Freedom of Speech Includes the Freedom to Hate

For anyone who lives within driving distance to Toronto, the Hart House Debating Club at the University of Toronto is holding a debate on Freedom of Speech on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. The topic is "Freedom of Speech Includes the Freedom to Hate." Following the debate guest speaker Christopher Hitchens will address this issue.

The debating team's web site introduces the topic as follows,

The controversy arising from the Danish Mohammed cartoons has been only one instance of a recent rise in concern over freedom of speech and hate speech in the western world. Our debaters and guest speaker will discuss whether or not speech can be banned on the grounds of hate.

A Strange Protest?

Last week students at a Melbourne University, in an attempt to bring attention to a book banning, gathered for a book burning ceremony outside of the library. The small group of students were protesting the federal government sedition laws and the banning of two titles -- Join the Caravan and Defense of Muslim Lands -- by Abdullah Azzam. Pages from a handful of books were burned symbolically.

As reported in one news article, the Classification Review Board found that the books justified Jihad and promoted and incited terrorism.

Student Union president Jessie Giles stated, "These books are relevant to our studies and we have a right to access them ... we're all mature adults here and can make up our own minds." The students are making the materials available online.

What do you think about burning books to make a point?
Do you see any difference between the banning of books that incite terrorism and the banning of hate literature?
What do you think about Canada's stand on hate literature?

New Question: Should Hate Literature Be Banned?

A number of democratic countries, including Austria, France, Germany, and Canada, have criminalized various forms of "hate speech", including books judged to disparage minority groups. Should hate literature be banned? How would you define hate literature?

Case in point: In the 1980s, Ernst Zündel was convicted twice under Canada's "false news" laws for publishing Did Six Million Really Die?, a 1974 book denying the Holocaust. On appeal, the Canadian Supreme Court found the "false news" law unconstitutional in 1992, but Zündel is now being prosecuted under Canada's "Human Rights Act" for publishing this book and other material on his Zundelsite. Even so, Deborah Lipstadt and some other prominent critics of Holocaust deniers have gone on record as opposing laws that would censor such speech. (On the other hand, Zündel is quite happy to call for bans for works he doesn't like, though, as seen in this leaflet calling for a ban of Schindler's List. And denier David Irving's attempt to stop publication of Lipstadt's book on Holocaust denial, as seen in the complaint reproduced on Irving's web site, failed when a UK court ruled that Lipstadt's statements about Irving were, in fact, justified.)

See alsobanned book article.