Radical pluralism and free speech in online public spaces

• Progressive political movements and activists are not the only ones appropriating Web 2.0 as a way to construct independent public spaces and voice counter-hegemonic discourses. By studying (post-) fascist movements, it will be shown that the internet also gives rise to anti-public spaces, voicing hatred and essentialist discourses. In this article, discourses of hate produced by North Belgian (post-)fascist movements and activists will be analysed. Theoretically the analysis is informed by radical pluralism and the limits of freedom of speech in a strong democracy. The cases presented challenge the limits of freedom of speech and of radical pluralism, and bring us to question whether being a racist is a democratic right, whether freedom of speech includes opinions and views that challenge basic democratic values. •

[1]  P. Sturges.  Limits to Freedom of Expression? considerations arising from the Danish cartoons affair , 2006 .

[2]  Michel Rosenfeld,et al.  Hate Speech in Constitutional Jurisprudence: A Comparative Analysis , 2001 .

[3]  Robert A. Hackett,et al.  Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements , 2002 .

[4]  William Wresch,et al.  Democracy in the Digital Age: Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace , 2001, Inf. Soc..

[5]  F. Chobeaux.  Du contrat social... , 2009 .

[6]  Frederick F. Shauer.  The First Amendment as Ideology , 1992 .

[7]  Stefaan Walgrave,et al.  Populism as political communication style An empirical study of political parties' discourse in Belgium , 2007 .

[8]  Natalie Fenton,et al.  New Media, Counter Publicity and the Public Sphere , 2003, New Media Soc..

[9]  B. Barber.  Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age , 1985 .

[10]  Nico Carpentier,et al.  HEGEMONY, DEMOCRACY, AGONISM AND JOURNALISM , 2006 .

[11]  Bart Cammaerts.  Jamming the Political: Beyond Counter-hegemonic Practices , 2007 .

[12]  Mari J. Matsuda.  Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, And The First Amendment , 1993 .

[13]  N. Garnham.  Amartya Sen’s “Capabilities” Approach to the Evaluation of Welfare: Its Application to Communications , 1997 .

[14]  P. Norris.  Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide , 2001 .

[15]  J. Buchan.  The Power-House , 1916 .

[16]  Antje Gimmler.  Deliberative democracy, the public sphere and the internet , 2001 .

[17]  J. Feinberg,et al.  Offense to Others: The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. , 1989 .

[18]  Eric S. Fredin.  The Web of Politics: The Internet's Impact on the American Political System , 1999 .

[19]  K. Wilson.  An Alternative Internet: Radical Media, Politics and Creativity , 2008 .

[20]  J. Rousseau,et al.  Du Contrat social , 1975 .

[21]  Jodi Dean,et al.  Cybersalons and Civil Society: Rethinking the Public Sphere in Transnational Technoculture , 2001 .

[22]  Robert C. Post,et al.  Religion and Freedom of Speech: Portraits of Muhammad , 2007 .

[23]  Lincoln Dahlberg.  The Internet and Democratic Discourse: Exploring The Prospects of Online Deliberative Forums Extending the Public Sphere , 2001 .

[24]  Caroline Pauwels,et al.  Beyond the digital divide: reducing exclusion, fostering inclusion , 2002 .

[25]  Edmund F. Byrne,et al.  Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political , 1999 .

[26]  William E. Connolly,et al.  Identity/Difference: Democratic Negotiations of Political Paradox , 1991 .

[27]  I. Young,et al.  Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy , 2001 .

[28]  Patrick,et al.  Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression , 1995 .

[29]  R. Dworkin.  A New Map of Censorship , 1994 .

[30]  M. Poster.  CyberDemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere , 2013 .

[31]  Julie King,et al.  Democracy in the Information Age , 2006 .

[32]  C. Mouffe.  Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism , 2000 .

[33]  M. Lessnoff.  Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy , 1979 .

[34]  Stephen L. Newman.  Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age , 1986, Telos.

[35]  S. Coleman,et al.  Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation , 2001 .

[36]  Chris Atton,et al.  Far-right media on the internet: culture, discourse and power , 2006, New Media Soc..

[37]  Richard W. Davis.  The Web of Politics: The Internet's Impact on the American Political System , 1999 .

[38]  Karl R. Popper,et al.  The Open Society and Its Enemies , 1946 .

[39]  Bart Cammaerts,et al.  ICT-usage among transnational social movements in the networked society - to organise, to mobilise and to debate , 2005 .

[40]  E. Witte,et al.  Politieke geschiedenis van België van 1830 tot heden , 1997 .

[41]  Peter Dahlgren.  Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication and Democracy , 2009 .

[42]  Peter Dahlgren.  The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation , 2005 .

[43]  D. Villa,et al.  Postmodernism and the Public Sphere , 1992, American Political Science Review.

[44]  J. Derrida.  The Politics of Friendship , 1997 .

[45]  Jonathan Charteris-Black,et al.  Britain as a container: immigration metaphors in the 2005 election campaign , 2006 .

[46]  Douglas Kellner,et al.  New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging , 2004, New Media Soc..

[47]  J. Lichtenberg.  Democracy and the mass media: Foundations and limits of freedom of the press , 1990 .

[48]  Mari J. Matsuda.  Public Response to Racist Speech: Considering the Victim''s Story , 1993 .

[49]  S. Tarrow,et al.  Transnational Protest and Global Activism , 2004 .

[50]  J. Butler.  Excitable Speech. A Politics of the Performative , 1997 .

[51]  J. Dean.  Why the Net is not a Public Sphere , 2003 .

[52]  C. Mouffe.  ThePolitical , 2019, The Licit Life of Capitalism.

[53]  Otto Santa Ana.  `Like an Animal I was Treated': Anti-Immigrant Metaphor in US Public Discourse , 1999 .