The French constitutional court has held unconstitutional the law passed in January of this year (that’s a fast decision by our standards) that made it illegal to dispute any genocide recognized by law. This kind of rule did not fall into the proper scope of a legal rule. While it was possible for the law to govern the exercise of speech to protect its freedom, this statute went in the opposite direction.
Nothing to fear from debating with extremists
Friday, January 27, 2012
Rather than ban the debate or protest outside the venue, it is our duty to engage and challenge the likes of Nick Griffin, writes Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan …
I do not believe freedom of speech was at the heart of this dilemma. However, freedom of rebuttal was. Those who opposed Griffin’s talk aimed to impose their view of democracy to other staff and students, a view which does not allow certain elected representatives to be challenged systematically, coherently and calmly as they express extremist views. …
Debating will make no difference to staunch supporters on either side. But for those of us who sit quietly in the corner, who voted for another party in a previous election but were disillusioned and consider a bold move to a more radical party, debate is crucial.
Great op-ed by: Dr. Emmanuelle Schon-Quinlivan of UCC.
See also the Editorial in the same edition: Griffin ban – Free speech is important.
In DW Griffith’s silent-era powerful – if flawed – classic movie, Intolerance (1916) (IMDB | wikipedia), the contemporary story of a poor young woman, separated by the intolerant prejudice of social reformers from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from ancient Babylon, New Testament Judea, and Reformation France. These fables vividly warn of the dangers of intolerance. Two stories in today’s media demonstrate that intolerance of intolerance is simply intolerance, and is all the more dangerous for that.
UCC society withdraws Nick Griffin invite to ‘free speech’ debate
… In a statement this afternoon, the UCC Government and Politics Society said it had withdrawn the invitation as a result of submissions from University staff and Gardaí, who had outlined a “potential threat to the safety and welfare of our students and the general public”.
As with the earlier TCD debacle, this is as inevitable as it is dismaying.
…French Senate passes bill outlawing genocide denial
… France’s upper house of parliament approved a bill on Monday that would make it a criminal offence to deny genocide, legislation that has caused tension between Paris and Ankara. The bill, which was approved by the lower house in December, has triggered outrage in Turkey as it would include the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
At the end of last year the French courts finally ended a long
running legal battle which saw an investigative journalist cleared
of defamation 10 years after he first reported on Clearstream, a
financial institution based in Luxembourg.
The landmark ruling stated that although the work of journalist
Denis Robert contained inaccuracies, the thoroughness of his
investigation and the public interest in the story outweighed the
defamatory claims.
The case has already been used as a legal precedent and could make
the work of investigative journalists in France and beyond much
easier.
h/t Kate Sutherland (@LawandLit) here
Eugene Volokh’s article, Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or for the Press as a Technology? From the Framing to Today, 160 U. Penn. L. Rev. 459 (2011), available in its full PDF form here, has just been published;
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Last Tuesday, in the My Education Week column in the Irish Times, Paddy Prendergast, the Provost of Trinity College Dublin (and thus my boss) wrote a diary of his working week. This is how his entry for Wednesday, October 5th, began (with added links):
I meet with the Senior Dean and Dean of Students to discuss the student debating society, the Philosophical Society’s invitation to the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to participate in a debate later this month. The issue has received considerable media coverage, but more importantly there are objections from our own college community. Freedom of speech is an important principle as is that of self-governance of student societies. We agree to meet with the Philosophical Society and consider this serious matter further. …
This seemed positive enough. Both freedom of speech and student society self-governance would pull in favour of allowing Nick Griffin to speak. Don’t get me wrong: Griffin’s views are loathsome, and the BNP is a hateful organisation, but I defend their right to spew their foul and horrid bile simply so that it can be exposed for the obnoxious and indefensible nonsense that it is. But this debate is not to be.…
According to the Adages of Erasmus, ‘vestes virum facit‘, which is often rendered in English as ‘clothes maketh the man’. Two different stories in today’s Irish Times brought this adage to mind. In the first, a picture tells a thousand words:
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The photo is by Gonzalo Fuentes via Reuters and Yahoo. It shows French deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan covering his face with a scarf in the colours of the French flag to protest at the denial of speaking time to independent deputies during a debate about Libya at l’Assemblée Nationale in Paris yesterday. It demonstrates that what deputies wear in parliament can be as important as what they say. Sometimes, the sartorial expression is obvious, as where a slogan on a t-shirt makes the point. Sometimes, it’s a little more subtle, but all the more effective, as the photo above of Dupont-Aignan demonstrates. And sometimes, even a deputy’s normal everyday wear makes the point: in Ireland, Mick Wallace TD habitually wears a casual pink shirt. Like some other independent TDs, he dresses casually to make a point against unnecessary conformity and stuffiness; and he dresses in pink as “a challenge to the sad macho element in Irish society”.…
Today is World Press Freedom Day (Unesco | IFEX | WPFD 2011 | WAN-IFRA), and there will be many events worldwide to celebrate, defend and promote press freedom. Free media are at the heart of freedom of expression, acting as watchdogs on governments, exposing corruption and rights abuses, and holding the powerful to account.
Piaras Kelly has news of an event today in Dublin marking World Press Freedom Day (with links by me):
Lal Wickrematunge’s brother, Lasantha, has been named as a “Hero of Press Freedom” by the International Press Institute following his murder by unknown assailants in 2009 when he was managing editor of The Sunday Leader, a Sri Lankan newspaper.
The Press Council of Ireland, in association with Ireland Aid, has arranged a free public lecture by Lal Wickrematunge to mark World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday 3 May 2011.
The lecture will take place between 2.30 pm – 4.00 pm in the Neil Hoey Lecture Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub, Fellows Square, Trinity College Dublin. If you would like to attend please RSVP to info@presscouncil.ie or (01) 6489130.
In unfortunate timing, some of my students have an exam at exactly the same time, so I can’t attend.…
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