'Democracy is under attack!' Gove rails against 'cancel culture' as he issues free speech warning
Michael Gove MP - Arc
Michael Gove has railed against "cancel culture", whilst also warning that democracy and capitalism are "under attack".
Giving a speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up called for a culture "free of censorship" in order to allow capitalism and democracy to flourish.
Arc was established as "an international community with a vision for a better world".
Its mission is to generate a new approach to society, which would allow everyone to "prosper, contribute and flourish".
Addressing delegates, Gove said: "We once again need to have an economic system that is on the side of the insurgent, the entrepreneur, the creative - and we can only have an economic culture that favours that if we have a broader intellectual culture that is in favour of free speech, free inquiry, and challenge.
"Economy and culture are inextricably linked.
"You can only have a successful free market economy that favours the insurgent and the creator and those who generate value and innovation if you have a culture free of cancellation, free of censorship, free of the marginalisation of those who wish to challenge the current consensus. The two go together."
Gove told the conference that a "recognition of the importance of individuals" was central to the emergence of capitalism.
He explained: "Mankind made a genuine leap forward and at the heart of those changes were three things.
"The first was a recognition of the importance of the individuals.
"You can associate it with the Reformation and Protestantism. You can associate it with the creation of institutions - the Royal Society, the Bank of England, accountable parliaments.
"And you can associate also with the emergence of democratic nation-states."
But he warned: "Individual conscience and freedom. Institutional resilience and strength. National democracy and accountability.
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In his speech yesterday, Peterson hit out at identity politics, claiming it is "tearing us apart"
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"They have all been under attack and they all need to be defended and upheld."
The Arc Conference has seen speeches from speakers including Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
In his speech yesterday, Peterson hit out at identity politics, claiming it is "tearing us apart".
He told delegates that "concerns about identity" lead to a "pathway that's marked out by nothing but...self-serving hedonism".
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