March for Free Expression

At just the right moment, a laudable new initiative is taking shape. The March for Free Expression will take place in London's Trafalgar Square on March 25th, 2006. Other marches are planned for Sydney, Montreal, Toronto and Chicago. How about one in this country, in Dublin? Is there yet time enough? While you're thinking about that, read this statement of principle from the March's homepage:

"The strength and survival of free society and the advance of human knowledge depend on the free exchange of ideas. All ideas are capable of giving offence, and some of the most powerful ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo and Darwin, have given profound religious offence in their time. The free exchange of ideas depends on freedom of expression and this includes the right to criticise and mock. We assert and uphold the right of freedom of expression and call on our elected representatives to do the same. We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas and we call on our elected representatives to protect them from attack and not to give comfort to the forces of intolerance that besiege them."