ABSTRACT
The global rise of right-wing populist movements is significantly affecting public debates about freedom of speech, and thus this phenomenon must be considered in order to understand freedom of speech in universities. This chapter examines the concept of populism and its key features, in particular its division of a society into a binary ‘people v the elite’, and its reliance on powerful emotive language. It shows how populist leaders are able to win public support through appeals to human rights and freedom of speech, whilst simultaneously denying that right to others (particularly Muslims and immigrants), and even undermining the legitimacy of human rights themselves. For right-wing populists, appeals to freedom of speech often go hand-in-hand with Islamophobia, and criticisms of universities as representatives of an out-of-touch ‘elite’. The chapter also explores populist hate speech and student attempts to resist it by no-platforming people they consider racist. It argues that these attempts, though well-meaning, are misguided and deprive students of the opportunity to subject such people to rigorous critical scrutiny.
