Freedom of speech – should speech that causes harm be free ? An international and South African perspective

Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies. If the liberty to express oneself is not highly valued, as has often been the case, there is no problem: freedom of expression is simply curtailed in favour of other values. Free speech becomes a volatile issue when it is highly valued because only then do the limitations placed upon it become controversial. The first thing to note in any sensible discussion of freedom of speech is that it well have to be limited. Every society place some limits on the exercise of speech because speech always takes place within a context of competing values. Stanley Fish (1994)1 is correct when he says that there is no such thing as free speech. Free speech is simply a useful term to focus our attention on a particular form of human interaction and the phrase is not meant to suggest that speech should never be interfered with. No society has yet existed where speech has not been limited to some extent.