Sweden's Free Speech Tradition Runs Into Israeli Ire

[Purveyor]

Sweden's fervent defence of free speech has sparked a diplomatic storm with Israel over the government's refusal to condemn an article accusing Israeli soldiers of smuggling dead Palestinians' organs.

The row is likely to overshadow a visit to Israel by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt next month, right in the midst of Sweden's presidency of the European Union, a key player in the Middle East peace process.

Many ordinary Swedes back the government's stance of not condemning the piece by Aftonbladet, the country's top-selling daily, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

In an online poll answered by 24,000 readers of the national daily Svenska Dagbladet since Sunday, 65 percent said they backed the position taken by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right government.

--SNIP--
Expressen, its major tabloid rival, was vigorous in its defence of the decision to publish.

"Aftonbladet was within its rights to publish the article, and neither the Chancellor of Justice, nor the Israeli government, nor the Swedish ambassador has the right to interfere with that decision," wrote the editor-in-chief of the newspaper's culture section, Bjoern Wiman.

MORE...

AFP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=124

[grassfed]

1. better link

http://www.france24.com/en/20090827-swedens-free-speech-tradition-runs-israeli-ire

[Purveyor]

20. Thanks for the fix. eom

[henank]

2. Free speech does not mean

that one is not allowed to criticise said free speech - otherwise it's free speech for me but not for thee.

And if free speech is so precious, why was the Swedish ambassador condemned for her criticism of the article? Where was her free speech? Why was she made to retract? Rather Soviet in my opinion.

[dflprincess]

3. Where does the article say the ambassodor was condemned for her remarks?

The article says this:

The only Swedish condemnation has come from its ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, who slammed the piece as "shocking and appalling."

But the Swedish government distanced itself from Bonnier's remarks, stressing they should only be seen in a local context.

Urban Ahlin, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Social Democrats, has described the row as "a minor diplomatic crisis between Sweden and Israel" and has called upon Bildt to appear before the parliament's constitutional committee to explain Bonnier's comments.

It says the condemnation came from the ambassador; the Swedish government merely "distanced itself" from the ambassador's comments.

[dflprincess]

4. This snip in the article struck me:

"It's important for me to say that you cannot turn to the Swedish government and ask it to violate the Swedish constitution," (Prime Minister Fredrik) Reinfeldt said on Monday.

This from a Prime Minister who earlier in the article is described as "center right" (though I suppose that is by Swedish standards). Can you imagine having leaders that outspoken about preventing violations of our consitution?

[henank]

6. Does my comment have to come especially from the article?!

Seek and ye shall find.

Here: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1249418658365

Bonnier's statement sparked intense criticism in Sweden, with the Green Party spokesman Per Gahrton saying she should be recalled and taught "the basics of Swedish freedom of speech," and the Swedish media questioning why a government-appointed official criticized an article in a newspaper based in a country where there is press freedom.

The editor of the paper where the article appeared, Jan Helin, also lashed out at the envoy, calling her statement denouncing the article an infringement on freedom of the press.

LOL! That's very good - in order to demonstrate freedom of speech the ambassador should be recalled for, um, criticising a newspaper article.

And here: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3764774,00.html

Following the ambassador's remarks, Aftonbladet editor Jan Helin said: "It's deeply unpleasant and sad to see such a strong propaganda machine using centuries-old anti-Semitic images in an apparent attempt to get an obviously topical issue off the table.

He accused the Swedish ambassador of "a flagrant assault on freedom of speech" for her criticisms and denied any suggestion of anti-Semitism from his paper.

Riiight... Baseless accusations against the Jews/Israel is freedom of speech. Criticising said libelous article is a flagrant assault on freedom of speech.

It would be funny if it wasn't so outrageously hypocritical.

[azurnoir]

8. OH you got him with 2 articles different from the one posted

talk about hypocrasy

[dflprincess]

10. Her - I'm a her

:hi:

[azurnoir]

12. Sorry n/t

[dflprincess]

13. S'right

I found it amusing and couldn't resist a response.

[henank]

14. Hypocrisy? I truly don't understand what you're going on about

Is it hypocritical to point out a fact completely relevant to the OP which is sourced in another newspaper? Do you mean that on DU commenters are only allowed to point out facts from within the OP itself and not back up their arguments from any other source?

Your (il)logic simply boggles my mind. Your statement makes no sense whatsoever. Dflprincess asked where was it mentioned that the Swedish ambassador was criticised. I provided the sources. I thought that was what discussion forums are all about. Obviously I was mistaken.

[azurnoir]

16. Neither of the articles were the one posted in the OP

"perhaps" you did not realize also you went beyond a mere correction or showing other facts and staged a personal attack on the poster

[dflprincess]

9. There was one link to an article

you made a statement about the reaction to what the ambassador had said without providing any additional back up to that comment. It seemed reasonable that the comments you were citing came from the link already provided. It is not my job to look for links backing up statements you made.

You have now provided another link that shows where you found the statements you were citing. I hate to break your heart, but I think the ambassador had the right to say what she did - I was merely asking where you got the idea she had been "condemned" when the article linked to in the first respone to the original post made no such claim.

It's hardly surprising the press would criticize her remarks. They will always go after any politician they perceive as making a threat against freedom of the press, regardless of what her right to free speech might be they are going to protect their turf. I am surprised by other politicians complaining about what she said and I would expect them to respect her rights and her position as Ambassador to Israel.

[henank]

15. I accept that you disagree with me

that the ambassador was correct in her criticism. We'll have to agree to disagree.

I actually agree with you that it's not surprising the press went after her. I was just pointing out the double standards, that the press allow themselves to criticise anyone and everyone, but take it very badly when the criticism is pointed at them.

[dflprincess]

18. I did say the ambassador had the right to say what she did

though I do not necessarily agree with her.

[DCKit]

5. Geez, you'd think they said Tom Cruise was gay or something.

Most normal people would laugh off such a bizarre claim then go about their day. Making a fuss about it only draws more scrutiny.

Pick your fights, Israel.

[bemildred]

7. Tempest in a teapot.

Unless someone tries to prevent someone else from saying what they like, there is no issue. Anyone is subject to criticism, condemnation, argument etc. by anyone else. I think the Swedish government is right to want to stay out of it, unless there is some issue of prior restraint, and then it ought to come down on the side of no prior restraint.

[azurnoir]

11. This Week In Lieberman: Harvesting outrage

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Scandinavia has kept Israel's sidelined foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, uncharacteristically busy this week.

Pausing for a moment his daylong tirades against Sweden on Sunday, Lieberman accused Norway of promoting anti-Semitism for marking the birthday of a "pro-Nazi" author.

"I was amazed at the Norwegian government's decision to celebrate the 150th birthday of Knut Hamsun, who admired the Nazis," Lieberman said of his second least favorite Nordic nation, while speaking at a local school.

"I remember that in the Durban-II conference," the foreign minister added, regarding a UN racism summit he boycotted but evidently watched closely. "The Norwegian representatives were among the few who didn't walk out, and today I realize it's not a coincidence."

"How low can you go?" Lieberman queried his audience of school children who, had they been following the explosive and sudden breakdown in relations between Israel and Stockholm this week, would have answered: as low as Sweden, of course.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=219056

[bemildred]

17. Well, "Hunger" was an interesting read.

I have a feeling Norway isn't going to take this any better than Sweden. Hamsun was in his 70s before the Nazis came to prominence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_Hamsun

[azurnoir]

19. I also found it interesting that Isaac Bashevis Singer

was an apparent admirer, despite Hamsun's Nazi support

[bemildred]

22. Well, I will probably pay more attention to Singer's opinion than Lieberman's.

I was well aware of Hamsun's political faux pas, since the copy of "Hunger" I read had a biographical sketch. The problem is that almost all writers are creatures of the time and place in which they live, the "mind-forged manacles" of the culture that bore them, to use Blake's phrase, and that is how they must be judged, or one winds up reading narrowly and not so well.

[azurnoir]

23. Well said n/t

[LeftishBrit]

21. People can be great writers despite obnoxious political views

Ezra Pound was pro-fascist; so was Henry Williamson, author of Tarka the Otter. They are still admired for their work.

In another field, Henry Ford was probably even worse as regards his disgusting Nazi views. And an American Gallup poll in 1999 placed him as one of the 18 most admired people of the 20th century.

Although William Yeats died at around the time WW2 began, he expressed sympathy for fascism in his later years. W.H. Auden wrote in an obituary poem about him:

Time that with this strange excuse
Pardoned Kipling and his views
And will pardon Paul Claudel
Pardons him for writing well.