Freedom Of Speech Around The World

In a confusing article, it looks like Canada has declared its hate speech law unconstitutional because it goes against the general right to free expression. It's confusing because they've had rules against what is now called "hate speech" since the 60s, and the only reason their latest version of his law is no good is that, as the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal declared, it "can no longer be considered exclusively remedial, preventative and conciliatory in nature" but instead "has become more penal in nature." (This decision can be appealed, by the way. Until then, I guess the Canadian Human Rights Commission has one less rule allowing them to punish people for enjoying their human rights.)

So I guess the law is okay, it's the punishment that's no good. I'm sure a Canadian lawyer could explain the difference between "conciliatory" penalties and other kinds, but I'm not sure what the distinction is.

Meanwhile, over in Amsterdam, the Dutch arm of the Arab European league published some anti-Semitic cartoons. Why? To show there's a double standard, since cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which they consider insulting, are not prosecuted.

And what was the reaction of the authorities? They're prosecuting the Arab group under hate speech laws.