State of Democracy: Is Free Speech Killing Democracy?

The State of Democracy Lecture Series welcomes Jacob Mchangama, a lawyer, writer and activist in Denmark. He is founder and executive director of Justitia, and host of the podcast “Clear and Present Danger: a history of free speech.”

Justitia is Denmark’s first judicial think tank aiming to promote the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom rights, both within Denmark and abroad. Mchangama’s talk will take seriously the idea, advanced by many, that free speech has been “weaponized” by extremists and turned against the very values this freedom was meant to serve, as witnessed by attack on the Capitol on January 6th which could not have happened without a campaign of lies and disinformation that went viral on social media. But it will use both historical and contemporary examples to argue that free speech is still the “Bulwark of Liberty” and the foundation of democracy, and that using censorship and repression to protect democracy is a cure worse than the disease.

Respondent: Tom Keck, professor of political science, and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics

This lecture is sponsored by the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and made possible through a generous gift from the Norman M. and Marsha Lee Berkman Fund.

A reception and book signing will immediately follow the lecture.  

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