Battlefield of Ideas

Freedom of Expression under State of Emergency

Abstract

For a long time, we expected state of emergency to be a purely theoretical possibility. Security policy experts and theoretical constitutional lawyers have modeled what measures can be introduced at the time of state of emergency and how they affect our fundamental rights. We hardly thought of introducing them permanently and significantly until the spring of 2020. Since then, the pandemic, and today the war in our neighbourhood, has shown that state of emergency is real and imminent, and there is a greater restriction of our fundamental rights than ever before. The question arises: how can freedom of expression be exercised under such circumstances? The problem can be raised at both the individual and community level. At the individual level, it is possible to ask why and to what extent we should give up free speech and whether the restriction is legitimate at all. Besides, the events in Ukraine have confirmed that the outcome of the war is decided not only on the battlefields but also on the communication front: the opposing forces want to emphasise their own communication, in a fashionable word: to strengthen their narrative. In such a situation, the question arises sharply in each state: is the silence of war propaganda or its free spread better for democracy?