker are safe.
The police's job in the park is to observe if any of the speakers would mention the royal family or criticize the government.
Eventually, this park has a corner which is protected by the police as long as there is fighting between religions, to enrich hatred in a country with a diversity of religions, origins and cultures. The government is nourishing hatred among religions, so no one would be aware of what the government is doing; no one would ask the government about the taxes they pay for the queen and her family.
People in the UK are not allowed to raise a question why their troops are outside the UK and for the benefit of whom they fight?
In this context, the traditional speaker's corner at Hyde Park is not a free place to speak, it is rather a "cover" for the British government's actions and crimes, as it promotes people to argue and disagree with other people from different thoughts.
Instead of giving people the freedom to argue and debate or even express opposition to the government, they have turned it into an ethnic and religious battleground.
Well, here in the UK, you can do whatever you want, as long as you have no say against the government and its policies, whether the domestic or foreign.
Source: moqawama.org
