Articles for tag: Academic Freedom, Gedächtnisgesetze, Meinungsfreiheit, Mongol Suppression

Control through Intervention

In October 2020, the director of the Musée d’Histoire de Nantes announced the postponement of an upcoming exhibition on Mongol history and culture. The exhibition was supposed to be the result of a collaboration between the Nantes museum and the Inner Mongolia Museum in Hohhot, China. The decision of postponement came amidst an accusation of interference from the Chinese Bureau of Cultural Heritage. According to the director, The Chinese Bureau requested unprecedented control over the exhibition’s organization, including eliminating references to the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan. The director of the Nantes Museum stated that the breakdown in the collaboration was caused by the Chinese Bureau’s attempt to ‘rewrite history and erase Mongol culture’; an effort the museum could not abide by.

8. November 2020

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Academic Freedom, the Republic and »Islamo-Leftism«

The government in France is currently reforming the organization of the university system. On 28 October and in response to the killing of history teacher Samuel Paty, the Senate has introduced a new, contentious, problematic and authoritarian provision. It reads: “Academic freedom is exercised having regard to the values of the Republic”. This provision is unconstitutional, dangerous and not capable of achieving its supposed goal.

6. November 2020

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The Plaintiff who turned into a Prosecutor

Readers of this blog are familiar with how the Polish government, led by the Law and Justice party (PiS) and the institutions it controls, is trying to silence Professor Wojciech Sadurski in a coordinated campaign of lawsuits (see here, here, here and here). On Friday 2 October 2020, he was again in court. This time for his third case: a criminal lawsuit brought by TVP, the public but de facto purely pro-government TV-station.

6. Oktober 2020

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Stay Away from Using your Constitutional Rights

The Academics for Peace Petition is a petition signed by over 2,200 academics in and outside Turkey in 2016. It became, however, more than a simple petition. This collection of signatures put in motion mass criminal proceedings, job dismissals and many other forms of administrative and social sanctions against hundreds of academics in Turkey. This reaction is unprecedented in terms of scale and effects in contemporary times.

30. Juli 2020

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In Search for an Antidote

In early January 2020, the Chinese doctor Li Wenliang became the first victim of what would soon become a global censorship pandemic. After warning colleagues about a mysterious SARS-like disease in an online chat room, Dr. Li and seven other doctors were arrested for spreading “false rumors.” Li had to sign an agreement warning of consequences if he continued his “illegal activities.” By 31 December 2019, the government forced social media platforms like YY and WeChat to censor content related to the coronavirus, Dr. Li and the government’s handling of the outbreak. Next, the regime cracked down on journalists, commentators and foreign correspondents covering the crisis. On 7 February 2020, Dr. Li died of the coronavirus. There can be little doubt that COVID-related misinformation can cause harm and panic. But censorship is a bad medicine that may well worsen rather than cure the infection of distrust and conspiracy theories.

9. Juli 2020

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Apropos Künast-Fall

Die jüngsten Kammerbeschlüsse des BVerfG lassen sich als Kommentar zur öffentlichen Debatte über die Entscheidungen des Landgerichts Berlin zu den Facebook-Postings gegen Renate Künast lesen. Dem Zerrbild seiner Rechtsprechung, das teilweise in dieser Debatte gezeichnet wurde, hat das BVerfG mit diesen Entscheidungen eine Bestätigung und Konkretisierung der tatsächlichen Maßstäbe seiner Rechtsprechung entgegengesetzt.

20. Juni 2020

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