If you are referring to the author’s mention of the English-speaking democracy in Europe, that would be England. This was the basis of our own ‘freedom of speech’ clause. I don’t think he implied that democracy alone conferred the right of free speech.
From Wikipedia:
Concepts of freedom of speech can be found in early human rights documents. England’s Bill of Rights 1689 granted ‘freedom of speech in Parliament’ and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted during the French Revolution in 1789, specifically affirmed freedom of speech as an inalienable right. The Declaration provides for freedom of expression in Article 11, which states that:
“The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.”
Thanks, Bob. It was a rhetorical question, meant to pull the discussion back away from the contemporary redefinition of the term.