Rough English Translation
By Katharina Bracher
Is freedom of expression really under threat in Europe, as US Vice President J.D. Vance claims? Danish author and lawyer Jacob Mchangama agrees. But he also says that the US is facing a major problem.
If you let everyone say anything, at some point, you won’t be able to say anything yourself. This is the tolerance paradox that emerged in Europe after the Second World War.
This view has persisted to this day. In Europe, society does not tolerate every opinion, at least not without criminal consequences. In Germany, for example, Holocaust denial is prohibited. In Switzerland, this prohibition is enshrined in the anti-racism law. The law prohibits not only anti-Semitism but also any form of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Jacob Mchangama, a Dane, would prefer to abolish all of these laws. He says he is treated like a heretic in Europe because of this. The 47-year-old studied law and held an assistant professorship in international human rights at the University of Copenhagen. Today, he lives and works in the United States, where he heads the think tank The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Jacob Mchangama, you have been researching and commenting on developments in freedom of expression for almost two decades. You criticize Europe for its ban on hate speech.
. . . and for its blasphemy laws. That was what originally made me think more deeply and longer about freedom of expression. Incidentally, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Mohammed cartoons.
In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. This resulted in numerous Islamist-motivated acts of violence and threats against artists and journalists throughout Europe. How did this influence your interest in the topic?
The events turned Denmark into the epicenter of a global clash of values between religion and freedom of expression. What surprised me was the willingness of people committed to the values of the Enlightenment and free, open societies to abandon those same values within a matter of days. Just imagine: Back then, editorial offices received threatening letters, and journalists received death threats. And yet the majority were willing to say: This isn’t really about freedom of expression. International organizations like the UN, the EU, and even the Bush administration in the USA described these cartoons as incitement—as incitement to hatred against Muslims. Even though it was already clear back then: It was a group of authoritarian states and religious fundamentalists who were fueling the wave of protests in the Islamic world.
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Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is also a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).