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What is censorship?

Writing an essay (minimum 5 pages) about freedom of speech,

The liberal doctrine of free speech and freedom of historical expression

The subject of this work is the question of the limits of the freedom of speech in contemporary liberal democracy with respect to the particular type of statements which are historical statements.

2. The essence and functions of freedom of expression in democracy.

The fundamental question is: whether – and if so, to what extent – the principles underlying the liberal democracy allow the state to interfere in spreading certain views and opinions? As far as the freedom of expression is concerned, these are constitutional rules formed on the basis of the liberal doctrine of the freedom of speech.

http://peopleint.wordpress.com/four-pillars-of-democracy/

Widely defined freedom of expression, in which the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free access to information and the freedom of scientific research should also be included, does indeed constitute the essence of democracy.

Due to this simplification citizens have an unrestrained opportunity to exchange opinions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44550450@N04/6220708817

Moreover, the freedom of speech is essential to achieve realization of other civic rights. In case of its infringement, other civic rights and freedoms, for example, the freedom of assembly or of organization become merely formal guaranties, which cannot be used practically.

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With its source in the inherent and inalienable human dignity, freedom of speech is therefore one of the pillars of contemporary democracy, especially the liberal democracy.

The possibility of unrestrained exchange of opinions is guaranteed both in constitutions of different states and in the international law.

http://peopleint.wordpress.com/lets-promote-democracy-in-internet/

It is worth emphasizing however, that the freedom of speech, as other laws and freedoms, is not an unrestrained right and its extent is regulated by law.

The problem of marking out the appropriate limits of this freedom occurs when a particular statement causes controversy or is not accepted by the majority of the society.

Nieznalska caseIn December 2001 one of the Polish politician attacked polish artist Dorota Nieznalska verbally in the Gdansk venue where her ‘Passion’ installation was exhibited.

Nieznalska case

The work, an exploration of masculinity and suffering, consists of a video close-up of the face of an exercising bodybuilder together with a cross on which a photograph of male genitalia has been placed.

Nieznalska caseBorn in 1973 in Gdansk

Educated at State High School of Art in Gdynia-Orlowo.1993 Student of Sculpture Departament of The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk (prof F. Duszenko's sculpture studio and multimedia studio of prof G. Klaman).Graduated in 1999.http://www.nieznalska.com/bioen.html

http://www.nieznalska.com/

Nieznalska case

Coupling the cross with the genitalia was regarded as a violation of this provision of Article 196 of the Criminal Code.In July 2003, the Provincial Court in Gdańsk found Nieznalska guilty of "offending religious feelings," a violation of the Article 196 ban on blasphemy.

Nieznalska case

The court sentenced her to a half year„restriction of freedom," ordered her to do community work, and to pay all trial expenses.The gallery was closed as punishment.

Nieznalska case

On the 28th April 2004 the District Court in Gdańsk quashed the previous judgment, in particular on the grounds of criminal procedure’s violations:

limitation to the right to defense,

lack of a proper explanation and reasons for the judgment.

Nieznalska caseOther works of Dorota Nieznalska:

http://nieznalska.art.pl/inne.html

The poster with the slogan - third place in the competition organized by the Federation for Women and Family Planning.

Nieznalska case

Other controversial work about religion shown in Poland was sculpture made by Maurizio Cattelan.

One of his most famous artworks is a sculpture of Pope John Paul II hit by a meteorite, titled La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour), made in 1999.

It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London as part of the prestigious Apocalypse show, and was sold at Christie's for $886,000

In 2004, one of Cattelan's best-known older pieces, a suspended, taxidermised horse titled The Ballad of Trotsky, was sold to Bernard Arnault in New York for $2.1 million (£1.15 million).

Par Peur de l'Amour, a sculpture of an elephant hiding under a bedsheet that simultaneously conjures a child on Halloween and a Ku Klux Klan uniform, sold at Christie's in 2004 for $2.7 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurizio_

Cattelan#Selected_works

“Wprost” cover caseThe Regional

Prosecutor’s Office in Poznań finished the investigation in the case of “Wprost” magazine’s cover from August 1994.

The cover shows Virgin Mary and Jesus Child wearing the gas masks.

“Wprost” cover caseThe investigation was started after

an information about an offence of insulting religious feelings from a group of Świebodzin citizens.

“Wprost” cover case

The editor-in-chief of “Wprost” magazine stated, that the only intention of „Wprost” was to direct public opinion’s attention to the problem of extremely bad condition of the natural environment in Częstochowa and its precincts (an extensive article about this problem was in the August’s edition of “Wprost”).

“Wprost” cover caseThe city is known for the

famous Pauline monastery of Jasna Góra, which is the home of the Black Madonna painting a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cz%C4%99stochowa

“Wprost” cover caseAfter a group of people insulted

by the „Wprost” cover has lodged a complaint on the decision to remit proceedings in this case, the decision was reversed by a Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

“Wprost” cover caseThe Regional Prosecutor was

obliged to question over 10 000 people.

However, a great part of the alleged victims expressed their unwillingness to be questioned with the explanation that their only intention was to show the size of a problem of insulting Catholics.

“Wprost” cover caseFinally, the

Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Poznań again found no intention of “Wprost” editorial to insult religious feelings.

Even though the freedom of speech as a general rule has been commonly recognized, there is a number of discrepancies in relation to its extent.

There is no denying the fact that exercising the unrestrained freedom of speech by an individual may lead to the violation of rights and freedoms of others.

We are then faced with the conflict between particular values, whose settlement can be rather complicated.

Naturally the lack of acceptance of a certain opinion by the majority of the society is not a sufficient reason to ban its spreading within the liberal democracy.

As the European Court of Human Rights stated in the Handyside vs Great Britain case: this freedom cannot be limited only to the information regarded as harmless or indifferent, but also to those, who insult, incense or cause anxiety. Such are the requirements of pluralism and democracy, without which democracy does not exist.

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.aus-vn4512714-s1-v

Similar principles should be employed in description of the freedom of the press, identical in many respects to the freedom of speech.

Nowadays, due to some objective factors (like the evolution of the constitutional legislation and dynamic development of the mass media) a tendency has occurred to treat these liberties separately, as self-contained and independent of each other.

The press plays significant function of the institution of social control (in one of its rulings, the European Court of Human Rights described this as the role of a public watchdog).

Without the sphere of freedom guaranteed for the press it would not be possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDutkYQF9d8

On the level of law and international judiciary on one hand and the particular legal orders of given states, a number of controversies occurred connected with exercising and potential abuse of those rights.

It is problematic to determine whether possible limitations will endanger the democratic foundations of the state or not, or how to judge which right or freedom is more important and whether such assessments can have a lasting character.

Even more controversial are the limits of the freedom of speech with regard to public persons, such as politicians, artists or sportsmen, where it is necessary to consider which right is more important: the reader to information or a particular person to privacy.

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It should be mentioned, that the elementary premise of liberal democracy is the existence of a vast array of different opinions, not only political, but also those being the subject of considerations in my work, that is statements concerning history.

The legal regulations included in legislative acts determine conditions, by virtue of which the freedom of expression is subject to appropriate limitations or which point at principles (security and territorial integrity of the state) to which a threat justifies introduction of such and not different limitations of free action.

The rule, however, is the existence of numerous opinions, different from each other, freely participating in the public discourse (within boundaries set by the law), whose subject might may be various matters, considered to be significant by the society for itself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4829538746/

Referring to the John Rawls’s concept of political liberalism, it is worth taking notice, that the American thinker’s stance on the issue is that the most persistent struggles are taking place in the name of the highest matters: religion, philosophical visions of the world and different moral conceptions of good, and philosophical, moral and religious issues divide members of the society in the largest extent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:03-rawls-225.jpg

It is worth mentioning in passing that the author of the conception of political liberalism and justice as fairness, American philosopher John Rawls, actually claimed, that plurality of doctrines (not only political, but also moral, religious and philosophical) is an inevitable result of liberal democracy, which ensures that everyone has equal and free access to the fully sufficient system of basic equal freedoms, in which he included the freedom of thought, conscience and assembly among other things.

Another problem, with which each democracy has to struggle with, is the degree of tolerance towards its opponents, who use the right to free speech to promote anti-democratic ideas. What a reaction towards those, who more or less openly propagate anti-Semitism, incite racial hatred or refer to totalitarian ideologies of Nazism, fascism and communism should take place? Interestingly enough, the people, who are brought to justice for promotion of forbidden ideas, are the most fervent defenders of the freedom of speech. Thoughtlessly defending their own civil rights, they refer to liberal values they detest.

http://www.demotivationalposters.org/dad-whats-gay-titus-sitcom-ken-old-school-dad-intolerance-fu-demotivational-posters-116520.html

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/is-western-tolerance-being-used-by-muslims-to-further-islamic-intolerance/question-952126/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000952126/irony_irony_free_speech_islam_demotivational_poster_1255041474_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg

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