The right has weaponised free speech. It’s time for liberals to fight back Lord Adonis has apologised to Sajid Javid, the new Home Secretary, for retweeting a cartoon about his British-Pakistani family. The […]

Lord Adonis has apologised to Sajid Javid, the new Home Secretary, for retweeting a cartoon about his British-Pakistani family. The image was of Javid saying once he had settled into his job, he would set about deporting his parents. Nasty. Javid responded with a tweet: “Not like you, Andrew Adonis. You are better than this.” Adonis apologised and said, on reflection, he realised the cartoon was “too personal and in poor taste”.

Not like you @Andrew_Adonis. You’re better than this https://t.co/kjWo82mwvD i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. — Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) May 6, 2018

This exchange shows two things: one, society needs us all to be mindful of the hurt and damage we can cause with words; and secondly, that verbal incontinence is not an absolute right. Both men understood that and settled what could have been yet another head-banging Twitter scrap between themselves.

Marching for freedom of speech

‘ These people have appropriated a central democratic tenet and are using it to snatch away modern choices and rights’

On the very same day, thousands of men and women – including a group named “Veterans against Terrorism” – demonstrated in Whitehall for “freedom of speech”. They were anti-migrant, anti-EU, xenophobic, sexist nationalists. They went to hear their heroes, ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson and Milo Yiannopoulos, Trump groupie and “radical” who despises progressives and believes victims of child sexual abuse are “whinging, selfish brats”. Also present was Ukip’s Gerard Batten, whose favourite hobby is Muslim-goading, and Mark Meechan, a hideous vlogger who trained his girlfriend’s dog to do Nazi salutes and proudly showed the anti-Semitic “entertainment” on YouTube.

These freedom fighters want to get rid of minorities, to ban Islam, to silence liberals, to eradicate equality and diversity policies, and make their country great, masculine and white again. Some have fallen foul of the law while others have been barred by social media companies. And so they proclaim martyrdom.

Be warned. These people have appropriated a central democratic tenet and are using it to break western democracies and snatch away modern choices and rights. They are trying to rescind abortion on demand, to extinguish cross-racial friendships and love and destabilise multi-ethnic societies.

Incredibly, most Brits are dozing as the threat builds up. They rightly fear Islamicist terrorism but seem unbothered by or blasé about the hard-right peril. Support for neo-Nazis has risen dramatically. Tommy Robinson is just as big a danger to social cohesion as the hard-line preacher Abu Hamza was, yet while the latter languishes in a US prison, Robinson is free to spread his messages.

Freedom of speech is apparently now a right-wing right or privilege claimed by xenophobic nativists and adamant sexists. Those who most defend freedom of speech are also most selective in who should have access to it. Feminists are mercilessly trolled to stop them from speaking out; Remainers cannot argue their corner without being declared “enemies of the people”; racial minorities are demonised if they complain about racism; defenders of migration are horribly abused and trashed.

Sam Gyimah, the black Tory universities minister, has warned strong measures will be taken to stop universities from removing certain books from libraries and disallowing certain speakers. According to Adam Tickell, vice chancellor of Sussex University, there is “vanishingly little evidence” that freedom to read or speak is being curtailed in the way or to the extent the minister alleges. To me it seems a cheap ploy to thrill the right-wing press and commentators.

Gyimah must know debates on Palestine or Iraq are severely controlled on campuses because of new government rules on radicalisation. Staff are instructed to report students who hold “anti-Western views”. Some people in this country are seemingly more free and equal than others.

New fascism

‘You do not have to tolerate the intolerant’

Sunday’s march revealed the influence of a new fascism in our country. Far fewer people than ever before turned up for the counter-demo. One of them, Sharon, a student of fashion design, told me in tears that she felt like her relatives must have in Lithuania during the Second World War when Nazis encouraged locals to get rid of the “Jewish problem” and decent people did nothing. Mohamad, a Muslim engineer, also went, with a group of anti-racist friends. He came away intensely worried that white supremacists were taking charge of the narrative and winning over millions.

In autumn, I am publishing a book on how freedom of speech and political correctness have been weaponised in today’s culture wars. It’s a shout out to all those who love this hitherto open, mixed, dynamic country. So come on, trembly liberals, stand up and fight back. You do not have to tolerate the intolerant. Your forebears took on Hitler. Can’t you take on Robinson and his motley lot?

@y_alibhai