Pressaction: Let Ernst Zundel and David Irving Go Home
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Fri Jan 27 12:58:28 EST 2006
Another mainstream media article chastizing governments for their
outrageous censorship. While I do not care for the conventional and
expected "kicks in the shin" that this writer practices, I still
think that such articles are better than silence.
=====
Let Ernst Zundel and David Irving Go Home
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/irving01062006/
Let Ernst Zundel and David Irving Go Home
Press Action
Friday, January 06, 2006
"I am uncomfortable with imprisoning people for speech."
-Deborah Lipstadt, on historian David Irving
Ernst Zundel and David Irving may be filled with hate, but they
should not be treated as criminals. The German and Austrian
governments are the ones who have committed outrageous crimes by
jailing these men for voicing their opinions about the Holocaust.
Zundel and Irving are two of the world's most infamous Holocaust
deniers. But they have not initiated physical violence against
anyone. They have not ordered others to commit violence.
Instead, Germany has put Zundel on trial for operating the Zundelsite
website, which contains statements that the Holocaust is a fiction.
It's illegal in Germany to be a Holocaust denier.
In November, Irving was arrested in Austria for two speeches he made
in 1989, during which he allegedly claimed there had been no gas
chambers at Auschwitz. It's illegal in Austria to be a Holocaust
denier.
The governments of Germany and Austria want to send Zundel and Irving
to prison for many years for publicly expressing these beliefs.
Many liberal democracies around the world have passed laws that allow
them to fine or imprison people for making public utterances that
don't conform exactly to the official version of the Nazi Holocaust.
Canada didn't like what Zundel said or wrote about the Holocaust.
Last spring, Canadian officials shipped Zundel to Germany where they
knew he would face prosecution for his speech. Zundel had immigrated
to Canada from Germany in 1958 at the age of 19.
Instead of creating free and open societies, the governments involved
in the prosecution of Zundel and Irving are carrying on the ignoble
traditions of the Nazis by targeting people for their beliefs. Who
are the nations confronting Germany, Austria and Canada for their
roles in these grave injustices? There are none.
In fact, many are following these nations' example. In France, Bruno
Gollnisch, a professor at Lyon University, deputy leader of the
extreme right French party, National Front, and a member of the
European parliament, is facing charges before a French court for
Holocaust revisionism. The charges relate to comments made in October
2004 suggesting the existence of Nazi gas chambers was "up to
historians to decide."
However obscene one might deem the opinions of Zundel and Irving,
their decision to speak their minds does not impinge on the freedom
of others. The prosecuting governments, however, have the official
capacity to deny people their freedom by rounding them up for the
crime of publicly expressing scandalous beliefs. And Germany, Austria
and Canada have taken full advantage of this authority.
The Nazis developed a policy of intimidation. The wrong comment
overheard by a Nazi official could have dire consequences. Hitler's
police state worked on the rule that if you said nothing, no harm
could come to you. If you had doubts about the way Germany was going,
you kept them to yourself-or paid the price.
The Nazis practiced an extreme form of totalitarian control. Today's
enforcement of anti-hate speech laws obviously does not compare to
what occurred in Nazi Germany. But the control exercised by these
modern-day governments is founded on the belief that states have the
fundamental right to punish individuals or groups who dare to say
what the overwhelming majority of people might believe is
preposterous.
In remembrance of the millions of people who died at the hands of the
Nazis and their confederates, governments should be exerting less
control over their populations, not imprisoning people for expressing
their beliefs.
Copyright © 2002-2006 Press Action.
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