Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-16-Speech-4-137"
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"en.20060216.15.4-137"2
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".
I believe that one needs to restrict freedom of expression on only the rarest of occasions. Of course, it must be illegal to shout 'fire' in a cinema or to directly provoke racial hatred. I find it difficult to understand, on that basis, how Nick Griffin, the leader of the neo-fascist British Nationalist Party, was acquitted of promoting racial hatred earlier this month after his comments on both Islam and the murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Yet I am not sure I see the Danish cartoons that were published falling into that category. They were certainly offensive to many, but that does not mean they meet the same test as promoting racial hatred. Certainly, when I see opposition to their publication coming from the fundamentalist Christian right in Europe, I start to worry that the laws of blasphemy are being dusted off again across Europe. The correct position would have been not to forbid publication, but to condemn the content of many of them.
As for Mr Frattini's 'code of conduct' for journalists, it deserved the decision it received. Yet if we are going to protect people's deep-rooted beliefs from ridicule, attack or insult, maybe some of Britain's yellow tabloid press can start to respect my anti-racism, my hatred of homophobia, my socialism and my commitment to Europe."@en1
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