racist opinion a crime ?

[Gordon Fitch]

> >>> helary at niji.or.jp 03/29/01 12:12PM >>>
> in france, racists opinions are punished by law. opinions that openly threaten 
> the constitution are as well (as far as i remember) and i think there are also 
> provisions for fascist opinions (esp related to nazism etc). do you think 
> french 'democracy'/society offers a 'less' free environment even though total 
> freedom of opinion is not respected ?
> 
> 
> i am curious about this, because everywhere i go and if there are americans 
> around it is immediately supposed that 'freedom of speech' is granted.
> 
> isn't it that freedom of speech is used mostly by the bourgeois class to 
> oppress and is left to the workers so that they think they can free themselves?
> 
> does not putting limits to freedom of speech equate putting limits to 
> capitalist exploitation (through racism/sexism etc) ?

Charles Brown:
> CB: Well, vous savez, Engels and Marx had this rough formula that England was first in economics, Germany first in philosophy, and France first in politics; and today France is ahead of the U.S. on this question of political speech.

As long as you like having the bourgeoisie tell you what you
can say through the government as well as the corporations
and the academic system.  Extensions of bourgeois control
don't look like progress to me.