Since when was Freedom of Speech Unpatriotic?

Written by Luke Gowers | 29 April 2011
Posted in Blogs - Blogs

So the big day came and went. The Royal Wedding was a success for all those involved, the weather held out, the flyover was impressive and the country got the kiss on the balcony it had been waiting all day to see. I myself was stirred by patriotic feeling, a strong sense of the need to be proud to be British, but it wasn’t caused by the sight of the Royal Guards, her Majesty the Queen or the Union Jack.

The scene of thousands of people waving miniature Union Jacks, cheering and waving was reminiscent of previous occasions in British history, previous Royal Weddings for one of course, but more importantly VE day. Like many people in Britain, I have a grandparent who fought for this country to uphold freedom and fight fascism. If there is one value that could historically be considered British, it is Liberty. The most important freedom in today’s democracy is freedom of speech, but sadly on a day set to celebrate everything “British”, this particular British value was eroded.

I do not wish this to be a debate on for- or against- the Monarchy; I am not expressing any opinion on the Royal Family or the Wedding itself. Instead I am asking when freedom of speech became an unpatriotic act? The day closed with reports of pre-emptive arrests of individuals, the most publicly known being the arrest of Charlie Veitch who has become well known through his YouTube videos highlighting the erosion of freedom of speech. The shocking arrest even drew attention from Russia Today. Among others was a man who was arrested for singing, "We all live in a fascist state” to the tune of the Beetles’ song “We all live in a Yellow Submarine”. The arrest itself is ironic but distrinctly worrying.

I am not advocating that a wedding, a Royal Wedding or otherwise, should be disrupted. On such a public event as the one today, security must obviously be tight - not only for the sake of the Royal Family but also for the members of the general public who were there as spectators. However this should not justify freedom of speech being denied all over London. Arresting people when they haven’t even committed a crime violates the Magna Carta, which therefore makes the arrest unconstitutional (in the unwritten British sense). The irony of British values being trampled over on a day that was to represent everything that is great about being British is profound. If the British Monarchy is a symbol of Britain and all it stands for, then the values and freedoms that are part of that very notion of being British should not be contradicted in their name. I do not believe that upholding and practising ones right to freedom of speech is an unpatriotic act.