German censorship emphasizes the freedom of speech.

There are a lot that do not like the Alternative Germany (AfD), the nativistic populist party, which became second in the recent elections, but the fights of the party against the oppression of the government to recruit and criticize supporters are not to them. On the other hand, members of the AfD are not alone to express disapproved ideas. All over Germany, Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe, a decline in liberal norms breeds censorship and arrests for insulting politicians.

State monitoring of the main opponents party

“Germany's spy agency BFV has referred to the entirety of the right -wing extremist alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist unit” German wave reports on May 2. “The name gives the authorities more powers to monitor the party with measures such as intercepting telephone calls and using undercover agents.”

The name was quickly suspended until the appeal, and since the government is fighting with the inevitable fact that the AfD is the main opposition party in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. In February elections, the conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) stood 28.6 percent, the AfD won 20.8 percent, and the previous main government, the social democrats (SDP), pulled 16.4 percent. The CDU/CSU and the SDP formed a coalition that gave the AfD the largest block of opposing legislators.

The most important opposition party under an “extremist” name that is subject to surveillance is a terrifying step for a democracy.

“One of the things I appreciate in America is that civil society, when the federal government attacks freedom of speech, instant setback,” replied Jacob Mchangama, head of the future of the Menaries of Vanderbilt University, replied. “People are going on the street. In Europe, freedom of speech has decreased sharply for years, but there is no real public outcry, no main concerns regarding the democratic deficit. In fact, the Old World is in a state of amazing scenarious” censorship “.” “

This was not an isolated incident. Last month David Bendels, an AfD-associated editor, was sentenced to seven months of probation because he was able to publish a mocking meme of the former German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, which was digitally changed to say the German equivalent of “I hate freedom”. Like other members of the last coalition, Faeser has a censored reputation; They prohibited Compact Magazine as “extremist” only last summer.

Germany naturally has a special story in terms of extremism. The horrors committed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi government have still occupied a shadow and are often an excuse for the suppression of individuals, publications or organizations who claim to revive this evil inheritance. In truth, AfD officials sometimes remind you of the past of the Nazis in a worrying way, although it is difficult to apply for its great voter base. In contrast, the crimes of the communists who ran until reunification in East Germany are often overlooked, although the left party, which won 8.8 percent in February, is the direct descendant of the party who ruled the totalitarian east.

Police attacks for insulting politicians

However, nationalist “extremists” are not the only goals of Germany's censorship.

“In an attempt to protect the discourse, the German authorities have started persecution of online roles, and as we saw, she often begins with a wake-up call from the police's native”, “CBS News” 60 minutes Reports in a segment in February about the German language police. Cameras followed police officers who knocked on an apartment door in one of “more than 50 similar raids” to “contain coordinated efforts to curb online”. What is hate speeches? As 60 minutes Known: “German law prohibits any speech that stimulates hatred or classified as insulting.”

In November in November, a Bavarian man was examined because he was online at the then deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck with a play on words that roughly means “idiot”. The police attacked the home of a man from Hamburg because he described a local politician as “cock” (thick). Berlin banned the propalestinian and anti -Israeli slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. And Irish demonstrators in Germany were forbidden to speak in Gaelic because the police could not see whether they would say forbidden things.

Yascha Mounck, a political science professor born in Germany at John's Hopkins, notes that Germany was always more restrictive in terms of the USA than the United States, but that things have been getting worse lately.

“In the past ten years, a number of new laws have expanded further restrictions on freedom of speech,” he warns. One that Network enforcement law –Usually shortened to NetzDG – imposing an obligation on online platforms to remove “hate speeches” and insults. Another criminalizes critical remarks about politicians. These are these laws, warns Mounck, “that great German politicians now routinely call to ask the police to pursue citizens, from critics of good beliefs to the mill social media roles.”

Europe's illiberal trend

Mounck points out that the NetzDG has been copied by authoritarian countries, including Russia. If it is good enough for a western nation, why not? And Germany is not only among European governments to increase more scenes.

“The times when British could confidently say what they wanted, without fear of landing in prison, have long been over. As in many European countries, it started with laws with hate speech,” he adds. “It is now possible – and indeed widespread – that British are detained for up to six months because they have tweeted a stupid joke without ever getting in touch with a judge who has a right to be concluded or can exercise the right to a court hearing.”

The basis for individual rights and expression (fire) reflects such warnings.

“Freedom of speech in Europe is being discussed at the moment and for a good reason,” wrote Sarah McLaughlin from Fire in February. “For everyone who is concerned about the preservation of the free expression at a global level, the restrictions for the language – including online speech – have been alarming in countries such as Great Britain and Germany in recent years.”

McLaughhlin also pointed to Italy, where a musician from the band Placebo was accused of “contempt for the institutions” after he described Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as “piece of shit, fascist, racist”.

In particular, Mchangama, Mounck and Fire have not liked all efforts to suppress both the former bid and current Trump administrations of suppressing language politicians. But as she emphasizes, America has a robust speech and the lawyers for bourgeois freedoms that protest quickly and protest against the government's over -control.

Maintaining the American tradition of free expression is important for the preservation of our freedom. It is much more if you realize that this country is really the last bastion of the values ​​of freedom of speech.