Free Speech.
The word means something different to each of us.
To some, it’s simply the right to voice their thoughts without restraint. To others, it’s a misused concept used to justify hate speech. To journalists in the real world, free speech is the weapon that allows them to fight glittering lies and shades of deceit. It’s the very safeguard that allows democracy to persist. To some, free speech is just a paper right, that permits them to speak freely but doesn’t protect them from the backlash their controversial words will earn. Many of us take free speech for granted, when it is in fact, not universal. We forget about the hundreds that are murdered every year for raising their voices against the chains of tyranny and oppression. To us, at El Estoque, free speech is the very foundation of our work. Without free speech, our work would lose all meaning. With every story we write, we uncover some truth, attack some misconception or illuminate some buried issue, to slowly unravel our tangled world.
![Test Your Knowledge](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sharon-mccutcheon-532782-unsplash-900x600.jpg)
![Hear Us: the students](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Capture.png)
![Hear Us: the reporters](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/absolutvision-365898-unsplash-900x600.jpg)
![Hear Us: the experts](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/52372942_403625773781201_1890725744221356032_n.jpg)
![Global Voices](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash-900x600.jpg)
![Silenced](https://elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_0112-797x900.jpg)