voiceofreason
Senior News Editor since 2011
http://www.richmond.com/news/latest-news/ap/article_806704fc-bea5-5ac9-b9d5-aa4e1290e59f.html
French arrests raise question: Is free speech for all?
Updated: 12:00 pm, Sun Jan 25, 2015.
Associated Press |
LONDON (AP) — When cartoonists at a French publication that had poked fun at the Prophet Muhammad were shot dead, millions around the world felt it as an attack on freedom of speech.
Since the rampage that left four dead at a kosher supermarket and 12 at the Charlie Hebdo offices, French authorities have arrested dozens of people — including a comedian — for appearing to praise the terrorists or encourage more attacks.
That has unleashed accusations of a double standard, in which free speech applies to those who mock Islam while Muslims are penalized for expressing their own provocative views. Many Muslims complain that France aggressively prosecutes anti-Semitic slurs, but that they are not protected from similar racist speech.
...
John Keane, an Australian political scientist who has studied the history of Islam in Europe, said the arrests add to a widespread perception among Muslims that "the satirizing of Jewish people and the insult of Jewish people is not permitted under French law, and yet that same principle, for the moment, does not apply to Muslims."
...
Jonathan Sacerdoti of Britain's Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said many British Jews feared that hatred against them was on the rise, and felt hate speech laws were not being applied firmly enough.
He said that during protests against Israel's Gaza war last year, some demonstrators held banners saying "Hitler was right" and "Hitler should have finished the job."
"These aren't examples of legitimate debate," Sacerdoti said. "These are examples of hate speech ... that made some Jewish people on the streets of London feel afraid."
The two communities may have similar fears, but they occupy different positions in European societies, and have widely differing views of the way they are treated.
Jewish communities in Britain and elsewhere have been established for centuries. The shaming example of the Holocaust has helped spur European governments to denounce anti-Semitism and work to ensure such genocide never happens again. In several European countries, including France, denying the Holocaust is a crime.
French arrests raise question: Is free speech for all?
Updated: 12:00 pm, Sun Jan 25, 2015.
Associated Press |
LONDON (AP) — When cartoonists at a French publication that had poked fun at the Prophet Muhammad were shot dead, millions around the world felt it as an attack on freedom of speech.
Since the rampage that left four dead at a kosher supermarket and 12 at the Charlie Hebdo offices, French authorities have arrested dozens of people — including a comedian — for appearing to praise the terrorists or encourage more attacks.
That has unleashed accusations of a double standard, in which free speech applies to those who mock Islam while Muslims are penalized for expressing their own provocative views. Many Muslims complain that France aggressively prosecutes anti-Semitic slurs, but that they are not protected from similar racist speech.
...
John Keane, an Australian political scientist who has studied the history of Islam in Europe, said the arrests add to a widespread perception among Muslims that "the satirizing of Jewish people and the insult of Jewish people is not permitted under French law, and yet that same principle, for the moment, does not apply to Muslims."
...
Jonathan Sacerdoti of Britain's Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said many British Jews feared that hatred against them was on the rise, and felt hate speech laws were not being applied firmly enough.
He said that during protests against Israel's Gaza war last year, some demonstrators held banners saying "Hitler was right" and "Hitler should have finished the job."
"These aren't examples of legitimate debate," Sacerdoti said. "These are examples of hate speech ... that made some Jewish people on the streets of London feel afraid."
The two communities may have similar fears, but they occupy different positions in European societies, and have widely differing views of the way they are treated.
Jewish communities in Britain and elsewhere have been established for centuries. The shaming example of the Holocaust has helped spur European governments to denounce anti-Semitism and work to ensure such genocide never happens again. In several European countries, including France, denying the Holocaust is a crime.