Promoters of free speech introduce new manifesto
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88- ... festo.htmlTo challenge what many people see as a growing trend towards self-censorship, a group of prominent Danes has founded a new organisation
A group of 19 important members of the media, press and law circles have joined forces to battle what they fear is a growing censorship on freedom of expression, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.
With their new ‘Fri Debat’ organisation, they have issued a ‘Manifesto’ which outlines their concerns as well as their perception of what free speech is – namely, that people should be allowed to say anything they want, with absolutely no legal, social or other barriers.
The 19 people come from all sides of the political spectrum in terms of their everyday views, but they are united on the idea that the new group will defend freedom of expression without further ado.
‘It’s probably the only thing we all agree on,’ joked Jacob Mchangama, one of the chief authors of the Manifesto and director of legal affairs for liberal thinktank Cepos.
But the group’s fears are certainly no joke, according to Mchangama who, like the other 18 Fri Debat members, has been worried about the trend of self-censorship expressed by many artists and media personnel in recent months.
‘Freedom of speech shouldn’t just be the right to say nice things that everybody agrees on,’ he said. ‘We will defend the right to be a Holocaust denier and a racist, while we will fight those opinions with words.’
The Manifesto does not mention free speech organisation Trykkefrihedsselskabet – where internal strife over the issue reached a head just prior to Christmas, when the organisation’s president, Lars Hedegaard, made numerous derogatory comments about Muslims. Several of the organisation’s leading members resigned as a result.
The Danish branch of literature-promotion organisation PEN had also indicated it believed there were boundaries on free speech.
Issues in the Danish media that have fuelled the debate most notably include the Mohammed cartoons and the burka/headscarf debates.
Two opponents of free speech are mentioned by name in the manifesto, however: Penal Code sections 140 and 266b, respectively relating to blasphemy and racism.
‘The absurd blasphemy clause has not been in use since 1938, but it’s worrying that Muslim countries in the UN use European blasphemy clauses as an argument for their own demands for protection from religious abuse,’ said Mchangama.
‘The state attempts to legislate morality, but you can’t change people's attitudes through coercion,’ he said. Mchangama together with the other members have set a limit on freedom of expression through violence, insults and direct invitation to illegality.
Mchangama said it is not the group’s intention to let racist remarks go uncontested. He argued that they must be fought through open debate.
If you don’t have the fundamental confidence that a majority of the population is able and willing to address these opinions, then what we end up with is a type of guardian council, which must judge what is acceptable,’ says Mchangama.
Fri Debat will hold its first event on 1 March, when a debate on the penal code’s blasphemy and racism paragraphs will be discussed. The meeting’s panel will include Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten – the newspaper best known for its publication of the Mohammed cartoons. In addition, Erik Bjerager, editor of the Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper, law professor Henning Koch from Copenhagen University and Jacob Mchangama will be on the panel.
compensatie te betalen aan de man als de wijf geen maagd meer is???? Alleen is een Deens wijf goedkoper dan een écht genuine moslimwijf? Lees ik dat nu goed?