Speakers' Corner
[citation needed] Speakers' Corner is often held up to demonstrate freedom of speech, as anyone can turn up unannounced and talk on almost any subject, although always at the risk of being heckled by regulars.
The corner was frequented by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin,[6] George Orwell, C. L. R. James, Walter Rodney, Ben Tillett, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and William Morris.
[7] In June 1972, three Irish republican activists, Joseph Callinan, Louis Marcantonio and Thomas Quinn, were arrested after giving inflammatory speeches at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park protesting the events of Bloody Sunday, in which British troops opened fire on a crowd of civil rights demonstrators in Derry, killing 13.
Prior to the ruling, prohibited speech at Speakers' Corner included obscenity, blasphemy, insulting the Monarch, or inciting a breach of the peace.
Speakers Corner Southampton opened in 1971, as a council tactic to obstruct those who had already started one on the newly pedestrianised High Street.
No disruption was caused, but it appeared that Labour Party councillors wanted no one to their left to have a public voice, using the excuse that the pedestrianised area was legally a Highway.
Subsequently, as a secondrate sop, the local council built the present isolated corner in a park several hundred metres away, with it first being used on the 27 November 1971 by an anti apartheid group.
The large paved space includes the new statue of Brian Clough, the former manager of Derby County and Nottingham Forest, who forged ties between the two cities which were famous for local rivalry.
Today Speakers' Corner is a site for events and activities, as well as a destination for all the community to visit and have their say on topics close to their hearts.
It is a wooded enclosure, like a nobleman's park in England, kept in capital order, both as regards the turf under foot, and the tall and noble trees that give shelter overhead from the sun."
It is a sort of weekly babel of religious tongues - recognised and patronised by the whole community" Other Speakers' Corners are found in Brisbane outside Parliament House, and in King George Square.
Dedicated by the Earl Mountbatten on 12 April 1966, Speakers' Corner in Regina, Saskatchewan is located on the north shore of Wascana Lake.
The podia on the main plaza are from the exterior columns of the Old City Hall (1908–1965) and symbolise free speech in democracy at the municipal level of government.
The ten gas lamps surrounding the corner come from King Charles Street which runs from Whitehall to St. James Park, London, near the Houses of Parliament.
The forum was broadcast live on RTHK TV 31 and was also sometimes held in other locations across Hong Kong such as Centenary Garden and Morse Park as well as across different university campuses.
This venue however, is located the middle of Jakarta's main boulevard and commercial district, thus causing a severe traffic jam when a rally is held.
The first speaker was the mayor Alessio Barbarfieri, who highlighted the importance of the acts of speaking and listening for a good and effective local governance.
The 'Spreeksteen' has been located in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam since 5 May 2005, and has been erected by a citizens action after the brutal murder of film-maker and columnist Theo van Gogh.
The Speakers' Corner is located in Hong Lim Park, a popular venue for many election rallies and political speeches in the 1950s and '60s.
With this latest change in policy to allow the venue to be used freely as an outdoor demonstration site, coupled with the liberalisation on the use of sound amplification and the extension of operating hours of the venue, the Speakers' Corner aims to address the genuine desire by some Singaporeans for lawful outdoor demonstrations and processions as a means of political expression.
Flanked by Trinidad's Parliament and Halls of Justice the Square still plays host to speeches of a highly topical and political nature.
An area was set up in Bangkok in the 1930s, and quickly became known as Hyde Park, to enable freedom of speech and the airing of political views in Thailand.
[31][32] Tom L. Johnson, the radical reforming Mayor of Cleveland (1901–1909), dedicated the north-west quadrant of Public Square to free speech, as in Hyde Park.
[33] As a result of winter semesters visits to England and Hyde Park, Elon University created a Speakers' Corner on campus.
Students are free to speak at any time as long as they don't use amplification, do not disrupt others, do not damage property and do not cause dangerous conditions.
The pedestrian-only area of Pennsylvania Avenue on the north side of the White House in Washington, D.C. has become a de facto speaker's corner.
