Free Speech to Debate in UN

**Amled** · 06 Apr 06,, 07:09

The 56 member countries comprising the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC), will this week at a meeting of the UN organization UNESCO control group in Paris, try to establish clear limits to the concept of free speech and expression.
The EU-countries are of the opinion that free speech is sacrosanct, while the Muslim countries mean that respect for religion and religious symbols should weigh heavier then free speech.
(Translated from a Danish Television news bulletin)

This is the second time in my memory that UNESCO is involved in dealings that would put a hamper on free speech.
Some years ago they published a rapport that recommended that the news media be obliged to practice self-censorship in regards to stories that might have “adverse” implications.
A rapport which was hardily condemned by both media and governments in the then Free World.
Freedom of speech IS sacrosanct; it is the linchpin of a free and open society.
Any attempt to abrogate or limit it, is a slippery pole leading to repression and censorship.
Any misuse of it is a matter for the courts of the country involved, not from dictates from some supra-governmental organization.

**gunnut** · 06 Apr 06,, 07:25

Originally Posted by Amled

The 56 member countries comprising the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC), will this week at a meeting of the UN organization UNESCO control group in Paris, try to establish clear limits to the concept of free speech and expression.
The EU-countries are of the opinion that free speech is sacrosanct, while the Muslim countries mean that respect for Islam and Islam alone should weigh heavier then free speech.
(Translated from a Danish Television news bulletin)

Corrected words in bold.

**indianguy4u** · 06 Apr 06,, 08:04

Originally Posted by gunnut

The EU-countries are of the opinion that free speech is sacrosanct, while the Muslim countries mean that respect for Islam and Islam alone should weigh heavier then free speech

Corrected words in bold.

Do these moslem countries give damn for other religions?

**Confed999** · 06 Apr 06,, 15:08

My opinion, to put it as bluntly as is humanly possible: F**K the UN!

**BenRoethig** · 06 Apr 06,, 16:40

Originally Posted by indianguy4u

Do these moslem countries give damn for other religions?

Nope. They have more or less the same worldview we in the west had during the dark ages.

**Parihaka** · 06 Apr 06,, 23:11

Originally Posted by Confed999

My opinion, to put it as bluntly as is humanly possible: F**K the UN!

While I still support the many humanitarian and peacekeeping operations the UN undertakes, they can be a bunch of dickheads at times. We recently had some indigenous affairs idiot here investigating recent legislation which guarantees public ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Some Maori organisations objected to this, claiming that as they were indigenous the foreshore and seabed belonged to them alone. This UN idiot came here, talked to the organisations involved and wrote a report about wholesale land grabs (or should that be seabed grabs) by the current government. His alternative was to place ownership exclusively with Maori in perpetuity, in other words ownership priviledge based on race in perpetuity, or as we call it in this part of the world, Apartheid.
After the report was issued he expressed shock and surprise when told that the vast majority of Maori live in the main cities, own cell phones and work for a living, rather than living off the land in the flax and timber huts in the bush that he imagined after a tour of a tourist centre, complete with Maori in grass skirts.