Debate: Cancel Culture is Threatening our Freedoms

It seems like every day there is a new celebrity or writer being ‘cancelled’ on Twitter. JK Rowling, Scarlett Johansson, Jodie Comer, Kanye West. All have been ‘cancelled’ – denounced on social media for doing or saying something considered wrong or offensive, often on matters to do with race or gender. Classic liberals say this ‘cancel culture’ poses a devastating attack on our liberties, while those on the progressive Left argue what we are witnessing is activism by and on behalf of marginalized groups who are seeking to redress the structural inequalities that have historically held them back.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Julie Bindel will argue that cancel culture is destroying our freedoms while Kehinde Andrews and Billy Bragg will argue it is in fact a long overdue way of speaking truth to power.