Freedom of Expression - Between Liberty and Intolerance

• Author: Delia-Alexandra Glavaschi, Aurora-Alexandra Bulgaru, Anatoli Simion
• Pages: 456-463

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2017

456

Freedom of Expression – between Liberty and Intolerance

Glavaschi Delia-Alexandra1, Bulgaru Aurora-Alexandra2, Simion Anatoli3

Abstract: Developing the present research, we took into consideration the importance freedom of speech has.

The opportunity an individual has to express his true feelings and thoughts is a matter of the human being’s

essence and it is considered a natural right. Even so, throughout man’s existence, t he individual met enclosure

in benefiting from his natural freedom of speech way too many times, people being severely punished for their

attempts at expressing their true feelings and ideas. The gesture was often considered defiant. In Romania, one’s

right to free speech ceased to be censored in the po st-communism era, fact which induced us th e necessity of

exposing how one’s freedom of speech was perceived and enclosed in the communist era. Another topic

addressed in this paper is related to the extent of freedom of expression. If in the past, expressing our opinions

lead to an enclosed freedom of speech, nowadays we have the issue of those using this natural right abusively.

People often use their freedom of speech without thinking clear, which leads to damaging another individual’s

rights and p ersonal values, such as their personal dignity, the right to privacy, religion and many more.

Consequently, we are found in the situation of naturally asking ourselves: Should we limit the freedom of

speech? And if so, what would the extent of this natural right be?

Keywords: Freedom of speech; fundamental right; expression; limits

Introduction

Given the perpetual evolution of society, human rights, such a huge concept spread wide interpreted has

undergone many transformations over time. (Pușcă & Ionescu Dumitrache, Protecția internațională a

drepturilor omului, 2015, p. 8)

Thus, in eighteenth century, Americans elaborate the first document which laid the foundations of basic

human rights (“Declaration of Colonial Rights”) whereas, French Revolution brought its own

contribution to the development of this concept through the “Declaration of Human Rights and Citizen”,

which are basically prior acts to “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, which currently underpins

modern society4.

Romanian Constitution itself establishes its democratic character, highlighting the human need to

express freely and unhindered own convictions, formed as a result of guaranteed access to information.

1 Student, Faculty of Law, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd., Galati 800654, Romania, Tel.:

+40372361102, Corresponding author: delia_g.alexandra@yahoo.com.

2 Student, Faculty of Law, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd., Galati 800654, Romania, Tel.:

+40372361102, E-mail: auroraalexandra.bulgaru@gmail.com.

3 Student, Faculty of Law, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd., Galati 800654, Romania, Tel.:

+40372361102, E-mail: simion.anatoli@yahoo.com.

4 For more details about the historical and judicial evolution of Human Rights, See: (Ionescu Dumitrache, 2015, 2015, pp. 208

– 215).