Ernst Zundel was a publisher in Canada over 30 years ago. He's been retired for years. He paints pictures. When he published the books, it was NOT AGAINST THE LAW IN CANADA... he has never published anything in Germany.
Canada changed its laws several years ago and created the new category of "hate crimes" and included writing things the government did not approve... they used this law to deport a CANADIAN CITIZEN to Germany. Incidentally, Hate crimes such as this are tried before an appointed "Tribunal" and not a jury of one's peers. There is no appeal from the Tribunal's decision.
Recently, some fundamentalist preachers have been hauled before the Canadian Tribunal for quoting the Bible in public.
To paraphrase Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller: "When they came for Ernst Zundel, I didn't say anything because I was not a Holocaust denier..."
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WHAT??? Are you serious? Do you think FReepers are stupid or something? Ernst Zundel and his odious wife are very active in the Holocaust denial "trade". He has a website at which he spews his garbage, and his word is golden to Jewhaters and Neo-Nazis alike. Please inform yourself before you post on this topic, as there are many here who know the real score. A simple painter, he is not...
A publisher of anti-semitic swill.
He paints pictures.
So did Hitler. And Hitler had a cute little doggie too.
Jeez...
And whom might that be? Ernst Zundel is a German citizen.
Recently, some fundamentalist preachers have been hauled before the Canadian Tribunal for quoting the Bible in public
Could you document that ?
Our commitment to free speech is tested at its outrageous and offensive outer margins; a popular message, pretty much by definition, needs no protection. It can take care of itself.
Ernst Zundel was a publisher in Canada over 30 years ago. He's been retired for years. He paints pictures. When he published the books, it was NOT AGAINST THE LAW IN CANADA... he has never published anything in Germany.
He shipped books to Germany, and offers a German translation of his revisionist screeds on his Web site, which is still a going concern. It has been updated today. Whether he "published" in Germany is a technicality that's pretty much vanished in the information age.
Don't get me wrong -- I am a firm and fervent believer in the American vision of free speech, and an advocate of counterspeech -- that the answer to evil and false message is to shout back more good and more truth. I would fight to the last breath against European-style restrictions here.
But I accept that most folks in the world have more faith in government than most Americans do, and that democracy will inevitably lead them to draw the lines of freedom vs. security somewhere other than ours. Democracy means that the people choose, and promoting democracy means accepting that other people will make choices we wouldn't.
Even among Europeans, Germany is facing considerable resistance in trying to expand its version of anti-Nazi laws throughout the EU. Even among those relatively similar countries, there's no consensus, and no reason there should be. There's going to be a lot of friction in an era when the global flow of information is pretty much unstoppable.
Canada changed its laws several years ago and created the new category of "hate crimes" and included writing things the government did not approve... they used this law to deport a CANADIAN CITIZEN to Germany.
Ernst Zundel is not and has never been a Canadian citizen. His citizenship applications were denied. He was a permanent resident alien, but that status lapsed when he lived in the US and did not set foot in Canada for several years. Zundel is a citizen of Germany.
Incidentally, Hate crimes such as this are tried before an appointed "Tribunal" and not a jury of one's peers. There is no appeal from the Tribunal's decision.
In Germany, or in Canada? I'll have to take your word for that. I don't know enough about the process to comment on it, and don't have time to research it at the moment.