Free Speech is under attack

Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Richard Catto 1,498 views

Free Speech is no longer considered an absolute right in many countries, including South Africa.

In fact, the only country which strongly protects Free Speech is the United States of America through its First Amendment.

Recently both Zwelinzima Vavi and Julius Malema have come under attack in South Africa and were accused of hate speech. I, personally, have also come under attack for remarks that I have (allegedly) made that have offended (some) Afrikaners.

To understand what is at stake here, I would encourage you to read this New York Times article published on June 12 2008.

Here are a number of quotes from the NYT article:

“It’s hate speech!” yelled one man.

“It’s free speech!” yelled another.

In the United States, that debate has been settled. Under the First Amendment, newspapers and magazines can say what they like about minorities and religions – even false, provocative or hateful things – without legal consequence.

And another quote regarding the use of racially offensive epithets:

“In much of the developed world, one uses racial epithets at one’s legal peril, one displays Nazi regalia and the other trappings of ethnic hatred at significant legal risk, and one urges discrimination against religious minorities under threat of fine or imprisonment,” Frederick Schauer, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, wrote in a recent essay called “The Exceptional First Amendment.”

“But in the United States,” Professor Schauer continued, “all such speech remains constitutionally protected.”

Some further quotes in defence of Free Speech:

Harvey A. Silverglate, a civil liberties lawyer in Cambridge, Mass., said “Free speech matters because it works. Scrutiny and debate are more effective ways of combating hate speech than censorship.”

“The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death.” Justice Holmes wrote in 1919.

An example of what is considered protected Free Speech:

But merely saying hateful things about minorities, even with the intent to cause their members distress and to generate contempt and loathing, is protected by the First Amendment.

When you ban Hate Speech, this is the result:

“Innocent intent is not a defense,” defence attorney, Roger D. McConchie said in a bitter criticism of the British Columbia law on hate speech. “Nor is truth. Nor is fair comment on true facts. Publication in the public interest and for the public benefit is not a defense. Opinion expressed in good faith is not a defense. Responsible journalism is not a defense.”

Finally, here is the opinion of Mark Steyn, author of “The Future Belongs to Islam” which fell foul of Canadian laws against hate speech:

“Western governments are becoming increasingly comfortable with the regulation of opinion. The First Amendment really does distinguish the U.S., not just from Canada but from the rest of the Western world.”

So the question for South Africans is which model of Free Speech do you wish to adopt? Do you want to feel the eyes of Big Brother upon your back as you write a blog post or a comment on a blog or a letter to a newspaper or to a magazine?

Do you wish to allow people who hate you to be able to make use of legal loopholes to string you up because you expressed something that you truly believe but which the government has decided you may not?

I vote that South Africa adopts the US model of Free Speech and amends our Constitution appropriately. The cost to outlaw “hate speech” is too high a price to pay for our individual freedoms.

Do not let them take away your Freedom!

Tags: First Amendment, Free Speech, Hate Speech, HRC, Julius Malema, Zwelinzima Vavi
Filed under Politics, South African politics, US Politics |

6 Responses to “Free Speech is under attack”

1. sailor Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 16:07

   We do have free speech in this country. We live in a democracy after all. Free speech is one of the pillars of that democracy, just as innocence until proven guilty is a pillar.

   We have a national broadcaster who has only the interests of the public at heart. This is not a country where columnists lose their job just for expressing their views. This is a country where we can stand tall and say – this country really supports free speech.

   YEAH RIGHT!!

   The media in this country is controlled, we have all seen numerous examples of this. Not only do we not have real free speech, we also have no culture of debate. How can one debate anything, if neither party is allowed to express their viewpoints freely.

   Well written Richard, hopefully the correct people are reading.

   sailors last blog post..Happy Birthday Madiba

2. Obaht Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 16:36

   Catto,

   You really are trying to crawl up, and live up, the smelly rectums of the ANC aren’t you?

   Minorities in any country in any part of history do not do well under a majority of people that are hostile towards them.

   South African whites are a minority and you will see that they, including you, will not do well over the next several decades. I look forward to seeing you in your old age, if you get there, living hand to mouth trying to depend on you guavament pension of 50 rands a day. This is all you will get as a grovelling white.

   Do you know who you remind of? You are like one of the Jewish prisoners in the German concentration camps who survived longer because they helped the nazis to shove their own people into the gas chambers to kill them. You are cut from the same cloth as those dispicable excuses of humanity.

   There, how do you like free speech now?

   You and the rest of ANC South Africa doesn’t have a clue what free speech means, including you. SA never had a clue what it really meant in all it’s history.

   You seem to think that people should just be free to say whatever they want without any consequences. Try this in a family unit and give free speech to all the children to say whatever they like to their parents or their siblings and see how long that family stays a unit. Try this in a school. Try it in a small community. Try it in a city. Try it in a country.

   You don’t get it do you?

3. Richard Catto Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 19:19

   @Sailor: Welcome back here, Arnold, and thanks for your great comment!

4. Richard Catto Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 19:20

   @Obaht: I have always loved Free Speech. I have always railed against regulations.

   I, like many Americans, believe that the less government intervention there is, the better a country is.

   I don’t see how what I wrote above could offend you.

5. Laane Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 23:45

   The USA is certainly not the only country protecting freedom of speech.
   And it certainly isn’t the country where people are really free to say what they want, whenever they want and where they want.

   But I guess this kind of freedom of speech isn’t much appreciated.

   Laanes last blog post..men-wannabees in the house

6. Richard Catto Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 21:43

   @Laane: So, in Holland, can you parade down the street in full Nazi regalia, stopping at each crossing to give the Hitler salute?

   Because that is the kind of Free Speech that is protected in the United States.

   In the United States, one is also free to question whether the Holocaust occurred, something which is illegal in Canada, France and Germany.

   I remain amazed that some countries have the audacity to prohibit people from openly enquiring about the historical accuracy of any topic of historic research, which includes the Holocaust.

   That is not democracy. That is something else.

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