1. Freedom of Speech

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science, Government, Technology

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2022

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Best-selling Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives the first of four 2022 Reith Lectures, discussing freedom of speech. She argues that it feels like freedom of speech is under attack. Cancel culture, arguments about “wokeness" and the assault on Salman Rushdie have produced a febrile atmosphere. Meanwhile autocrats and populists have undermined the very notion of an accepted fact-based truth which lives above politics. So how do we calibrate freedom in this context? If we have the freedom to offend, where do we draw the line? This lecture and question-and-answer session is recorded in London in front of an audience and presented by Anita Anand.

The year's series was inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt's four freedoms speech of 1941 and asks what this terrain means now? It features four different lecturers. In addition to Chimamanda, they are: Freedom of Worship by Rowan Williams Freedom from Want by Darren McGarvey Freedom from Fear by Fiona Hill

Producer: Jim Frank Sound Engineers: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Editor: Hugh Levinson

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cocklin.
0:02.8	Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them.
0:06.6	My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right.
0:10.6	In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people
0:16.0	who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world.
0:19.8	Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin.
0:27.9	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.4	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:37.0	Welcome to the radio theatre at Broadcasting House in central London for the first of the
0:43.1	2022 BBC Reith Lectures.
0:46.9	In this our centenary year, we're going to do things a little bit differently.
0:50.9	Rather than just having one person give four lectures, we have four different thinkers
0:56.2	giving one lecture each. Now, this series is called The Four Freedoms, and it's named after a speech
1:02.8	given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, just months before America entered the Second World
1:09.3	War. And in it, he set out what he deemed to be
1:13.0	the fundamental pillars of democratic society. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want,
1:21.1	and freedom from fear. Now, more than 80 years on, we are asking, what do these freedoms mean?
1:28.3	We start with freedom of speech.
1:31.3	Now, you don't need me to tell you what a contentious subject that can be.
1:35.3	In many Western societies, arguments range about cancel culture,
1:40.3	while in other parts of the world, people are locked up, or even worse, for just saying what they think.
1:46.2	Giving our first lecture is an internationally acclaimed writer.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -853 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.