The ‘free speech’ of the (un)free

ABSTRACT

This auto-ethnography explores the ways in which storytelling can illuminate the ways in which an ‘Islamist’ can(not) engage in ‘free speech’. It argues the double bind that Muslims find themselves (condemn OR be condemned) in the War on Terror exposes the ‘liberal swindle’ that is free speech. Through storytelling and a ring composition, the author analyses his own engagement in academia and how as a Muslim he is compelled to code his dissent through toying with academic form rather than content.

KEYWORDS:

• free speech
• liberal swindle
• auto-ethnography
• Islam
• Islamism
• Orientalism
• Muslim
• ring composition
• storytelling
• Benjamin
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yassir Morsi

Yassir Morsi is a lecturer in politics at La Trobe University and author of Radical Skin, Moderate Masks (2017). He is the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association (ACRAWSA) Vice-President.