Holocaust denial prompts misguided law by Germany and other countries - by Charles C. Haynes
If any speech should be a crime, denying the Holocaust would be at the top of my list. However well intentioned, Germany’s proposal is the wrong response to this very ugly problem. Criminalizing speech denying the Holocaust not only threatens free speech - it gives power to the vile views it seeks to suppress.
Once Europe heads down the slippery slope of state censorship, where will it stop? Consider the French slide toward state censorship of speech. In 1990, France passed a law punishing Holocaust denial with a year in prison and a 45,000-euro fine. Last October, the lower house of the French parliament added to the list of forbidden speech by passing a law that would make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Turks in 1915. The measure still needs Senate approval. While French Armenians celebrated the vote, Turkey reacted with predictable anger - not in defense of free speech, but because Turkey itself denies that any genocide against Armenians ever happened. Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union, is already near the bottom of the anti-speech slope. Not only can you go to jail for calling the Armenian tragedy a genocide, but you also can be arrested for any speech that insults the republic, parliament or any organs of state. Note EU-Digest: Free speech on every subject or issue is what makes democracy work.
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