Helen Szamuely has a great post on the currently under discussion banning of the swastika in the EU. The argument boils down to the fact that there were two murderous ideologies in Europe last century and only the symbols of one are likely to be banned. No one wants to mention the Hammer and Sickle for there are still far too many morons who have not grasped the point that Communism was itself vile.
Go read.
Banning the Swastika
5 responses
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Where to stop? Ban the flying of the Irish tricolour when Glasgow Celtic are playing?
Invite the followers of Glasgow Rangers to desist from offering sexual advice of a Pope-oriented nature? -
Actually, a number of Easter European MEPs have called for the proposed ban on Nazi symbolism to be broadened to encompass all “totalitarian” symbols, including Soviet ones.
http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=18323 -
Er… What I linked to was obviously what Szamuely was referring to. So clearly someone is actually making the comparison between the various totalitarian symbols.
Rather than left-right point scoring, however, the real question should be whether banning political symbols would in any way help ensure these ideologies do not re-emerge in any meaningful way, and whether a ban on symbols is compatible with an open society. -
When you put the question that way my right wingnutness comes out. Of course you can’t ban symbles or speech. Free speech means exactly that.
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Why don’t we ban symbols of the Roman Empire. One of the most vicious civilizations an history. The Reich was nothing compared to this empire.
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