Home of free speech

Home of free speech

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At Speakers’ Corner in the northeast corner of London’s Hyde Park, near the bustle of Oxford Street, anyone has the right to turn up every Sunday and talk about whatever is dear to their heart.

I have been fascinated with this unique place in London since I moved here in 2009. It’s definitely out of the ordinary. It’s brash, loud, impulsive and unpredictable. But it’s so much more than that.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Some call it the home of free speech: previous orators included famous figures Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and George Orwell.

Today the atmosphere is hectic, with people from all backgrounds perching on boxes or stepladders to declaim on subjects from philosophy to religion, monsters to potatoes.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Hecklers interrupt, adding to the chaotic feel of a place that has drawn visitors from far and wide since the Victorian times.

People from all sorts of ethnic, political and religious backgrounds turn up to speak, shouting across each other and constantly being interrupted by the crowd.

This gives a flavour of what goes on.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

The speaker is Patrick McEvoy, 41, a carpenter who lost his job during the 2008 financial crisis. He was out of work for four months.

During that time he started to question what had happened to him and others around him, prompting him to start coming to Speakers’ Corner. His first subject was China’s industrialisation at the expense of the working class of the developed world.

This exchange between McEvoy and the public took place in early June.

SPEAKER: (Shouting) Who regulates democracy? Anyone?

CROWD: The banks

SPEAKER: Anyone?

CROWD: Me me me

SPEAKER: Yes you. And you and you and you and you. That’s your job and you have failed miserably (gets interrupted)

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

There is no set subject; anything you want to talk about, you can. It could be philosophy, politics, racism, immigration, hay-growing...

Some are just having fun talking what appears to be nonsense. There are a few political speakers left but most talk about religion.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

“The popular idea is that there’s all these religious people, but actually they’re talking about politics as well if you care to listen to them,” said Tony Allen, a British speaker and heckler since 1978.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Speakers’ Corner is a place where unmediated face-to-face debates in public are possible.

It feels like something from the past, the last relic of a long tradition of public debates that is slowly disappearing in a digital age where most of our conversations are via hand-held devices.

“People need to express themselves,” said an American student who gave her name as gHyp:See. “People having these intellectual conversations maybe online but so much communication is non-verbal. I think it’s important for people to learn how to talk.”

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

I have heard many speeches over a number of months. Most of them were highly entertaining, some made me laugh, a lot made absolutely no sense at all and some prompted me to think.

One exchange that stands out is a man who explained, in a pretty rambling and good-natured way, how big business had wrought havoc with his hay-growing enterprises, forcing him to go broke and move to Britain.

He often got his words muddled up and the crowd chipped in and helped him out. He took it all in good humour, laughing at his own mistakes and changing his speech as he went along.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

We often hear about American comedy shows being created by a group of writers. This, it seemed to me, was the Speakers’ Corner version of script writing…

In the end, what really matters is that a place such as Speakers’ Corner exists, where people can use their right of free speech in public. That isn’t a matter of course in every part of the world.

. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
"Through most of my Christian life God's been giving me messages. In May 2009 He said to me to go and prophesy that there is fine dust coming across this nation and aeroplanes will not be able to take off and land. A year later the ash cloud, the Icelandic ash cloud arrived,” said Matthew, 60, a speaker on Christianity.
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Slideshow

A speaker addresses the crowd.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker addresses the crowd.

A Christian speaker holds a copy of the Bible.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A Christian speaker holds a copy of the Bible.

A speaker addresses a crowd of people.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker addresses a crowd of people.

A speaker holds a copy of the Bible.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker holds a copy of the Bible.

Patrick McEvoy speaks as a man cycles by.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Patrick McEvoy speaks as a man cycles by.

Speaker Tony Allen, a writer and a comedian, stands on a stepladder.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Speaker Tony Allen, a writer and a comedian, stands on a stepladder.

Speaker Terminator 24 addresses a crowd.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Speaker Terminator 24 addresses a crowd.

A speaker from the Catholic Evidence Guild stands on a stepladder.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker from the Catholic Evidence Guild stands on a stepladder.

A speaker addresses a crowd, competing with a heckler.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker addresses a crowd, competing with a heckler.

A speaker talks to a member of public.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker talks to a member of public.

A woman gestures to make her point.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A woman gestures to make her point.

A woman prays, holding an excerpt from the Book of Isaiah.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A woman prays, holding an excerpt from the Book of Isaiah.

A speaker takes a break.
. LONDON, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A speaker takes a break.

Video

Time-lapse shows the Speakers’ Corner filling up with people.