Democracy off Balance: Freedom of Expression and Hate Propaganda Law in Canada - Softcover

Braun, Stefan

9780802086365: Democracy off Balance: Freedom of Expression and Hate Propaganda Law in Canada

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802086365 ISBN 13: 9780802086365

Verlag: University of Toronto Press, 2004

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Freedom of expression on disturbing matters of society, history, and governance is becoming ever more contested in Canada. The idea that official meanings and histories can legally substitute for publicly constructed ones - for fear of what an uncensored public might themselves construct - is gaining widespread acceptance. Public invocation of hate propaganda law, its language, and its moral authority in otherwise ordinary discursive contexts, has been crucial to, and symbolic of, this trend.

Democracy Off Balance offers an unsettling analysis of hate censorship and hate censors as a complex paradox of modern democratic discourse. Stefan Braun argues against the supposed public interest served by the hate speech laws and dissects the paradoxical forces - the politically self-contradictory thinking and the socially self-defeating assumptions - that drive hate censorship in Canada today.

Braun draws on censors' own terms of social and political reference to show how they undermine their own causes with hate censorship and uncovers how hate speech law subtly impacts far beyond its strict legal confines to condition and corrode public discourse. He brings together the debate and the debaters in a multidimensional approach that challenges traditional ways of seeing the legal boundaries of freedom of expression. Democracy Off Balance is a timely and absorbing exploration of a highly controversial topic.

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�ber die Autorinnen und Autoren

Stefan Braun is a Barrister and Solicitor in Thornhill, Ontario.

Stefan Braun is a Barrister and Solicitor in Thornhill, Ontario.

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'Democracy Off Balance is a masterfully crafted and meticulously presented thesis against legal, especially criminal, censorship of 'hate speech.' Stefan Braun draws on the Canadian experience and on progressive censors' own terms of reference to expose the case for public silencing as fundamentally flawed, and speaks directly to all who detest intolerance but value real social harmony and a strong political democracy. Rich in examples, detail, and nuance, this book may well become a landmark in its field.'

'In Democracy Off Balance, Stefan Braun carries out a rigorous and provocative examination of the assumptions used to support restrictions on political discourse aimed at promoting diversity and social harmony. For Canadians concerned about the condition of free speech in our constitutional democracy, Braun's book is mandatory reading.'

Aus dem Klappentext

'Democracy Off Balance is a masterfully crafted and meticulously presented thesis against legal, especially criminal, censorship of 'hate speech.' Stefan Braun draws on the Canadian experience and on progressive censors' own terms of reference to expose the case for public silencing as fundamentally flawed, and speaks directly to all who detest intolerance but value real social harmony and a strong political democracy. Rich in examples, detail, and nuance, this book may well become a landmark in its field.' Nadine Strossen, President, American Civil Liberties Union, and Professor of Law, New York Law School

'In Democracy Off Balance, Stefan Braun carries out a rigorous and provocative examination of the assumptions used to support restrictions on political discourse aimed at promoting diversity and social harmony. For Canadians concerned about the condition of free speech in our constitutional democracy, Braun's book is mandatory reading.' Peter H. Russell, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Toronto (This text refers to paperback edition)

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Canada has not been untouched by the racial, ethnic, religious,
and related animosities that have scarred democracy, poisoned social
harmony, and subverted political stability elsewhere. Still, compared to
most multiracial nations of the World, Canada has come to enjoy a
relatively high degree of tolerance, social peace, and political stability.
Were it not for the horrors visited on Europe from 1940 to 1945, one might
almost forget that in the 1920 and 1930 Fascists in this country were busy
attacking democracy and scapegoating Communists and minorities, especially
Jews, for the social and economic ills of the nation. More than any other
single event, the Holocaust focused the attention of Western democracies
on the dangers of racial and ethnic hatred, suggesting that no country was
immune to its ravages. With signs of the revival of Nazi and neo-Nazi
activity in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Canada, there was growing
concern that, unless 'something was done,' the fascist scourge might gain a
political foothold through the subconscious prejudices of a vulnerable
public

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