Respect - Rethinking Speech in Critical Times

On 10 November 2023, we will be hosting the last conference in the ambit of our Jean Monnet Module Respect - Rethinking Speech in Critical Times. You are all welcome to participate!

Our collaborator, Dr. Valeria Fiorillo, has written short comments of two recent decisions by the Italian Court of Cassation on the topic of freedom of expression. You can read both comments (in Italian) here:

Our Publications | RESPECT Freedom of speech is a pillar of a robust democratic culture Our Publications Patrizion Gonnella, Discorsi di odio e libertà di opinione, L’Espresso, 7 April 2021 Valeria Fiorillo, La Cassazione respinge il ricorso della Lega. Illegittimo chiamare “clandestini” i richiedenti asilo, 5 Septembe...

We're excited to invite you to RESPECT's second yearly conference on free speech. On Monday, 5 December 2022, we will be discussing the limits between free speech and hate speech with a particular emphasis on questions related to the freedom of speech in spaces where personal freedom is limited.
More information about the panelists and the event itself are available in the attached poster. Join us!

On 26 October 2022, Prof. Brian Leiter (University of Chicago & University Roma Tre, Visiting Professor) will hold a Lunch Seminar on the topic “Why Academic Freedom?” Commenting will be Prof. Mario De Caro (University Roma Tre) and Prof. Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich (University Roma Tre).
Details of the seminar are in the attached poster. You’re welcome to join us!

Join us for the last two seminars in our lesson cycle on freedom of speech, fake news and democracy, which will be held on Monay 8 May and Tuesday 10 May. Find all the details in the attached posters.

There is a small change in our next week's programme: Prof. Luigi Manconi's seminar will be held on Tuesday 2 May (and not on Monday 3 May as originally programmed). Instead, on Monday we will host Valeria Fiorillo who will be speaking about the differences between the historical and the legal truth. Welcome to join us!

We're back!
Between 26 April and 10 May 2022, a series of seminars will be held in our module Rethinking Speech in Critical Times. Students at the Department of Law, Roma Tre University will be able to hear from distinguished speakers in our new activity called “Libertà di espressione, fake news, democrazia” [Freedom of expression, fake news, democracy] which will be held online. More information in the attached poster. Join us!

Teaching course 2021/2022 | RESPECT “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty) Teaching Course 2021/2022 Fre...

The first two lectures from our teaching course "Freedom of expression, digital rights, democracy" are now online. You can check out the following two talks (both in Italian)
(1) Antonella Napolitano (Senior Policy Officer & Network Coordinator, Privacy International), La democrazia dopo Snowden. I diritti digitali
(2) Andrea Menapace (President of The Civil Liberties Union for Europe & Director of CILD), Data capitalism e libertà civili.

Teaching course 2021/2022 | RESPECT “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty) Teaching Course 2021/2022 Fre...

On Friday, 22 October, we held our first yearly conference. We heard from three speakers (Matjaž Gruden, Vittoria Federici and Claudia Bianchi) who discussed the problems of regulating free speech on social media. The videos of their talks can be accessed here: https://rethinking-speech.eu/yearly-conferences/.

Our conference is staring shortly (9am, CST). You are welcome to join us!

"The Report Harmful Content platform, run by the UK Safer Internet Centre, reported a 225% increase in online hate speech incidents in the UK last year." https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/19/nastier-than-ever-covid-lockdowns-rise-online-hate?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1uDNxiLZrbD732tS38J0YeQZ26kYEXa77dqpX0KaUrDVQvHRQKFRJFllg =1634626945

As this recent article from The Guardian suggests, the pandemic has greatly contributed to the increase of online hate speech on different social platforms. Most would agree that something has to be done to stymie this harmful phenomenon, but considerable differences remain as to exactly how this should be done.
Join us on Friday, 22 October at 9am for a live discussion on the topic of regulating free speech on social platforms with experts from politics, the industry and the academia. All info on the event are available in the attached poster and on our website https://rethinking-speech.eu/