DLC Blog

Freedom of Speech Dilemmas

Recently in France, authorities deported an Islamist preacher for allegedly giving pro-jihad speeches in his mosque in Paris. Reda Ameuroud, 35, was sent back to Algeria on a ship from Marseille. French authorities say they plan on deporting several more extremist Islamists during the month of August.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – did these extremists do anything more than talk? The answer is no, not as far as anyone knows. But the French don't allow for complete freedom of speech as we do in America.

A 1972 law in France bans “hate speech, making racial defamation and provocation to racial hatred or violence punishable by criminal law.” In 1990, the French National Assembly also passed new measures outlawing revisionism, a historical tendency (mostly on the European far right) questioning the truth of the Jewish Holocaust in World War II. These laws were probably passed in order to atone for the historical French trend toward anti-semitism.

A variety of different cases have arisen as a result of this limitation on the freedom of speech. Earlier this year, an Arab radio network was shut down on grounds that it was inciting racial hatred. In May of 2000, France sued Yahoo! for making Nazi memorabilia accessible to French citizens through its online auction, the possession of which is also illegal. Yahoo! won this case in the final decision in March 2005 on the grounds that they’re protected by the freedom of speech laws in the United States. However, French citizens could be fined for bidding on such items.

In one very famous case, best-selling French author Michel Houellebecq was quoted during an interview as having said: “Islam, after all, is the dumbest religion.” He also called the Koran “mediocre,” and said he considers the scriptures of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all to be "texts of hate." His remarks infuriated the Muslim community, and he could have faced up to a year in prison or a $51,000 fine. He was, however, acquitted.

In another rather well-known case, a Paris High Court ruled that the poster to the right of 'the Che' be banned and that Reporters Without Borders be fined for every day that they continued to use it. Some felt that the poster associated 'the Che' with oppression. It was being used to protest the imprisonment of journalists in Cuba. It reads: "Welcome to Cuba, the largest reporter prison in the world!"

Critics of France’s position on freedom of speech argue that a supposedly free country has no excuse for limiting the right of its citizens to this freedom. They maintain that it’s impossible to accurately determine what incites hatred, and that these limitations infringe on the civil liberties of French citizens.

Others argue that the limitation itself is confined to extreme cases of comments or paraphenalia directly aimed at inciting racial hatred. Even some Americans feel that our right to complete freedom of speech sometimes lets people get away with too much. After a landmark freedom of speech case half a century ago, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic."

Lindsey Aakre
Student Mentor - French

Relevant articles:

France expels 'radical preacher'
Court Agrees to Review French Freedom of Speech Case
Sins of the author - Hate and Free Speech - France - Michel Houellebecq sued by Muslims
Houellebecq Acquitted of Insulting Islam

Posted by Lindsey at August 15, 2005 05:02 PM in Foreign Language.