Freedom of expression is like the canary in the coal mine when it comes to our rights. Because it involves such a fundamental need, it underpins many other rights and can offer early warning signs that a country is running into trouble.
A new report by the Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) tries to read across different fields -- the media, the arts, gender and sexual rights, the right to protest, etc -- to get a sense of where South Africa is when it comes to realising the right to free expression.
The report is not complete and doesn't cover areas such as freedom of expression and religion, or deal with migrants, prisoners, people with disabilities, or free expression in universities. But it suggests that things aren't looking that good. It might not be that the canary has stopped singing, but it has changed its tune and there are long and ominous pauses between some of its notes.
South Africa is a contradictory landscape. Mostly, and in many ways, we do have the right to speak, and this is often protected by the courts. The recent backhand a high court gave the attempt by former President Jacob Zuma to silence journalist Karyn Maughan is one example, as is a similar response meted out to the Moti Group.
The Constitutional Court sending Rica -- the surveillance legislation -- back for parliamentary review is another. Writers appear to write what they like, actors...
