Free Speech - Liberating What We Can Say
LIBERATING
WHAT WE CAN
SAY
Two
Talks Celebrating Free Speech
Wednesday,
September 30, 7PM
Book People, 2nd Floor
603 N.
Lamar, Austin, TX
Tom Moran
Manchaca Branch Manager, Austin Public Library
Before coming to Austin, Moran was director of the public libraries in Dubuque, IA, and Moline, IL, and a librarian with the American Bar Foundation and Northwestern University Law School Library. As a member of the American Library Association for over 25 years, he has been a member of ALA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table. In Iowa he was active on the Iowa State Library Association Committee on Intellectual Freedom and chaired the committee one year. Since coming to Texas in 2001, he has been a member of the Texas Library Association Committee on Intellectual Freedom. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters in Library Science from Dominican University.
Mr. Moran's talk will discuss the answers to some important questions. From "Catcher in the Rye" to "TTYL," sex to " expletive deleted," is reading dangerous? And what of the future, when all the censor has to do is hit "delete"?...
“What the First Amendment Says—and Doesn’t
Say—About
Censorship”
David A. Anderson
Marshall
and Emily Wulff Centennial Chair in Law at the University of
Texas Law School.
Before teaching law, Mr. Anderson was a newspaper and wire service reporter and editor. He is extensively published, including two casebooks and numerous articles on defamation, privacy, newsgathering, and freedom of the press. Mr. Anderson is a contributing editor of Texas Monthly magazine and a member of the advisory board of the Texas Observer . He has been a visiting scholar or visiting professor at major universities around the world. He graduated from Harvard College and the UT Law School.
Mr. Anderson will discuss modern variations on book banning, the effects of privatization on freedom of speech, and extralegal restraints on free speech.
A Little Background: The Campaign for Free Expression
The Center for Inquiry is firmly committed to protecting the right of individuals to express their viewpoints, opinions, and beliefs. Accordingly, CFI has been dismayed by efforts in recent years to limit freedom of expression, in particular speech deemed critical of religion. In response, CFI hopes to increase public awareness of these threats to freedom of expression, discuss and develop plans to prevent curtailment of free expression, and demonstrate that people care about their rights to free expression and are eager to exercise them. CFI's initiatives to accomplish these include the sponsorship of Blasphemy Day and the launching of the Campaign for Free Expression.The Campaign for Free Expression is an ongoing campaign defending the freedom to question religion without fear of violence or censorship. For more information about the Campaign for Free Expression initiatives, please read the CFI news release here .
International Blasphemy Day is an annual event held September 30th to recognize the importance of free speech and the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of suppression, litigation, or violence. This year, Blasphemy Day will be sponsored by CFI's Campaign for Free Expression, a national movement to promote free speech and dissent.
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Intellectual freedom---the freedom to access and express ideas, even if the information and ideas are unorthodox or unpopular---provides the foundation for this event. For a list of Banned and Challenged Classics, click here .
