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Samizdata quote of the day – Germany’s dystopian free speech crisis These cases might initially read as isolated absurdities: a pensioner’s raided home, a fine for a nickname, a meme investigated as though it were genuine Nazi propaganda. Taken together, they describe a pattern in which laws designed to protect democracy from its enemies are being turned against ordinary citizens engaged in perfectly legitimate political speech.
Germany’s experience should be a lesson for other countries and their respective governments. It is a reminder that speech laws drafted with the best of intentions — to prevent a return to fascism, to protect politicians from genuine harassment — can, without firm safeguards, be distorted and become instruments of routine political policing. As Dr Zitelmann’s case shows, even a historian who has devoted his career to studying the dangers of totalitarianism is not immune from being investigated under laws that increasingly resemble the very thing they were built to prevent.
– Max Thompson
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The provision in question, Section 86a of the German Criminal Code, was introduced to prevent neo-Nazis marching through German streets with swastika flags and Hitler salutes
This is the part I never really understood. People marching and behaving like this seem to be about as ridiculous as Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. But there is a huge benefit to allowing these morons to do their thing which is that they publicly out themselves so that we see what morons they are, and can either keep an eye on them or avoid them entirely. Preventing people from telling you what scum they are is extremely counterproductive.
imposes a de facto ban on publicly insulting or defaming elected officials. It was strengthened in 2021, lowering the threshold for prosecution…
If free speech is for anything it is for precisely this. Criticizing the government without fear of prosecution is far and away its most important use.
Gawd, I thought Britain was bad.
If speech laws depend upon “firm safeguards”, then they will always be used against the people who disagree with the firm people.
IOW, there is NO time – with or without “safeguards” – when government regulations limiting speech should be accepted.
Unless, of course, I get to hold the controls. I will always be reasonable!
No one who wants to restrict freedom of speech has good intentions.
So no equivalent to two-tier Kier or Rachel from accounts in Deutschland then. Tyranny of the gauleiters.
“Drafted with the best of intentions” is a bold claim – it may be true, or the intentions may always have been bad.
This is an international movement – that holds that freedom is “really” going along with “Progressive” opinions, and that people who dissent should be punished. It is older than Marxism (although “Critical Theory” “Woke” Marxism warmly endorses it) – it goes back to Rousseau, who redefined the word freedom to mean submission to the General Will, and held that the General Will could only be defined by the Law Giver (the Progressive intellectual ruler or rulers) – and that even if 99% of the population said they disagreed, this was NOT the “General Will” but was the despicable “Will of All” motivated by “pride” – to be crushed by the Progressive ruler or rulers. In short Rousseau was Thomas Hobbes wearing smiley face-mask.
From the French Revolution to modern Western nations such as Germany and Britain, “reactionary” dissent is punished.
They do not really think that some person attacking National Socialism, and attacking the insane Collectivism of the Covid lockdowns, is a Nazi – but they (including the courts – the judges) punish them anyway.
And the do not really think that people who mock “Green” politicians (by the way – the “Green” movement has common origins with the National Socialist movement)are Nazis – but they punish them anyway.
“But we want to prevent another Holocaust”.
Oh yes? So that is why you have imported millions of people (and you have allowed them to bring in their families since the early 1970s – 50 years ago, so much for “guest” workers) who want to exterminate-the-Jews.
“We want to prevent another Holocaust” – pull the other one, it has got bells on. You, the Progressive Western establishment, could not give a toss about the Holocaust – Franklin Roosevelt did not care at the time (see Paul Johnson “A History of the Jews”) and you still do not care – which is why you have imported populations whose only problem with the Holocaust is that it did not go far enough.
My grandmother (who I never met – died long before I was born) came from the Netherlands – my father used to buy Edam cheese, advocaat, and toblerone chocolate perhaps in memory of her. Her family were gassed.
What future do Jews have in the Netherlands now? None – they do not have a future.
Why not? Because Progressive politicians have imported a population who want to kill them – that is why not.
“But they did not know” – the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was ally of Mr Hitler and Mr Himmler – and he visited death camps (which Mr Hitler never did – and Mr Himmler only did once – it is said that he was sick, and never visited again) – he had no problem at all with what he witnessed, and, given his world-view and the culture he came from, it was not a shock that he had no problem with such things.
Of course, the Progressives knew the nature of the population they imported (and it was “imported” – they did not just turn up, they were encouraged-to-come) – that is why they punish people for telling the truth about the population they have imported and allowed (no not just allowed – encouraged) to increase their numbers by births over generations.
“Some Progressive Jews have actively gone alone with all this – indeed pushed it” – yes they have, they have indeed – in their madness they have built their own funeral pyre.
The Grand Mufti was appointed by a Jew – Herbert Samuel (who was working as a high British official – and had “advanced” Progressive opinions) – Herbert Samuel knew the man had organized the killing of Jews (and other people), but thought that giving him high office would civilize him (if you understand that – you can explain it to me), and Herbert Samuel also supported immigration restrictions on Jews into the Holy Land – but imposed no restrictions on the number of Muslims who could move there from Egypt and-so-on.
The modern “liberal” is very hard to understand.
Gladstone I understand, although I prefer John Bright, but modern “liberals”, such as Sir Edward “Genocide” Davey, are baffling.
By the way – the Weimar Republic (as one would expect) had Hate Speech laws, so the idea that they would have “stopped Hitler” is nonsense.
Indeed. I was in Münster having lunch in a pavement café opposite the historic city hall and the usual flag waving protestors from the anti-Semitic “Friends of Palestine” (or whomever) decided to do a pop-up demonstration along with loudhailers and the usual hijab wearing attendants.
The police were there observing, but to protect the muslim invaders more than anything. The friend whom I was visiting (a physics professor at the university) was horrified and described it as like a nightmare from “the bad times” (a common euphemism for the Nazi era).
As usual, the law would certainly be applied (with gusto) to an AfD demonstration doing something similar, but the Friends of Palestine were seemingly exempt and the clearly anti-Semitic language was ignored.
1. “Social Justice” Is Neither
2. These are the same insufferable Euroweenies who always sneer at “Cowboy” Americans…. good and hard.
3. Genesis 11:1-9 … they didn’t build the tower to storm heaven, but to control the valley. Only with this insight is G-d’s response understandable (and the sinister nature of their seemingly well-intentioned Social Justice palaver revealed..) The G-d of the Judeo-Christian West chooses true independence over collectivist coercion, and ensures it will not be snuffed out.
Just what I was about to say, Paul. They’ve learned nothing. This isn’t how you stop fascism; this is how you get fascism.
The person at the centre of this absurd situation is Dr Rainer Zitelmann, whom I have met half a dozen times and he is a splendid and vigorous advocate of free market capitalism, at a time when such people are too rare for my liking. Here is a link to his website, listing all his publications.
There is also the ridiculous persecution of CJ Hopkins. https://substack.com/@cjhopkins/p-207010963
Best summary is the acerbic commentator Eugyppius, https://www.eugyppius.com/p/on-the-unjust-and-ridiculous-conviction?utm_source=publication-search
Johnathan Pearce – thank you, he is indeed a good man – I envy you having met him.
Druid 144 – thank you indeed for the links.
Sam Duncan – yes indeed, and well put.
BenDavid – yes they have taken the word “social” and made it anti social (they use the term “social freedom” to mean the opposite of what, for example, Edmund Burke meant by the term), and they turned justice into injustice – into plundering and tyranny.
Dan Souter – precisely.
They, in this case the German authorities, arrest people they say (or imply) are a threat to Jews – who are NOT a threat to Jews, whereas they do nothing about masses of people (both Islamic and their leftist allies) who want to exterminate Jews.
The authorities are corrupt – but, at this point, that is like saying “water is wet”.
Before someone, say from the Guardian newspaper, points it out – some years ago I defended both Neil Oliver and Tucker Carlson against the charge that they were Nazis, and it turned out that they were-indeed Nazis (that I was utterly wrong) – indeed Mr Carlson even had a pro Hitler person on his show and described the Nazi propagandist as “the most honest historian in America”.
Yes I was utterly wrong – I said these people were not Nazis, and they turned out to be Nazis. But I still believe that they have the right to Freedom of Speech – including their endless lies against the Jewish people.
Freedom of Speech does not mean the right to be paid lots of money to spread lies – I was astonished when Rupert Murdoch fired Tucker Carlson (who was number one in the ratings) – paying a very large sum of money to buy Mr Carlson out of his contract.
But I now see that Mr Murdoch was correct in his last personal management decision before his retirement – he had gone to a private talk that Mr Carlson gave and listened to what Mr Carlson had to say, and decided that this not someone he wanted anything to do with.
Mr Carlson played a double game – for example defending President Trump on Fox News, whilst (for example in the leaked e.mails) privately hating President Trump (and wishing him harm). And on his Fox News show there was not a hint of Mr Carlson’s hatred for Jews – hatred that is now obvious, but was not so back then.