The issue of free speech is being discussed constantly these days within the U.S. The most common, and completely bourgeois, definition of free speech being repeatedly regurgitated in capitalist media circles is that free speech is the right to say what you want. Although even the racist founders of the colonial U.S. empire had enough sense to make the distinction that freedom of speech has to stop where other's people's rights, and safety, begin (yelling fire in a crowded movie theater when no fire exists), current day apologists for imperialism ignore that contradiction completely. For them, the framers of bourgeois ideas that pose as truth, anyone who speaks in favor of bourgeois capitalism should have free speech. Anyone that challenges the hegemony of this oppressive system in any way, is against this country. The ruling classes are projecting their analysis on the masses of confused and ignorant people in this society so that those millions of people can see their function as that of protecting bourgeois democracy e.g. the interests of the ruling classes because these people have been convinced to see ruling class interests as their own.
What makes these ideas bourgeois is that they are permitted to ignore science, and the history that goes with it, for completely subjective and a-historical interpretations of reality. The subjective is defined as whatever the framers want it to be. Since their interests represent the concerns of those on top of this society, e.g. the bourgeois (the class of people who speak for the ruling classes), that's what makes these ideas bourgeois. For example, currently, there is a position that argues that racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), neo-Nazis, etc., are equivalent to the organizations that fight against them like the Black Panther Party. The framers of this argument claim that the Panthers were an anti-white organization and that makes them the African equivalent of the racist KKK. Besides the fact that these people can produce absolutely no evidence that the Panthers ever did a single anti-white thing (they fed White people, had White people working in their daily programs like the free breakfast program, and clearly had an ideology and practice of class warfare against the state, not White people), even if the Panthers were anti-White, there still is no equivalence. The KKK, neo-Nazis, etc. have a long and documented history of terrorizing, murdering, and intimidating Brown people in the most heinous and barbaric ways imaginable. Feeding us to crocodiles for sport. Burning us alive for sport. Ripping babies out of African pregnant women for sport. Having dogs eat us alive for sport. Hanging us as a national past time. And these were sports. We are not even talking about the treatment those of us received who had gotten on the wrong side of white people. Terrorizing people and preventing them from living in peace. There is no documented history of the Panthers terrorizing a single European anywhere so to compare the two types of organizations is something that can only make sense to the most simple minded individual. So, to suggest that the Panthers (using them as an example, substitute Black Lives Matter, Antifa, football kneelers, etc.) are as dangerous, violent, and anti-human as the white supremacists groups above, and therefore when protest groups express their view, they are doing nothing different than racists do when expressing their views, is insane because there is a strong history of violence and terror attached to what white supremacists say. The only thing harmed when football players protest are a few blades of grass.
A healthy definition of free speech is the ability to express yourself whatever ways you choose that doesn't damage society. That means protesting any injustice against society is always free speech. It also means a mature and conscious society would never permit racists, patriarchal proponents, homophobes, etc., to express their views because of the environment for repression their views create against the communities targeted. In other words, Antifa is 100% correct to show up and prevent racist groups from massing because by doing so, Antifa is preventing racists from creating that unsafe environment for Brown people. To suggest that Antifa preventing white supremacists from having a rally is preventing someone's free speech is an argument that only benefits the forces who profit from the exploitation of workers of all nationalities, races, etc. Keeping workers divided by "race" is the core strategy of the capitalist system. This is why the U.S. president continues to keep the focus of white workers on the football kneelers because the ruling classes know that their best resource is to keep white people identifying with racial identity instead of class interests. That's really what's happening with this muddled definition of free speech. It has nothing to do with your right to speak your mind. It has everything to do with keeping you confused about who your actual enemies are.
If you understand that last statement, that means you are ready to explore the concept that White people expressing themselves is not the same as African, Indigenous, etc., people doing the same. Since this society is built and based on our exploitation, when we speak out, its a threat to this system. When that threat happens, the system reverts to its core strategy - white supremacy - to convince white people that anything we express is a threat to them (not the power structure). There is no scenario currently, at least while white people as a mass are in such a state of slumber, where anything white people say poses any threat to the white power structure. This is why the Panthers were effectively wiped out by the U.S. government. Its why Black Lives Matter and the football kneelers are currently being targeted by the government. Its also why white supremacist groups continue to operate status quo without any consequences or pressure from the government. Finally, all of these ill refutable facts are the reasons why Assata Shakur was correct when she said "you have freedom of speech in the U.S. as long as no one is listening to you when you speak out against the government."
What makes these ideas bourgeois is that they are permitted to ignore science, and the history that goes with it, for completely subjective and a-historical interpretations of reality. The subjective is defined as whatever the framers want it to be. Since their interests represent the concerns of those on top of this society, e.g. the bourgeois (the class of people who speak for the ruling classes), that's what makes these ideas bourgeois. For example, currently, there is a position that argues that racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), neo-Nazis, etc., are equivalent to the organizations that fight against them like the Black Panther Party. The framers of this argument claim that the Panthers were an anti-white organization and that makes them the African equivalent of the racist KKK. Besides the fact that these people can produce absolutely no evidence that the Panthers ever did a single anti-white thing (they fed White people, had White people working in their daily programs like the free breakfast program, and clearly had an ideology and practice of class warfare against the state, not White people), even if the Panthers were anti-White, there still is no equivalence. The KKK, neo-Nazis, etc. have a long and documented history of terrorizing, murdering, and intimidating Brown people in the most heinous and barbaric ways imaginable. Feeding us to crocodiles for sport. Burning us alive for sport. Ripping babies out of African pregnant women for sport. Having dogs eat us alive for sport. Hanging us as a national past time. And these were sports. We are not even talking about the treatment those of us received who had gotten on the wrong side of white people. Terrorizing people and preventing them from living in peace. There is no documented history of the Panthers terrorizing a single European anywhere so to compare the two types of organizations is something that can only make sense to the most simple minded individual. So, to suggest that the Panthers (using them as an example, substitute Black Lives Matter, Antifa, football kneelers, etc.) are as dangerous, violent, and anti-human as the white supremacists groups above, and therefore when protest groups express their view, they are doing nothing different than racists do when expressing their views, is insane because there is a strong history of violence and terror attached to what white supremacists say. The only thing harmed when football players protest are a few blades of grass.
A healthy definition of free speech is the ability to express yourself whatever ways you choose that doesn't damage society. That means protesting any injustice against society is always free speech. It also means a mature and conscious society would never permit racists, patriarchal proponents, homophobes, etc., to express their views because of the environment for repression their views create against the communities targeted. In other words, Antifa is 100% correct to show up and prevent racist groups from massing because by doing so, Antifa is preventing racists from creating that unsafe environment for Brown people. To suggest that Antifa preventing white supremacists from having a rally is preventing someone's free speech is an argument that only benefits the forces who profit from the exploitation of workers of all nationalities, races, etc. Keeping workers divided by "race" is the core strategy of the capitalist system. This is why the U.S. president continues to keep the focus of white workers on the football kneelers because the ruling classes know that their best resource is to keep white people identifying with racial identity instead of class interests. That's really what's happening with this muddled definition of free speech. It has nothing to do with your right to speak your mind. It has everything to do with keeping you confused about who your actual enemies are.
If you understand that last statement, that means you are ready to explore the concept that White people expressing themselves is not the same as African, Indigenous, etc., people doing the same. Since this society is built and based on our exploitation, when we speak out, its a threat to this system. When that threat happens, the system reverts to its core strategy - white supremacy - to convince white people that anything we express is a threat to them (not the power structure). There is no scenario currently, at least while white people as a mass are in such a state of slumber, where anything white people say poses any threat to the white power structure. This is why the Panthers were effectively wiped out by the U.S. government. Its why Black Lives Matter and the football kneelers are currently being targeted by the government. Its also why white supremacist groups continue to operate status quo without any consequences or pressure from the government. Finally, all of these ill refutable facts are the reasons why Assata Shakur was correct when she said "you have freedom of speech in the U.S. as long as no one is listening to you when you speak out against the government."
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