Summary
Australia has enacted strict anti-hate crime laws, mandating jail sentences for public Nazi salutes and other hate-related offenses.
Punishments range from 12 months for lesser crimes to six years for terrorism-related hate offenses.
The legislation follows a rise in antisemitic attacks, including synagogue vandalism and a foiled bombing plot targeting Jewish Australians.
The law builds on state-level bans, with prior convictions for individuals performing Nazi salutes in public spaces, including at sporting events and courthouses.
So this is Australia, but imagine we did something like this in the USA. A Nazi salute is a form of hate crime against Jewish people, would it also be illegal to use Racial Slurs?
Many countries do have hate-speech laws, and law against Nazi propaganda.
As usual intent and context matters, but I don’t see why you should defend the right to use racial slur in a racist manier
Because it isn’t physically violent. Black Democrats are out there making racial comments about white people as well. I don’t think they should be locked up, do you?
That’s generally how it works in countries with hate speech laws, yes. Civilisation doesn’t work when civility is required only of a subset of the population, no matter its shape.
Also for the record in Germany the salute doesn’t qualify as incitement to hatred, at least not without further context, it’s plain and simply use of a symbol of an outlawed organisation, which is punishable if it is done in the furtherance of the goals and aims of that organisation. Same law applies to e.g. 1%er badges. I think there’s “gang symbols” type legislation in the US, so why the sudden pearl-clutching when the violent goons signalling each other happen to be Nazis? It’s a criminal organisation having had their official structures banned still trying to organise, that’s illegal.
I’m not pearl clutching. I’m a free speech absolutist. I support cosplay Nazis right to free speech just like I support people’s rights to call cops pigs, etc. Also gang signs aren’t illegal.
You’d be surprised how many times free speech has benefited Democrats. Remember how many up votes praising Luigi Mangione got, now those same people want to eliminate free speech. Good luck to them. I’ll just sit here & watch as I get downvoted into oblivion. Not like they bothered actually studying history.
Not what anyone is talking about.
You mean the party that co-created the conditions that made that happen. Both of the parties are complicit in turning the country into an oligarchy. The US is completely cooked politically speaking, you’re not a standard or role model for anyone. Your completely fucked-up political culture and completely absent standards of civility are part of that. Not a thing you should be proud of.
Where are you from? America has become the most successful superpower due to free speech. Go ahead tell us how much we suck. Maybe you should go look in the mirror first though.
Have you watched the news lately.
Yes. I also saw a lot of fascist Democrats this last election unable to figure out why no one wanted to take orders from them. You think the oligarchy cares about the laws? No one enforced the law.
Apples and oranges. A nazi salute is not a racial comment. It’s a signal of allegiance to extermination (which, by the way, extermination is physically violent).
The idealistic fantasy that we should permit the intentional organisation of Nazism is not an effective way to preserve liberty of speech. Australia has no intention of becoming the failing pseudo-liberalist state that the USA is. So if the law doesn’t stop them, our communities will continue to step up and silence them ourselves.
Burning a cross on someone’s lawn isn’t physically violent either. So I guess you’re okay with it?
So you illegally trespass onto someone elses’ property which is their safe zone to commit arson & vandalism? You are allowed to burn all the crosses you want on your own lawn as long as it doesn’t violate fire codes where you live. That is free speech. Really dumb argument by you BTW. Do you want to be locked up for it cause you don’t like free speech?
You can burn a cross on a sidewalk in front of someone’s house. That is not trespassing or vandalism or arson and is exactly how the KKK has gotten away with it in the past.
And yes, I do want them to be locked up for that. You are either okay with it or didn’t even consider the possibility that a sidewalk is a public space.
Why would it? One does not imply the other.
Also, a Nazi salute isn’t just a slur. It’s (at least) signaling that you want a bunch of groups exterminated (Jews are one of those many groups).
Even Jewish people defend Nazis right to free speech:
https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/the-skokie-case-how-i-came-to-represent-the-free-speech-rights-of-nazis
But go ahead & tell everyone how saluting is a hate crime. Now imagine your right to protest, or say something negative about the President being taken away because you didn’t like free speech.
To be clear, the article calls the salute a hate crime. I’m restating it in my comment since it’s relevant to my question.
How did that work out for them?
Was there another Holocaust or something I don’t know about during the time in this article?
Not quite yet - the US is currently in the Night of Long Knives phase of allowing Nazis to come into power, so perhaps soon.
Why, did the first one not count?