Raquel Rosario Sánchez, a feminist writer, campaigner and researcher, is the most recent recipient of the Plebity Free Speech Fund.
June 25, 2021
Raquel Rosario Sanchez

Raquel was awarded a grant this week due to her need for support amidst the targeting she has faced as a result of speaking up for women’s rights to free speech.

Raquel told her story in detail in an interview with Plebity last December. A PhD student originally from the Dominican Republic, Raquel began to be targeted by transgender activists after she agreed to chair a meeting for the organization Woman’s Place UK. Raquel described the abuse she faced:

“Transactivists students, who come from elite backgrounds in the top UK universites, felt it necessary to hound me in every single feminist event I participated. I refused to shut up and was determined to continue speaking about women’s rights. I was libeled, bullied and harassed all over the country, usually by the same trans activist students who would follow me from town to town. At one point, they  distributed a pamphlet encouraging fellow students to yell “SCUM, SCUM, SCUM” at me while I was going to give evidence to the targeting I was receiving. These people encouraged each other to physically harm me, including to throw eggs at me, “milkshake” me and punch me. My sole crime, to this day, is that I refuse to be silent while I’m witnessing the normalization of violence against women in public discourse.”

The University of Bristol failed to protect Raquel, treating her like a perpetrator and subjecting her to cross examination while letting her harassers continue to target her, unquestioned and undeterred. She told Plebity that she could never have accepted the University’s offers to settle the matter with money, and she is instead proudly standing up for women everywhere by bringing a legal case against the University. You can donate to Raquel’s legal battle here.

We are proud to support Raquel with a grant from the Free Speech Fund, and we are always accepting applications from anyone who needs material support after being punished for their speech or subject to a hostile work environment due to their speech or beliefs.

To support the Fund and join us in fighting back against cancel culture, subscribe to us on Patreon, where you will also receive exclusive articles and videos, or make a one time donation on our GoFundMe page.


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The why and what of our Free Speech and the Left virtual conference

The why and what of our Free Speech and the Left virtual conference

Conference

Free speech and the left conference 2023

Momentum is building for our Free Speech and the Left virtual conference scheduled for June, 2023.

The conference participants include some of today’s most interesting voices, coming together to discuss the most divisive issues of the day.

We’re in active collaboration with the New Zealand site Redline, India & the Global Left and acTVism Munich.

What is the left?

Panelists will consider whether leftist thought offers relevant and useful ways of thinking about capitalism and exploitation, empire and forever wars, cancel culture and identity politics, environmental destruction and degrowth, social justice and universalism, animal rights and morality, and of course free speech.

ReligionTechnologyPlebity
Wikipedia vs Pakistan: who won, blasphemy laws or free speech?

Wikipedia vs Pakistan: who won, blasphemy laws or free speech?

Blasphemy

Redacted. Creative Commons License - Jack Zalium

We recently wrote about Pakistan's 48 hour ultimatum to Wikipedia–either remove certain ‘sacrilegious’, i.e. blasphemous content, or be blocked in Pakistan.

In fact, after the 48 hours were up, Wikipedia was blocked throughout the country. The ban was short-lived. Access was restored after a three day suspension.

Who won, blasphemy laws or free speech? 

CapitalismReligionTechnologyPlebity
Will Wikipedia bow to Pakistan’s censorship laws?

Will Wikipedia bow to Pakistan’s censorship laws?

Blasphemy

Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Last Wednesday the Pakistani government issued an ultimatum threatening to shut down the online crowd-sourced encyclopedia Wikipedia. The Pakistani authorities gave Wikipedia 48 hours to remove certain content they deemed to be ‘sacrilegious’ or blasphemous.

The forty eight hours had passed by Friday evening, and Saturday it was announced that Wikipedia had been banned in Pakistan.