We will study (a) the diversity of "free speech" claims; (b) the decline of free speech as a value; (c) the prospects of reimagining free speech for the 21st century.
Our understanding of free speech is not a constant. It does not change in every generation, but it does change. If we endeavour to distinguish between the present and the near-past many things will occur to us, but in the course we will examine our experience of free speech as a value to be championed. How was it championed then, and how now?
"Then" it was championed by efforts to enlarge speech boundaries – what could be said, who could speak, and in what places and to what audiences. And this championing of enlargement was, over time, but with what felt like a gathering momentum, successful. What could once only be whispered, could now be spoken with confidence and in full voice. The hitherto silent were finding their voice, and were being heard. Topics that had been suppressed, forms of expression that had been proscribed, etc. – were released into the public realm. It was an affair, most generally, of the overrunning of limitations, with a view to redefining them, setting the parameters wider. These were liberating, invigorating, exciting times.
And "now"? Not so invigorating, not so exciting. Instead, we experience a giddy disorientation. The overrunning of boundaries has destroyed the very notion of boundary.  And there is a new censoriousness, which threatens the achievements of the recent past but is commonly defended in the name of free speech. We might say: We have passed from limitations on free speech, which were overcome, to threats to free speech, which we struggle to overcome without destroying what we seek to defend. It is not surprising that we find ourselves in a state of confusion and demoralisation. Is there a way out?