Thought crime.....
Discussion
name said:
Formal charges have been filed in Austria against David Irving for allegedly denying the Holocaust took place.The UK historian was arrested on November 11 on a warrant issued in 1989.He is being held after allegedly violating an Austrian law which makes Holocaust denial a crime, a prosecutor said
To me the idea that a thought or rather vocalising a thought of viewpoint should become a crime seems a bit absurd. Okay it's a daft thing he's saying and there is overwhelming evidence that he is wrong.....which we are all well aware of, but I don't think that legislation should be used in a prescriptive socio-political way in a supposedly free society.
He should be allowed to argue his point of view IMO.
>> Edited by timmy30 on Tuesday 22 November 15:52
The ratehr specific thought crime of "denying the holcaust" has I believe rather a special point in Austria and Germany, for perhaps obvious reasons. Some people would perhaps rather forget that such a thing occurred or even deny that their parents or grandparents did such a thing. Perhaps something that will fade (or become more important) as the generation currently drawing their pensions passes on and the war vanishes from living memory.
The law states that this terrible thing happened and that those who are denying this are attempting to re-write history to blot it out, something that will not be allowed by the current collective conscience.
There are some things that the law bars us from saying, for a variety of reasons, this one perhaps makes a lot of sense in the context.
The law states that this terrible thing happened and that those who are denying this are attempting to re-write history to blot it out, something that will not be allowed by the current collective conscience.
There are some things that the law bars us from saying, for a variety of reasons, this one perhaps makes a lot of sense in the context.
Holocaust denial is both antisemitic and antidemocratic.
No doubt Irving will bang on about universal freedom of speech, and try it on with the European Court Of Human Rights, but it won't get him anywhere.
from wikipedia At times, Holocaust deniers seek to rely on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression, when faced with criminal sanctions against their statements or publications. The European Court of Human Rights however consistently declares their complaints inadmissible. According to Article 17 of the Convention, nothing in the Convention may be construed so as to justify acts that are aimed at destroying any of the very rights and freedoms contained therein. Invoking free speech to propagate denial of crimes against humanity is, according to the Court's case-law, contrary to the spirit in which the Convention was adopted in the first place. Reliance on free speech in such cases would thus constitute an abuse of a fundamental right.
No doubt Irving will bang on about universal freedom of speech, and try it on with the European Court Of Human Rights, but it won't get him anywhere.
from wikipedia At times, Holocaust deniers seek to rely on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression, when faced with criminal sanctions against their statements or publications. The European Court of Human Rights however consistently declares their complaints inadmissible. According to Article 17 of the Convention, nothing in the Convention may be construed so as to justify acts that are aimed at destroying any of the very rights and freedoms contained therein. Invoking free speech to propagate denial of crimes against humanity is, according to the Court's case-law, contrary to the spirit in which the Convention was adopted in the first place. Reliance on free speech in such cases would thus constitute an abuse of a fundamental right.
But would an American get arrested if he denied that the US wiped out the native Americans, or british/Australians denied the oppression of the aboriginies, and so on. I have no problem with Holocaust denyers being idiots, and arseholes, but it seems to me that the Austrians are being a little over-defensive.
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