Those of us who believe in freedom of expression have felt mighty lonely this week. We have watched as, one by one, our fellow opponents of cancel culture have given into the temptations of censorship. Many on the right in particular appear to have fallen under the spell of suppression. Gone is their devotion to the ‘marketplace of ideas’ and in its stead comes a chilling cry for a literal police clampdown on speech they don’t like.
The target of these overnight converts to cancel culture? Saturday’s ‘March for Palestine’ in London. For the fourth weekend running, tens of thousands of people will gather in the capital to rage against Israel. Worse, this time their orgy of Israelophobia will take place on Armistice Day. Enough is enough, many are saying. The police must act.
The state can’t seem to make its mind up on whether this latest middle-class traipse against Israel should be prohibited.
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