Spanish Hate/Anti-Terrorism Speech Laws Doing Little But Locking Up Comedians, Artists, And Dissidents
from the it-will-get-a-whole-lot-worse-before-it-gets-even-worse dept
As Spain continues to expand its (anti-)speech laws, the rights of its citizens continue to contract. Not content with making it illegal to insult a cop or government officials, the Spanish government has decided to tackle hate speech and terrorism with the same ineptitude.
There's no punchline here. People are being arrested and charged with speech having nothing to with promoting hate or terrorism. And this is in addition to people who've found themselves targeted by vindictive public servants for daring to publicly criticize their words or actions.
It's gotten so bad Amnesty International -- an entity that usually spends its time decrying the acts of dictators and brutal authoritarians -- has felt compelled to speak up about Spain's terrible speech laws. Mathew Ingram has more details at Columbia Journalism Review.
In a new report on the phenomenon, entitled “Tweet… If You Dare,” Amnesty International looks at the rise in prosecutions under Article 578 of the country’s criminal code, which prohibits “glorifying terrorism” and “humiliating the victims of terrorism.” The law has been around since 2000, but was amended in 2015 and since then prosecutions and convictions have risen sharply.
So, who's been doing all this glorifying and humiliating? Well, it's not supporters of terrorism. Instead, it's musicians, artists, people telling jokes -- pretty much everybody but actual terrorists or proponents of hate.
Among those who have been hit by the law are a musician who tweeted a joke about sending the king a cake-bomb for his birthday and was sentenced to a year in prison, and a rapper who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for writing songs that the government said glorified terrorism and insulted the crown. A filmmaker and a journalist have also been charged under the anti-terrorism law, and a student who tweeted jokes about the assassination of the Spanish prime minister in 1973 was also sentenced to a year in prison, although her sentence was suspended after a public outcry.
Don't read too much into the into the post-outcry suspended sentence. Spain's government is still busy ensuring satire, commentary, and anything else that might wander into the territory of offensive remains a criminal offense. Anything that has been walked back has been the result of public outcry. Amnesty National's report "Tweet… if you dare" [PDF] notes hate speech and anti-terrorism speech law violations have resulted in 70 convictions over the past two years.
The student, (Cassandra Vera) who was arrested and sentenced for joking about a 45-year-old assassination, notes the government is still involved in acts of censorship that would be ridiculous if they weren't backed by threats of jail time.
Vera expressed similar views after her sentence was overturned. She pointed to the recent censorship of a work at a Madrid art fair and the seizure, on a judge’s orders, of Fariña, a book about drug-trafficking in Galicia, as proof that something was seriously wrong with free speech in Spain.
“People shouldn’t have to be afraid of expressing their opinions,” she told the Guardian. “What happened with Valtonyc and Fariña and the art exhibition showed that freedom of expression is under serious attack. I think freedom of expression has been dealt an almost fatal blow in Spain.”
Amnesty International is demanding the law be repealed. It has done little to deter acts of terrorism or successfully counter hate speech. Instead, it has been used to target dissidents, activists, and others who criticize the government. Whatever terrorism happens to be addressed under the law apparently only considers certain acts by domestic terrorists to be worthy of enforcement. Content and communications glorifying foreign terrorist groups is usually ignored by the government. As its report points out, the speech laws enacted by the Spanish government violate the rights of its citizens.
By using these laws to criminalize lawful expression, the Spanish authorities are disregarding international human rights law and standards. The impact of Article 578 is devastating to individuals – ranging from hefty fines, to lengthy periods of exclusion from the public sector, to prison sentences.
But even beyond these sanctions, such misuse of counter-terrorism provisions leads people to engage in self-censorship for fear that they may be targeted. The criminalization of such a wide range of expression has a general chilling effect and can create an environment where individuals are afraid of expressing unpopular views, or even making controversial jokes.
The report also notes several other European countries are also beginning to curtail the rights of their citizens in their quest to target hate speech and international terrorism. Germany's hate speech law roll out has been an unmitigated disaster and other countries like France and Italy seem all too willing to join Spain and Germany in killing satire, parody, and content they just don't agree with. All of this is being done under the heading of "public safety," but in reality, the public is no safer and will develop an unhealthy fear of their own governments.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: art, censorship, comedy, free speech, hate speech, satire, spain
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Makes perfect, if twisted sense
To would-be dictators and tyrants the worst form of 'terrorism' is not inflicting deaths among the general public, it's dissent, challenging or calling out those in power.
After all there's millions of the unwashed masses and more always popping up, but criticizing the ruling class, those who 'know better' and are the country, well that threatens everyone(but especially those that really count), and is therefore far more serious a crime, one that needs to be nipped right in the bud and/or thrown in a cell.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Just a proxy for the uber riche.
Let's put the blame where it belongs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
As it is, they're toeing the line for their campaign donors. There's your problem, sort that out.
Fearing the government on principle doesn't solve problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Working as expected.
Actual terrorism will always be the exception, singular cases. Otherwise it stops being terrorism and starts being civil war, a brutal normality.
So any law addressing terrorism in particular can only address precursors rather than terrorism itself (which is effectively dealt with using less specific laws) if it is supposed to have a noticeable effect.
"Dissidents, activists, and others who criticize the government." are precursors. That's particularly relevant for Spain which is under pressure from various separatist political movements driven by dissent with a central Castilian government.
So yes, the laws are applied according to the intent and purpose they have been drafted for. Which makes obvious that any measures specifically drafted for dealing with terrorism at a different level than the crimes committed in the name of terrorism itself are very likely to address any kind of serious criticism against the powers that be.
Which is actually water on the mills of opposition up to the level of senseless terrorism.
If you outlaw criticism, the only people uttering it will be criminals.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Working as expected.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Working as expected.
Why wouldn't it always be? You don't want to wait until the damage (or actual crime) is done, and jailing on pre-crime is much faster (and a sell much better matching government periods) than waiting decades for the unreliable harvest of comprehensive education.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Working as expected.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I would post my opinion on this topic..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
More from the great minds over in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: More from the great minds over in...
Well, it was basically the country in Europe retaining (instead of eventually getting a relapse) fascism after WWII. So they are working from an ongoing (if changing) continuity of laws and political leanings rather than a clean break.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: More from the great minds over in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: More from the great minds over in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: More from the great minds over in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So lovely...
I hate to say this, but Spain is just ANOTHER walking example of comeuppance for humans. This is what we constantly do to ourselves in the pursuit of "security".
When the government drives a dagger in our backs, it is only because we gave it to them! History is repeating itself, people have grown tired of peace and have foolishly forgotten the price of liberty and refuse to pay the tab.
You either pay the tab, or become the currency!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: So lovely...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: So lovely...
but I do major in watching humans constantly sabotage themselves.
People will literally jump off a cliff and bitch at all the others falling with them that they are falling and expect someone else to fix the problem without doing anything about it themselves.
By the time everyone hits the bottom they have banded together to do only one thing... Curse not the ones that made them perish, but those they expected to save them!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
Also, your analogies are lame. Everyone knows that a good analogy has a car in it, come on now - give it the good old college try.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
Okay... so every drove off the cliff and landed in the junk yard below honking at each other on the way down!
Humans are not so complex. Individuals, yes the individual is indeed complex... but humans collectively? No. There is a reason they call it the "mob mentality" and why humans naturally form "groups" and follow the hive mind even when it not to their actual benefit.
Go ahead step out of line... see what you get!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
Yes, and taken to its extreme will cause downfall of the civilization. Oh, and not everyone is a minion. Need to choose your battles.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
Just take this exchange for example. We are in the middle of fussing about well understood human nature as though people are prone to resisting tyranny when they are in fact prone to just accept it. Government knows this, and they know that putting a boot on the back of everyone necks is easy to do, so long as they slowly approach you to do it.
It's only when it comes rushing at us do we choose to defend.
I guarantee that you would let me enslave your family as long as I promised to save them from someone that would destroy them. Government will use you against them and them against you, it will work, and it will work amazingly well!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
You can not guarantee me anything and you assume way too much.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
http://www.wisdompills.com/2014/05/28/the-famous-social-experiment-5-monkeys-a-ladder/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: So lovely...
adults unwilling to have the balls to take their own protection into their own hands .
They are basically laying the bricks for their own gas chambers and are willfully marching right into them .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: So lovely...
So, I guess you are one of those gun toting racist misogynistic blabber mouths I keep hearing about. Did the government fill all those FEMA camps in Texas during Jade Helm? That must be where the gas chambers are being built.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900421.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So lovely...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
But the law itself glorifies terrorism...from the Gub'mint!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: But the law itself glorifies terrorism...from the Gub'mint!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
these evil people need to be executed next
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: these evil people need to be executed next
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
The difference is the label being applied. We humans like labels because it justifies our immediate reactions no matter how wrong that label is.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Can the deterioration of society be tracked as a function of sarcasm usage in by the general public?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Look at the people arrested for making jokes in the presence of law enforcement or the TSA in America alone.
the more you have to face government agency as subservient instead of as the citizen authorizing their existence the worse it gets.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
For many of us, it's too much bother but I don't think giving up and resigning ourselves to a crap status quo is the answer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
In addition, I do not recall being afforded a vote upon whether the big banks and wallstreet types should screw the world economy for their own benefit. I did not get to vote upon whether the perpetrators should be prosecuted.
I hear that everyone is lazy and this explains the shit situation of today but this simply does not add up. There were plenty of people out in the streets expressing their desires for less murdering of children. Plenty of folk doing lots of stuff is very encouraging until they get tossed in jail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
RED ALERT! RECORD-BREAKING ZOMBIE! "BAlbrecht or Bruce A."
https://www.techdirt.com/user/balbrecht
HA, HA! -- OH, NO! NO ASTRO-TURFING ON THIS WEIRD SITE!
In another topic, but ANY HUMANS HERE NEED WARNED.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pro-tips for Techdirt Zombie Killers (TM):
https://www.techdirt.com/comments.php?start=0
#2: The lite mode lets see all comments, though apparently loses useful gravatar so can't tell among the many ACs, ALSO, sets a cookie so you're stuck in that mode:
https://www.techdirt.com/?_format=lite
#3 Most important: don't take this site seriously! It's just entertainment, like pro-wrestling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
the inevitable result of our own complacency
Amnesty International is a huge hypocrite. They have no problem about Germany jailing people for years for making stupid Nazi salutes, or for Austria handing down long prison sentences for history professors who disagree with the official version of WWII history.
Amnesty International fully supported the arrests and lengthy imprisonments of people like David Irving, Ernst Zundel, Robert Faurisson, and many more ant-PC dissidents whose only crime was writing things that offended people.
Of course many of you believe that anyone who thinks kooky things like the Holocaust being untrue are haters, bigots, and nazis who deserves to be silenced by whatever means necessary. The problem is that when we start locking up "very bad" people for their thoughts, it grows to include "less bad" people, and then we eventually will start locking up many good people for their speech.
It's a slow insidious process, and it's ironic that we're only just now starting to demand free speech, a universal ideal whose repression in 1st world countries has been slowly growing and expanding and becoming entrenched for many years, when suddenly we wake up and realize that it's not just "them" who are going to jail for their speech -- but "us."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Should citizens have the right to publish classified information or state secrets to the press?
Should citizens have the right call other citizens any name they want?
Should citizens have the right to carry weapons to use as they see fit?
Would you STOP a police officer from arresting someone you KNOW to be innocent but all KNOW will be unfairly prosecuted?
Tell us? How far will YOU go to secure liberty?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Fuck me, you are boring.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Okay, go ahead and be bored, but when you start getting fucked up by the problems that arise from all of this, don't get bitchy about it, though we all know you will be one of the first crybabies whining!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
You complain about crybabies, but every time an article comes up you're running ahead of the race crowing about the fact that are crybabies. Which nobody ever denied, but keep strutting around like you've discovered penicillin or something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Perhaps I underestimated the scope of your "liberty" usage.
It is generally accepted that one is not allowed (or has been given the liberty) to do anything that infringes upon the rights of others. Your rights end where mine begin is a common phrase that many do not understand or think is correct.
Are you one of those sovCit types?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
and I agree with your statement that liberty ends when another's rights are infringed.
The problem is that most people think that their fears should trump my liberty. Hence the "fear of liberty" comment.
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
~James Madison
This quote echoes what I say. It is the fear of the cowards of every nation that politicians will latch onto to justify their power grabs. Just like another post in this thread that said the politicians themselves were terrorists for using terror to goad people to agree with their politics.
I can assure you that the vast majority of people would run instead of stand and fight if a shooter showed up. If you don't believe it, just watch all of the video of people running, running, and still running away from danger rather than risking their lives to stop it. Not only that, their fear of collateral damage from people willing to stand and fight often time lead to laws the turn people into eternal victims.
Politicians LOVE victims. They can be used to justify anything, and the more of them you have the easier it is to enact tyranical laws... just like DHS/TSA after 9/11.
---Not sure how that relates to the prior post with the claim "People are simply afraid of liberty."---
Now you know how it relates!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Would that "liberty" to which you refer include things like not making a cake, renting only to whites and being tough on crime ... that sort of thing?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Liberty is the right for your little piss filled life to be taken by someone else because your too scared to defend it AND your not allowed to have your fear impend my right to legally carry a firearm to defend myself while you cower in a corner crying for someone else to protect you .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: the inevitable result of our own complacency
Nevertheless, outside of Israel, in no country are they more isolated and powerless than in the USA, where Holocaust denial is legal. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Antisemites in Europe are not shamed into reexamining their views by bans on Holocaust denial. Instead, they choose to believe that such bans merely reflect political muscle, and seek to employ their own political muscle to ban speech they don't like.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The problems with not cleaning house
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
But the EU is sitting on it's ass ignoring one of it's own most primary rules, that joined states must BE and STAY a democracy. WHich spain isn't, because criticizing the government is illegal.
And criticism is defined now as "not voting for them"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
For starters, because it ain't that easy to remove a country from the EU.
Also, every EU Member State has their own internal rules regarding speech. It's one of the things that isn't being harmonized by the EU (Remember why ACTA had to be a mixed treaty and not ratified only by the EU? Because it had provisions regarding criminal procedures that aren't in the scope of the EU).
On the other hand, remember that Spain isn't the only one that does this in some degree, and I'm talking about countries like Germany or France.
Many of other countries do have lese majeste provisions, and they apply them to varied degrees:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se-majest%C3%A9
Terrorism, hate speech and others are pretty common in the EU.
And there is also the fact that removing Spain from the EU would have a big impact on EU economy. In fact, we still aren't out of the Brexit fallout (wait when the UK materializes it) and removing Spain forcefully might have worse effects.
In the end, the brits wanted out of the EU, so they'll have to come to an agreement. If you remove a country forcefully, it's harder to hammer an agreement and to get back the debt with it.
Only if it was a VERY obvious case of dictatorship (like a coup d'etat) you might have enough grounds to remove a country in a flashy way.
While such actions are illegal, and that's why Spain will have to follow the ECHR ruling (give back the fine imposed), that doesn't mean it has to change their laws (the judiciary has no power to force the legislative to change a law, save in cases covered by the Constitution, like the Constitutional Court or maybe the EUCJ labelling that law as against EU Law).
So, in the eyes of the law, Spain is a democratic country, as it has the proper institutions to keep a control of it (Constitutional Court, EUCJ, ECHR...) and follows their rulings (even if to the letter and using loopholes).
That doesn't mean, of course, that Spain is a perfect country or whatever. It isn't. But no, the EU won't remove Spain from the EU.
At best, as said above, you can expect an EUCJ ruling (and that's only if the case is brought to them).
Still, what the ECHR has brought into the table is grounds for:
- A national judge to bring the case to the EUCJ.
- Grounds for the EUCJ to declare that article as contrary to the EU Law.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fixed that for you.
Sad, but recently quite true.
As for Spain's lèse-self-importance laws, I've heard that only legislators with very low IQs and tiny penises vote for stuff like that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Now we have actual bureaucrats demanding they be treated like royalty and the politicians that the majority of brain dead dumbasses vote in because they are scared of practically everything go along with because they know power when they snort it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
I'm not scared for you not to defend yourself .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
In such situations, why should you be afforded what you consider to be a defense when others claim it is murder? Why do you think you are under attack when it is plainly clear to not be the case? What are they doing to you?
Do you think you are Judge Dredd? If so why do you think this? Do you try to talk like Sylvester Stallone?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
So your line thinking goes
"I'm walking down the street and don't like that hat the person is wearing So I attack the hat and remove it "
That is the WAY YOU THINK not me .
So You are one who is afraid and lashing out before anyone else does anything to you .
So you are operating on fear alone .
So yes if I'm walking down the street wearing the funny hat you don't like and you attack me to remove it of course It's my right to defend against it .
If on the other hand you kept your fear of my funny hat to yourself and just walked on by , I would have walked on by oblivious to your fears and hence nothing would have occurred .
It's you who are minority report projecting .
It's your acting out of irrational fear that motivates you while I only react to an actual threat .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I see your projection and wonder what you are afraid of, and why lashing out at others is considered a rational response.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Please take your head out of your arse and join the real world , not the land of unicorns and fairy dust you live in
Your world revolves around how you wish it were not how it is .
I hope you are never attacked by a predator because clearly you are unprepared to defend yourself and rather believe that it won't , can't, ever happen to you till it does .
Just because it's never happened to you doesn't mean that it doesn't happen .
You must be like the politicians who don't believe in gay rights till they find out their child is gay , then they're all for it .
Unfortunately by the time you get it it's usually too late .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-spain-sephardic-jews-20151001-story.html
Or is it cohencidence...or... Lashon hara!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]