Group Calls For Zunar To Be Stripped Of Free Speech Award

A lengthy post at Free Malaysia Today describes a group calling for the cartoonist Zunar to be stripped of the Cartooning For Peace award he won from a Swiss Foundation earlier this Spring. This also involved filing a police report against the cartoonist for art show in conjunction with that award.

As you can tell pretty quickly, the objection makes no sense other than a purely political counter-idea: free speech as free speech, just not directed at the government or the police. To my mind, and I'm guessing the mind of the average pre-teen, deliberately circumscribed free speech on the basis of excusing powerful institutions because they're powerful is a pretty weak-sauce version of free speech.

My guess is that this is a ploy by political forces to suggest an upheaval caused by Zunar's work which may help make any sedition charge stick even though the outrage seems wholly manufactured. I certainly can't say for sure, though.
 
posted 10:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

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