In fresh years, organisations that represent extremist attitudes are increasingly penalised, undermine existing constitutional orders, break the law and apply violence. On this basis, sometimes Judges hit the far rightTo her large outrage. There are allegations of restrictions on freedom of speech and the assassination of democracy.
At the same time, the same environment runs an intense run for criminalisation of the another party. The extremist left is to be a threat at least equal to fascism and Nazism. How many times have we heard Antifa is worse than ONR, eco-activists terrorize society like Al-Qaeda, and all communist dreams of reopening gulags. Put everyone in jail, and they're done. It looks like the government is responding to their wishes.
When opposition to genocide and fascism becomes terrorism
A decreasing tolerance for left-wing protesters may be seen in the context of the Palestinian case – of course the left does not have a monopoly here, but it is in its direction that most Western organizations against Israel's genocide policy orbit. However, the authorities mostly do not want to hear about more decisive steps against Netanyahu and are more likely to apply sanctions to their own citizens.
In Britain, the government has just been listed Palestine Action on the list of terrorist organizations, on which are, for example, Al-Qaeda or ISIS. A direct pretext for the illegalisation of the pro-Palestinian organization was to break into the RAF base and paint 2 aircraft, which was expected to constitute a protest against the support of Israel by British aviation (e.g. on reconnaissance flights or on the air of Israeli machinery). Previously, Palistine Action was against arms manufacturers supplying equipment for the IDF. Now the wave of arrests of activists – British police have already stopped over 100 people related to the illegalized organization and confiscated material belonging to it.
The French government is taking akin action. At the request of the Ministry of the Interior, a de-legalisation procedure was launched against the Urgence Palestine collective, which, for example, condemned Amnesty International, judging as attack on freedom of expression and democratic freedoms. The government explains its decision to fight Islamism, but according to critics it has more to do with silencing uncomfortable opposition and letting the eye out to nationalists.
Unfortunately, the repressive activity of the head of the Ministry of the Interior does not end there. Conservative Bruno Retailleau besides decided to ban Jeune Garde, an anti-fascist organization operating in Lyon. At the same time, the punishment was imposed on the neofascist Lyon Populaire due to the fact that in this way the minister tries to put a sign of equality between the 2 groups, despite the immense disparity in the actual social harm.
France is presently struggling with a wave of utmost right-wing force – only in fresh months fascists or Nazis have repeatedly carried out organized attacks: on random migrants, on left-wing cultural and educational events. During 1 of them, respective people were beaten, 2 were stabbed, and the escapee from the scene. the attackers shouted “Paris is Nazi”. Flirting with the far right of Retailleau prefers to look distant from it and pretend that the threat from the left or pro-Palestinian activists is at least as big.
No more “class hatred”
Symetism in the approach to the extremist left and right can besides be seen in another countries. In the Czech Republic, the penal code was reformed to include communism as an analogous ideology, contrary to freedom and human rights. At the same time, alongside forbidden racial, ethnic, and spiritual hatred, the same article besides mentions class hatred. What precisely does that mean? hard to say. possibly individual will interpret, for example, the popular word "eat the rich" as a criminal offence under this paragraph and punishable even for 5 years in prison. Or talking about “Janusz business” or “patodewelopers” will become a manifestation of class hatred.
Putting jokes aside, although specified vague wording is likely to stay a dead law, the same aversion to the rich with racism or xenophobia sets a dangerous precedent. abruptly talking about class conflict and conflicting interests, e.g. employees and company owners, while interpreting it as hatred of the latter, is put on the same level as, for example, the claim that whites are a breed of masters. The rich will, of course, proceed to fight in class, only in white gloves and for this reason a non-threatening law, which possibly penalises, for example, participants in a strike or left-wing demonstration if they let themselves to have besides extremist slogans aimed at the wealthiest. Criminalisation is subject to the core of the left-wing socio-political thought.
The same is actual of the legal alignment of fascism and Nazism with communism as a whole. While the Fascist ideology (especially its Nazi variant) is inherently anti-democratic and contradicts the ideas of political pluralism, at the heart of communism we will not find totalitarianism, but common values of the full left. erstwhile someone, citing Stalin or Mao (and forgetting Sankar or Berlinguer) seeks to delegalize communism, he besides hits its egalitarian and progressive foundations. Even social democrats who will hear the charge of representing criminal communism are ricocheted by ricochet all time they get over something about the redistribution of assets – we can see this from the example. organization Together.
Who's next?
Of course, it is easy to wave your hand in specified a situation. After all, communists do not inspire general sympathy (especially in Poland), nor does Antifa. Propalestine activists sooner, but not necessarily utilizing methods specified as hacking into a military base. It's possible from behind the computer to say that if the goat hadn't jumped, the legs wouldn't have broken. However, this progressive criminalization of leftist and progressive movements opens the way for further moves in the same spirit. A celebrated poem comes to mind, beginning with the words “when they came for the communists, I kept quiet, I was not a Communist...”
It would be naive to think that with the power of authoritarian sentiments in Poland and in the planet there is no hazard of wider application of these methods and illegalisation of uncomfortable organisations. In any cases, this may even be politically worthwhile. In all protest of the Last Generation there are many comments calling for the punishment of activists by prison. Who knows, possibly the next government will classify them as terrorists and fulfill the dreams of online inquisitors. Or is it Tusk who likes to bid on right-wing with the PiS and the Confederacy?
There are many another candidates to find themselves on possible proscription lists. From political parties to NGOs to dormitories. Eventually, the prosecution of Ziebra even took an interest in a technological conference on Marxism, looking for evidence to advance totalitarianism. This sounds absurd, but with the increasing influence of the far right, the script is becoming more real, in which the state will launch an attack on “ecoterrorists”, anti-fascists or another “radicals” – of course only those left-wing ones, because, for example, self-appointed defenders of borders from Bąkiewicz have nothing to fear.
