Hate Speech, Love Speech, Free Speech? has been announced as the first panel to be presented at The 3rd Asian Conference on Language (ACL2022).
Panelists that have been chosen to discuss this topic will be announced over the coming weeks, follow the conference websites and social media pages for more information.
The ACL2022 Organising Committee is currently calling for papers to be presented at the event. Submit your abstracts by January 11, 2022 to participate.
To participate in ACL2022 as an audience member, please register for the conference.
Abstract
Hate Speech, Love Speech, Free Speech?
In 2021 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two journalists, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” In a context of rising global authoritarianism and autocracy, the award was a reminder of the long and difficult history of journalists holding power to account.
It is little wonder that the ways in which we communicate, whether through the spoken or the written word, are the subject of constant discussion or controversy. Our communication is guided and regulated by myriad de facto and de jure rules and laws, and these change by context and country. What is acceptable or appropriate in one context may not be in another. The same words that make you celebrated, may also make you reviled, and the same words that can make you a reputation, a living and a life, can also take these away.
In this panel, a group of linguists and academics will discuss speech in the global academy to look at the rights and responsibilities associated with expression through language, to include the following: Who has a voice? Who gets the right to say what? Who has agency? Who has representation? Who should shut up and in what circumstances should they? Who has the right to speak for whom? Who gets to set the agenda? What of “culture” wars and “cancel” culture? What of state censorship and self-censorship?
