Hate speech

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Shortly after the tragic tsunami last year a hip hop radio station in New York aired a twisted song mocking the victims. The lyrics were replete with racial labels and slander targeting Asians. The word spread out in a flash, and the incident incited rage and resentment among the Asian-American community. Many people from this community asked for an apology and repeatedly stated that they felt hurt, offended and belittled. Eventually the radio station had to apologize publicly for insulting an ethnic community and spreading hate speech. Today as the cartoon controversy accelerates all around the world, I recall this incident.

  Shortly after the tragic tsunami last year a hip hop radio station in New York aired a twisted song mocking the victims. The lyrics were replete with racial labels and slander targeting Asians. The word spread out in a flash, and the incident incited rage and resentment among the Asian-American community. Many people from this community asked for an apology and repeatedly stated that they felt hurt, offended and belittled. Eventually the radio station had to apologize publicly for "insulting an ethnic community" and spreading hate speech. Today as the cartoon controversy accelerates all around the world, I recall this incident. 

  The recent cartoon polemic has been labeled by many in the West as a case of "freedom of expression." Meanwhile many in the Islamic world have labeled it as a case of "insult against religion." Depending on which "side" you are on, you start with different premises. If you see the matter as a case of freedom of expression you would feel a sense of righteousness in publishing the cartoons and not want to make any concessions. If you see the matter as an insult against your religion you would feel resentment and rage. Are we then speaking two different languages and marching to different drummers? Christianity illustrates the body of Jesus at every stage of his life, while Islam, to the contrary, requires complete absence of the face of the Prophet Mohammed. Are we coming from two completely dissimilar traditions? The recent developments have strengthened the distinction between "us" and "them" for so many people on either side. The fact that various European newspapers reprinted the cartoons and united to show their support for the Jyllands-Posten paper has strengthened the feeling elsewhere that there is a "European bloc against Islam." Likewise, the fact that violent demonstrations extended to many Muslim countries created the impression elsewhere that the Islamic world is a monolithic bloc. The current debates have reinforced the polarization of the world -- a process that was already under way after 9/11.

  The parties in this controversy might seem to be talking two different languages, but in fact they are talking the same language: hate speech.

  Hate speech is a poisonous discourse that incites hatred against an identifiable group of people. It is based on hateful generalization and homogenization of a group of people. This identifiable target group can be any specific section of the society or humanity distinguished by color, race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion. This kind of speech is considered a criminal offense in numerous Western countries, including the United States, Australia and Canada. In Germany hatred against ethnic groups is specifically forbidden. In the United Kingdom the sentence for incitement to racial hatred is up to seven years imprisonment. Holocaust denial is outlawed in many European countries as hate speech. Be it in the form of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, racism or sexism, hate speech should not be confused with freedom of expression. Democratic systems need to control the promulgation of hate speech.

  A cartoon that depicts the Prophet Mohammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb is hate speech. A cartoon that claims that the paradise is running short of virgins for suicide bombers is hate speech. Likewise, a Muslim protester who carries a sign that says "Behead those who insult Islam" is spreading hate speech. Muslim demonstrators who burn Norwegian or Danish flags are speaking hate speech. The two sides of the controversy all speak the same language. In a world that is becoming more and more polarized with more and more people believing in the clash of civilizations, hate speech needs to be criticized and controlled.

  Within this dangerous framework it is extremely important to remind ourselves that Islam and the Western world can and will coexist. We need more and more Muslims who express their faith in democracy and criticize those other Muslims who produce hate speech against Westerners. We need more and more Westerners who express their empathy toward Muslim cultures and criticize those other Westerners who produce hate speech against Muslims.

  We do not need extremist partisans of this or that ideology, stern zealots of this or that religion. What we sorely need is the presence of outspoken world citizens -- people who believe in the coexistence and interdependence of civilizations.