Sometimes we aren't properly aware of our freedoms until we start to lose them. In a country like the UK, for instance, most people probably feel they do have freedom of speech - and if you asked them which countries do not have real freedom of speech they might mention China, or North Korea or Iran.
But with recent prosecutions in the UK of 'offensive' speech - bad taste jokes on twitter or facebook, and offensive anti-police messages on a t-shirt - perhaps our freedom is starting to fray at the edges.
Sometimes to celebrate and defend freedom it's most important to really think what it means to you. And that's why Index this week has launched a new series ' what does free speech mean to you'. We've asked novelists, activists, celebs, politicians and others from around the world to set down in 150 words or less their answers - and our first three replies come from Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim, and novelists Ian McEwan, and Elif Shafak. We'll be posting more every week and we are opening the discussion up to everyone inviting posts on our Facebook page with your answer or on Twitter #freespeechmeans.
Index on Censorship - a London-based international freedom of expression organisation - started life 40 years ago as a magazine. In the introduction to the first issue, its then editor Michael Scammell wrote: "freedom of expression is not self-perpetuating, but rather has to be maintained through constant vigilance of those who care about it". Forty years later, his words still ring true. Threats to free expression are many, some familiar, some new and changing. From the jailing of the Pussy Riot singers in Russia and the ever-rising toll of murdered journalists in Mexico, to China's "Great Firewall" and the UK's policies on offensive messages posted on social media, protecting but also understanding freedom of expression is more important now than it ever was before.
The responses to our simple question 'what does freedom of expression mean to you' have shown us that freedom of expression is incredibly important to those we've asked - and they all see it and express it in different ways.To novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan: "Put in architectural terms, the triumphal arch of an open society has as its coping stone free expression". Internet activist Wael Ghonim, a leader in Eqypt's revolution borrows a friend's simple definition, "freedom of expression is the belief in the right of others to say things that you don't want hear". Award-winning Turkish novelist Elif Shafak suggests that "freedom of expression is the one freedom that works like a powerful glue, holding together all other freedoms and rights". Whatever your personal definition, the right to speak out, to access information and to hold truth to power is one that we must continue to fight for whatever the challenges.