No matter what one might think of Donald Bostrom's article on Israeli soldiers who allegedly kill Palestinian civilians for their organs (see my last posting), what is one to make of the Swedish government's continuing refusal to condemn the allegation? According to several reports, for example the Huffington Post, the Swedish Prime Minister, Mr. Reinfeldt stated that "it was not the government's place to comment on newspaper content and stressed the importance of a free press in Swedish democracy". According to another source, not only did the Swedes refuse to condemn the article, they chastized their own Ambassador for doing so, and removed the condemnation of the article from the Embassy's web site. Apparently, this is a matter of respect for the Swedish constitution's protection of free speech.
Now I am not an expert on the Swedish constitution. It seems startling to me, however, that it goes so far as protecting the free speech of one person by restricting the government's right (or anyone else's right for that matter) to comment on the content of that speech. Can anyone say anything they want in Sweden without the risk of official condemnation?
To go off on a bit of a tangent, take the current Glenn Beck controversy. Glenn Beck is a conservative Fox news talk show host who stated that President Obama was a racist who had it in for whites. This is if course a ridiculous and scandalous charge. As a result of this comment, many advertisers have withdrawn their ads from the Glenn Beck show. This is all well and good. It's a free market and if companies feel they lose more customers than they gain by sponsoring a show, withdraw. I was wondering, however. If Glenn Beck had written an article in a major Swedish newspaper calling President Obama a racist who hates whites would the Prime Minister still think that the Swedish constitution prevented him from commenting? Would he chastize the Swedish Ambassador to the United States if the Ambassador condemned that comment?
Perhaps experts in Swedish constitutional law could enlighten me on this matter of Sweden's protection of free speech.
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Professor Klar, Please inform us, your loyal readers, whether the US Government has issued any formal statements condemning Mr. Beck's comments. With thanks, One Red Sock
ReplyDeleteYou seem to assume that there is a "normal" (non-Swedish) version of freedom of speech which allows for governments to go around condemning comments it finds objectionable. Very curious. That would seem to most lay people to be the very antithesis of freedom of speech. Is yours a common assumption among lawyers?
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