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185
Czech president signs law criminalising communist propaganda, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda (www.euractiv.com)
submitted 4 days ago by Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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Archived

Czech President Petr Pavel on Thursday signed an amendment to the country’s criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda.

The revised legislation introduces prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

The change follows calls from Czech historical institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they viewed as a legal imbalance.

[...]

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[–] petrescatraian@mstdn.ro 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

@Hotznplotzn I can totally understand the point of view of left-leaning people - in a world where fascism literally rose back from the ashes and is threatening the whole free world from the inside, a law like this seems just... odd?!?

However, keep in mind the fact that here in Eastern Europe communism caught a totalitarian shape, with regimes in Soviet puppet states systematically breaking human rights and suppressing political opposition. Protests were not allowed, freedom of expression was not guaranteed, and the political elite of the former regime was systematically destroyed.

Even after the Iron Curtain fell, former members of the communist apparatus managed to maintain power, one way or another, and sometimes even their Moscow links. The only way we truly managed to beat them were at the polls, and even there, barely, aided by the big cities and the diaspora in the West.

Here in Romania for example, FSN, and later PSD, successfully managed to take over the entire territorial network of the former communist party. So it was an easy win for them for over 30 years.

If such a law was passed in my country, I don't think it would have any effect on the unions, as they do not use any communist insignia or whatnot. I think it is rather a way of bonding a permanent rapture with the past, by not allowing bad faith actors to make an apology of totalitarianism.

/my 2c

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The thing is, that communism itself isn't necessarily authoritarian (if we want to be exact communism would mean a complete ebolishment of the state and until this happens we have a somewhat "authoritarian" socialist era). It can be as free as every western country, but it can also be authoritarian. The main principles that are promoted when promoting communism are not authoritarian. Its the idea, that people should own their workplaces and have more freedom, which is quite the opposite.

[–] petrescatraian@mstdn.ro 1 points 17 hours ago

@cows_are_underrated

The thing is, that communism itself isn’t necessarily authoritarian

I've heard this multiple times. In reality, communism became an enabler for authoritarian regimes. And especially in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, it became as authoritarian as it could be.

Maybe the law could have been written in a way to allow "forms of communism that are not authoritarian" or something along the lines, but you don't know how it could have ended up in practice. Maybe it would just provide some loopholes, maybe it could lead to the wrong people being prosecuted etc.

And people have been in contact for too long with the authoritarian form of communism to be able to figure any other form. For them, is the same as saying, "y'know, there are also some good fascists out there. Some kind racists, some great neo-Nazis etc".

[–] Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 days ago

I guess that's the same everywhere. There was a similar situation in Germany and Austria after World War II as former Nazi supporters made formidable careers in the public administration. From that point of view I feel somehow it is right to place all these authoritarian ideologies on equal footing. So I'd agree that it could prevent bad faith actors to make an apology for their crimes.

But my view is only that of an observer, I am among the lucky ones who never had to live under an autocratic regime. The Czech president and his generation certainly .know more on that.

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

This is a weird take on both sides are the same argument.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 45 points 4 days ago (10 children)

How it will be implemented: Law enforcement now have to waste their resources previously spent on going after the far-right for their hate crimes on going after "communists", with "class-based hatred" having a much looser definition compared to others. This will lead to union leaders being prosecuted, while white nationalists will be let going away unpersecuted, because "lack of resources".

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 10 points 4 days ago

Especially since all the other things were already banned, class-based hatred is the only new thing in the list. So it's essentially a law just for that.

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[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 3 days ago

Fun fact (I know this is c/europe) about the US: In the US, Nazis literally have more rights than communists. There are specific exemptions written into all US labor and immigration laws that remove any and all protective from anyone deemed to be associated with a Communist Party front. Some examples of this being the right to file claims against discriminatory workplace practices or being able to obtain legal residency.

No such restrictions exist for Nazis or any other far-right ideology.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 53 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Did someone show him Hexbear and Lemmygrad?

[–] kebab@endlesstalk.org 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Oh, there’s no need for that, I got my comment removed at worldnews@lemmy.ml (why is this always ml, hmmm) after saying that Taiwan is a good functioning democracy and that they like their freedoms, so maybe China shouldn’t invade 😀

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

That do be true tho. However, Hexbear and Lemmygrad are still magnitudes worse than ml.

[–] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

It took me only four hours on a new account before I blocked that entire fucking instance

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[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 30 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm sorry but class-based hatred is kinda my thing. I think it's honestly fair to be against the people actively destroying society and the planet.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

They almost make it sound like "class" is some sort of immutable thing you're born into like ethnicity or skin color. When really it just means "rich people". And if you're rich beyond a certain threshold, it's pretty much a given that you decided to walk all over poorer people to get there. Hate justified.

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[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Czech Republic is on a roll this week…

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 10 points 4 days ago (16 children)

up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

I'm uncomfortable with this. Wouldn't

up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

have been better?

While all that undoubtedly holds true for fascism, it does not do so for communism per se - just the authoritarian version of it which was developed in Russia in the past 100 years.

I know little about the political landscape in CZ, but isn't the regime currently rightwing-populist? And maybe the communist party is Kreml-backed?

Unfortunately neither that nor the "legal imbalance" is explained in the article.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

I have a feeling that this institute is one of those ulltraconservatives, which thinks the nazis were bad, because they based their racism "not on facts and statistics, but on evil", and this is just one of the base building blocks of an Orbán/Trump/Putin style "illiberal democracy".

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[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

It's fascinating that in a world where to far right is surging everywhere, having captured the only superpower, with the richest man in the world throwing sieg heils on live primetime television, where we are entering an era of new concentration camps, these kinds of liberals find it useful to do stupid shit like this. Do they not see that if/when the fascists capture their presidency they will use exactly these laws to turn the screws on everyone to the left of the far right?

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 5 points 4 days ago (21 children)

You can fight any authoritarian ideology at any time. There is no fighting only fascism/nazism or Leninism/Maoism/Stalinism/Juche. The law signed targets specifically Soviet era propaganda and it's sympathizers and puts it on a level with Nazi propaganda, which is banned in Czechia to the extent it is banned in Germany.

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[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 4 points 4 days ago (5 children)

I can't imagine why a country that suffered under the USSR would want to put into law, to criminalize, the ideology that once fucked up East-Europe...

The Communist Party of Bohemia

How the fuck do they still even have a literal Communist party!?

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[–] LordWiggle@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago

Right, right. As long as genocide propaganda is ok

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