Posted on 01/14/2015 7:30:45 AM PST by Citizen Zed
Notorious French comedian Dieudonne was arrested Wednesday for condoning terrorism over a comment suggesting he sympathised with one of the Paris attacks gunmen, in a move that sparked a debate about free speech.
Prosecutors had opened the case against the comedian on Monday after he posted on his Facebook page "Tonight, as far as I'm concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" -- mixing the popular slogan "Je suis Charlie" used in homage to the slain Charlie Hebdo magazine journalists with a reference to Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
Coulibaly killed four Jews at a supermarket on Friday and a policewoman the day before.
Dieudonne's arrest is one of 54 cases that have been opened in France for "condoning terrorism" or "making threats to carry out terrorist acts" since last week's Islamist shootings that left 17 people dead.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I don’t think condemning an attack on free speech by taking away others’ free speech is going to work very well.
There’s free speech and there’s incitement to riot (such as Michael Brown’s father calling to the crowd to burn this place down).
There have to be clear definitions of what is “incitement”.
If that is what was done.
It seems more due to threats or encouragement for violence.
Despite recent news, France is hardly a bastion of free speech.
Well, we can all read the tweet, and there was no threat or encouraging violence there.
Islam is not compatible with Western values.
Great, then France should ban Islam instead of misusing a bad law to muzzle non-Muslims.
Actually, I do read incitement into it. Maybe my imagination but that’s the way I see it.
Reminds me of a friend of mine who lives in Paris and said: you love the French until you find out what they’re saying.
“Actually, I do read incitement into it. Maybe my imagination but that’s the way I see it.”
Well, that’s why there must be specific incitement that anyone can recognize, if you are going to try to apply a law. If one person “reading into” a statement and finding incitement is the standard, then it can be applied to absolutely any statement at all.
A quick search on Google Images for French comedian Dieudonne tells you what you might suspect.
In the USA it would be worshiped for that statement. In France it is arrested. Vive le France!
I completely understand that my viewpoint doesn’t reach the standard of the law (at least, here in the USA). It was just my opinion.
He’s a well known Jew hater who’s been arrested before for similar things.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieudonn%C3%A9_M’bala_M’bala
The violence is implied by Dieudonne, well known for his popularizing the ‘quenelle’ gesture, a covert Nazi salute mocking those in authority.
More here: It's known as "La quenelle." It's a modified Nazi salute for Muslim solidarity against the Jews. It's also used by neo-Nazi skinhead groups and members of the rap/hip hop community in France as an expression of extreme disdain for Jews in Europe and Israel.
Free speech stops at incitement and terroristic threatening.
I don’t see incitement in what he said. However saying that he “feels like” a terrorist who killed a bunch of people can definitely be read as an indicator for a copycat. Worthy of at least a preliminary investigation to see if there’s intent to commit violence.
“Perhaps this character is unfamiliar to you.”
No, he is not.
“The violence is implied by Dieudonne...”
Says you. If that is the basis for applying this law (one person’s opinion of an implication), then I could say that violence is implied in any statement, and quash any speech that I want.
The rest of your post is irrelevant, since he isn’t been charged with inventing a hand gesture.
Yes, indeed!
Perhaps, but this guy is well known to the authorities as a person who courts public controversy as his bread and butter. He makes controversial comments, he gets publicity, and then he trades on that publicity to make a living. I don’t think there is any need for an investigation here, since they already know what he is up to.
Is there a “too soon!” rule?
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