Hearing ‘voices’ is not free speech

Wednesday September 28, 2011

The obsession with listening to the ‘voice’ of the people is manipulative and as far away from freedom of speech as you can get, says Rania Hafez

Listening to the Muslim voice, the student voice, the victim voice, is presented as facilitating ‘free speech’, a democratic and open way of including the opinions of minority and excluded groups. However the difference between free speech and giving a space for any group of citizens to speak is that free speech invariably involves a struggle to win that freedom, not simply being ‘allowed’ it as a benign gesture by those in authority. One give-away that we are not dealing with free speech here is the encouragement of ‘constructive’ criticism. Voices that are deemed ‘negative’ and ‘critical’ are anathema to those in power. But it is that form that free speech ultimately takes.

Those who think ‘voice’ is a good thing should consider how Qaddafi often proclaimed the democratic nature of his rule; it was based on ‘grassroots democracy’ through a local system of local and municipal ‘People’s Congresses’ who elected the General People’s Congress (GPC) and so ensured that the people’s voice was not only heard but governed the country. What Qaddafi glossed over was that it was the General People’s Council overseen by himself as the General Secretary that set the agenda. Essentially the only ideas and opinions allowed to be voiced where the ones he already approved.

The ongoing fad for the citizens’ voice that has gripped all political parties, education institutions and other bodies, is just the same as Qaddafi’s celebration of the people’s voice. I am not suggesting that the UK is Libya, but recent trends to make the people’s voice central in public life is similarly patronising manipulation.

Governments of all hues have been obsessed with facilitating the patient voice, the student voice, the victim voice, etc. It seems that all of us have been offered a turn to speak and be heard. But is that really the case?

Minorities are put on platforms to say what people want to hear. The Muslims are the ‘moderate’ ones; the parents are the hapless ones; the students are the vulnerable ones, and invariably they are expected to be clamouring for more state intervention into their lives. The lie is revealed when the so-called voices start saying awkward things. Muslims protest against Western intervention in Muslim countries, parents assert their right to parent, students celebrate education for its own sake, and the ‘vulnerable’ ask to be left alone.

I am often invited to speak at events as a hijab wearing Muslim who is expected to talk about victimhood and problems of identity. The organisers and the audience get the wrong voice and hear someone who believes in freedom, liberty and reason. This should happen more often and minorities should turn their ‘voice’ into free speech.

Rania Hafez is Director of the professional network Muslim Women in Education She is speaking at the Battle of Ideas on Sunday 30 October as part of a panel discussing ‘Islamophobia: the new racism of liberal angst’