Freedom of expression, a source of conflict and repression. The shrinking of freedom of expression in Catalonia

Abstract

The ECHR doctrine that freedom of expression protects information or ideas that shock, disturb or offend the State or any part of the population, because without them society is not democratic, seems to have been diluted in Spain. This dovetails with the quelling of the protests of the economic crisis that emerged in the first decade of the twenty-first century, and especially the surge in the Catalan pro independence movement and the referendum on sovereignty in 2017. The criminal sentences stemming from these events against those who claimed to be freely exercising their freedom of expression seem to indicate that political criticism, free public debate, artistic expression, and dissidence are not democratic values worth protecting but sources of conflicts and clashes that must be eradicated and criminally punished for the sake of the sought-after peaceful coexistence.