A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech, open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park in Westminster, England, near Marble Arch. Historically, there were a number of other areas designated as Speakers' Corners in other parks in London, such as Lincoln's Inn Fields, Finsbury Park, Clapham Common, Kennington Park, and Victoria Park. Speakers' Corners have been established elsewhere in the United Kingdom and in other countries.
Hyde Park
Speakers here may talk on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although this right is not restricted to Speakers' Corner only. Contrary to popular belief, there is no immunity from the law, nor are any subjects proscribed, but in practice the police intervene only when they receive a complaint. On some occasions in the past, they have intervened on grounds of profanity.Huggon, Jim: Speakers' Corner: An Anthology. London: Kropotkin's Lighthouse Publ. 1977
Though Hyde Park Speakers' Corner is considered the paved area closest to Marble Arch,Hyde Park Regulation, 1955. Statutory Instruments 1955, No. 1750. Clause 1(1), where the "footway at the junction of the North and East Carriage Drives" is described as "known as Speakers' Corner" legally the public speaking area extends beyond the Reformers' Tree and covers a large area from Marble Arch to Victoria Gate, then along the Serpentine to Hyde Park Corner and the Broad Walk running from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch.Paraphrased from: Hyde Park Regulation, 1955. Statutory Instruments 1955 No. 1750. Clause 1(1), where "the public speaking area" is defined. A 1997 revision of the Regulation has a slightly more restricted definition of the area.
Public riots broke out in the park in 1855, in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill, which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday, the only day working people had off. The riots were described by Karl Marx as "the beginning of the English revolution".
The Chartist movement used Hyde Park as a point of assembly for popular protests, but no permanent speaking location was established. The Reform League organised a massive demonstration in 1866 and then again in 1867, which compelled the government to extend the franchise to include most working-class men.
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, George Orwell, C. L. R. James, Walter Rodney, Ben Tillett, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and William Morris.
The Australian historian Henry Reynolds, who visited London in the early 1960s, noted the impression the corner had on him: At Hyde Park Corner, race and colonialism were more commonly discussed than older concerns about class or religion. One morning we joined a crowd listening to an articulate and fiery young African man. To our embarrassment he was being heckled by a party of young Australians. Among other things they told him was that there was no racial prejudice in Australia because everyone there was equal. With that the speaker turned on the hecklers and launched a tirade about Australia's treatment of the Aborigines. He was probably better informed about the matter than were the Australians in his audience, myself included.
Lord Justice Sedley, in Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions (1999), described Speakers' Corner as demonstrating "the tolerance which is both extended by the law to opinion of every kind and expected by the law in the conduct of those who disagree, even strongly, with what they hear." The ruling famously established in English case law that freedom of speech could not be limited to the inoffensive but extended also to "the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome, and the provocative, as long as such speech did not tend to provoke violence", and that the right to free speech accorded by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights also accorded the right to be offensive. Prior to the ruling, prohibited speech at Speakers' Corner included obscenity, blasphemy, insulting the Monarch, or inciting a breach of the peace.
Notable speakers The following organisations and individuals, listed here in alphabetical order, have (had) a well-established history of speaking regularly in Hyde Park. Tony Allen (since 1978) Jacques Arnold MP (see the Hyde Park Tories) Michael 'Lord' Barker (1970s, 1980s)Karl-Heinz Wocker, Wer andern eine Rede hält 1981, pp. 46–54, with photos. Martin Besserman (since )A Summer in the Park – Tony Allen, reviewed by Kevin McCarron: Jason Burns (Christian apologist; since circa 2010) '...the personable and engaging Martin Besserman is the best entertainer to appear at Speakers' Corner in generations...'Martin Besserman story Monkey Business – Camden comedy clubWocker (1981), front endpaper, with photo Michael Brotherton MP (see the Hyde Park Tories) Catholic Evidence Guild (since 1918) John Goss (see the Hyde Park Tories) Diane Hamilton (since 1980s) Christopher Horne (see the Hyde Park Tories) Jim Huggon (1970s, 1980s)Huggon: Speakers' Corner 1977Wocker (1981), pp. 78–81, with photos The Hyde Park Tories (1966–1975) (Bryan Morgan-Edwards, John Goss, Michael Brotherton MP, Christopher Horne, Sir Ian MacTaggart, Jacques Arnold MP, William List and others) William List (see the Hyde Park Tories) Peter Lumsden (–2007)Obituary Peter Lumsden, a Justice and Peace Catholic. Renew, September 2007, Number 143, p. 9. Sir Ian MacTaggart (see the Hyde Park Tories) Vincent McNabb (–43) Brian Morgan Edwards (see the Hyde Park Tories) Robert Ogilvie (1960s–1980s)Wocker(1981), pp. 30-31, with photos Derek Prince (1970s) Barry Roberts (1970s–2000) Philip Sansom (1947–) Norman "The Walker" Schlund (1960s–1980s)Wocker (1981), pp. 36–45, with photos. Also mentioned in Heathcote Williams, The Speakers, 1964, pp. 28–32 Frank Sheed (1921–) (with Maisie Ward) Jay Smith (1990–2015) Socialist Party of Great Britain (since 1904) Donald Soper, Baron Soper (1950–) Hatun Tash (since 2013) Bonar Thompson (1920–1960)Hyde Park Orator. Autobiographical reminiscences (1933) by Bonar Thompson Maisie Ward (1919-c. 1970) (with Frank Sheed) John Webster (1947–)
Outside London Official Southampton Speakers Corner Southampton opened in 1971, with it first being used on the 27 November 1971 by an anti-apartheid group.
Nottingham Speakers' Corner Nottingham was officially inaugurated by Jack Straw, then secretary of state for justice, on 22 February 2009. The designated space occupied a new landscaped extension to the city's Old Market Square, at the junction of King Street and Queen Street. 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.
Lichfield, Staffordshire Speakers Corner Lichfield was launched in May 2009, with the help of the Speakers' Corner Trust, to much applause. Hundreds of people joined in the celebrations which featured more than 30 speeches, musical and dance performances, as well as appearances Chris Walker.
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.
Since the launch, a plaque has been unveiled at the site, along with a code of conduct. Plans for the site include a stone plaque marking the spot, as well as a series of annual events.
Worthing, West Sussex The Sussex coastal town of Worthing has had its own Speakers' Corner at Splash Point on the town's seafront since the Victorian era. A sign today marks the "stand for delivering sermons and public speeches", while another sign close by marks the site by the old Fish Market where the Salvation Army has preached the Gospel since 1886. The Speakers' Corner fell into disuse in the late 20th century. As part of the Government's Sea Change programme, run by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the area benefited from a £500,000 grant to re-landscape the area around Splash Point including a revival of the Speakers' Corner. Work was completed early in 2011
Unofficial Leeds Leeds is known to have its own Speakers' Corner, at Victoria Gardens on the Headrow, in front of the Leeds City Art Gallery, Central Library and Henry Moore Sculpture Centre building. It is a pivotal point in Leeds for justice and anti-war marches, most of which gather and terminate here, as well as for war memorial services due to the location of Leeds's Municipal Cenotaph.
Newcastle The stepped base of Grey's Monument is used as a stage by assorted musicians, preachers and activists.
Portsmouth The steps of Guildhall, Portsmouth are often used for protest activity, speeches and activists.
Other countries Australia There is a Speakers' Corner in The Domain, Sydney, established in 1878. The speakers talk every Sunday afternoon from 2 pm until 5 pm, and have a website. Official outdoor "free" speech first appeared in the hustings and hanging grounds of Hyde Park Sydney in 1874. Free speech in this form was banned following a serious riot between Catholics and Orangemen. However, following the formalisation of free speech in Speakers' Corner in London it was decided in 1878 that The Domain would be the place for free speech in Sydney.
In Diary of a Voyage to Australia, New Zealand and other lands (published 1896), the Christadelphian preacher Robert Roberts wrote: "On the west side [of a particular location] is a feature peculiar to Sydney in all the world – a preaching park. There are of course, parks in other cities where open-air spouting is practiced on Sundays, such as Hyde Park, in London : but there is no city in the world where a park on such a scale is used by all classes of religious people. 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." "All the sects and denominations use it. There is none of the sense of infra dig that associates itself with out-door preaching in England.""Every denomination has its own tree." "The various religious bodies hold their meetings sufficiently apart to make no interference one with the other. 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. In Melbourne, Speakers' Corner was originally held in Birrarung Marr where the original site is still visible. This site has lost some popularity over the years and Speakers' Corner (Now called "Speakers' Forum") is currently held outside the State Library of Victoria on Sunday afternoon from 3 pm.
Canada