scholarly journals Science communicators intimidated: researchers' freedom of expression and the rise of authoritarian populism

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (04) ◽  
pp. A08
Author(s):  
Esa Valiverronen ◽  
Sampsa Saikkonen
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Popular Party ◽  
First Time ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Made In

In this article, we explore scientists' freedom of expression in the context of authoritarian populism. Our particular case for this analysis is Finland, where the right-wing populist Finns Party entered the government for the first time in 2015. More recently, after leaving the government in 2017, the party has been the most popular party in opinion polls in 2021. We illustrate the current threats to Finnish researchers' freedom of expression using their responses on three surveys, made in 2015, 2017 and 2019. We focus on politically motivated disparagement of scientists and experts, and the scientists' experiences with online hate and aggressive feedback. Further, we relate these findings to the recent studies on authoritarian populism and science-related populism. We argue that this development may affect researchers' readiness to communicate their research and expertise in public.

Nazistowski mord na Żydach w prasie polskich komunistów (1942–1944).

2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover

Sedition in Liberal Democracies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anushka Singh
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Indian Experience ◽  
Judicial Discourse ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

Liberal democracies claim to give constitutional and legal protection of varying degrees to the right to free speech of which political speech and the right to dissent are extensions. Within the right to freedom of expression, however, some category of speeches do not enjoy protection as they are believed to be ‘injurious’ to society. One such unprotected form of political speech is sedition which is criminalized for the repercussions it may have on the authority of the government and the state. The cases registered in India in recent months under the law against sedition show that the law in its wide and diverse deployment was used against agitators in a community-based pro-reservation movement, a group of university students for their alleged ‘anti-national’ statements, anti-liquor activists, to name a few. Set against its contemporary use, this book has used sedition as a lens to probe the fate of political speech in liberal democracies. The work is done in a comparative framework keeping the Indian experience as its focus, bringing in inferences from England, USA, and Australia to intervene and contribute to the debates on the concept of sedition within liberal democracies at large. On the basis of an analytical enquiry into the judicial discourse around sedition, the text of the sedition laws, their political uses, their quotidian existence, and their entanglement with the counter-terror legislations, the book theorizes upon the life of the law within liberal democracies.

The Battle for Chile

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-212
Author(s):  
Tanya Harmer
Keyword(s):  
Military Coup ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Second Child ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Popular Unity

Chapter eight charts the build-up to the right-wing military coup in Chile on 11 September 1973. It examines the progressive division of the Left amid conspiracies against the government, focusing in, as Beatriz did, on the impending prospect of a coup and the strategies Allende’s team employed in response. It also examines Beatriz’s gendered experience of the battle for Chile unfolding from 1971-73. By late 1972, even Allende accepted that a coup was a serious possibility and began putting measures in place that included stopping Beatriz fulfilling the role she expected to play. As someone with intelligence and communications training who knew how to use firearms, she was ready to fight to defend the Popular Unity government next to her father. However, Beatriz’s gender and her father’s efforts to protect her blocked her from being able to. That Beatriz became a mother in late 1971 and was pregnant with her second child by early 1973 strengthened Allende’s desire to save her. Ultimately, Beatriz was forced to leave the presidential palace on the day of the coup and sought asylum in the Cuban embassy. The chapter ends with her leaving the country with her Cuban husband, daughter and Cuban embassy personnel.

“We Should Stop the Islamisation of Europe!”: Islamophobia and Right-Wing Radicalism of the Russian-Speaking Internet Users in Germany

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliia Sablina
Keyword(s):  
Social Cues ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Symbolic Boundaries ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Migrant Background ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Alternative Für Deutschland ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

Abstract Starting from 2015, the Russian-speaking residents in Germany have expressed their anti-refugee position in the form of rallies and rising voting support for the right-wing populist party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Due to the absence of social cues, unlimited space, immediate responses, and minimal censorship online, platforms for communication have reflected the offline mobilization and became the major platforms for the spreadability of discriminatory discourse. This article sets out to investigate why Russian-speaking internet users residing in Germany justify anti-refugee discourse and how they construct the notion of “others.” Based on the netnographic analysis of the chosen online discussions and conducted interviews with its members, this article argues that, with the appearance of new “others,” Russian-speaking migrants have redefined their symbolic boundaries in order to draw the line between the incoming migrants and themselves—people with a migrant background. In many ways, participants of the analyzed discussions employed the politicized civilizational rhetoric that allowed them to redefine existing categorizations. This research explores, for the first time, the reasons lying behind the online populist activity of the Russian-speaking residents in Germany.

scholarly journals The Works of Pergamon and their Influence

1886 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 251-274
Author(s):  
L. R. Farnell
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The South ◽  
Hellenic Journal ◽  
The West ◽  
West Side ◽  
South West ◽  
The Right ◽  
Made In

The questions concerning the art of Pergamon, its characteristics and later influence, depend partly for their solution on the reconstruction and explanation of the fragments in Berlin. Much progress has been made in the work during the last year. The discovery which decided what was the breadth of the staircase, and what were the figures which adorned the left wing and the left staircase wall, has been already mentioned in the Hellenic Journal. It is now officially stated that the staircase was on the west side of the altar, although Bohn, in his survey of the site, at first conceived that this was impossible. Assuming that this point is now settled, we may note what is certain, or probable, or what is merely conjectural, in the placing of the groups. We know that the wing on the left of the staircase, and the left staircase-wall, were occupied by the deities of the sea and their antagonists: by Triton, Amphitrite, Nereus, and others which we cannot name. Among them, also, we may perhaps discern the figure of Hephaestos, and in their vicinity we must suppose Poseidon. On the right wing of the staircase, and around the south-west corner, we have good reason for placing Dionysos, with Cybele and her attendant goddesses, although the order of the slabs on which these latter are found is not the same as was formerly supposed.

Mediation as a Final Settlement in Bankruptcy Disputes

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1456-1462
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Code ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Final Settlement ◽  
Made In

This study seeks to examine the concept of final mediation in the settlement of bankruptcy disputes as a form of alternative dispute resolution which has been opted by the disputing parties outside of court. The study used a normative legal research approach by investigating legal rules, legal principles, and legal doctrines to answer the legal problems faced. The results of the study show that the mediation is only a voluntary option as the Supreme Court’s Decree on Bankruptcy does not require any mediation in the settlement. It will be argued that the process of mediation is cheaper, faster, and simpler than the settlement process through the court. The implementation of mediation as a final settlement in bankruptcy disputes is a form of a person's civil rights that must be respected and upheld high as a form of agreement and contract made in accordance with Article 1320 in conjunction with Article 1338 of the Civil Code. The principle is an embodiment of the philosophy of natural law stipulating that rationally human being is given the right to freedom to perform acts. The final mediation for the settlement of bankruptcy disputes should be based on a peace agreement made by both creditors and debtors in good faith with reference to articles 1851, 1858 of the Civil Code and article 1338 in conjunction with article 1320 of the Civil Code. Thus, the study suggests that it is necessary to establish a national private mediation institution by the government or by the competent authorities.

Denmark's weak new government faces complex alliances

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Content Type ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Right

Significance The new government will have only 34 of the 179 seats, because policy differences among the right-wing parties, and the political strategy of the electorally strengthened anti-immigration, Euro-sceptic Danish People's Party (DF), mean DF will remain outside. Policy-making will be difficult. The government will be more economically liberal and pro-EU than it would have been with DF, but to make policy it will rely on partners across the political spectrum, especially the ousted Social Democrats -- who remain the largest party -- and DF. Impacts If DF is seen as a welfarist protector of ordinary citizens, it is more likely to repeat, at least, its 22% vote in the next election. The much-tighter immigration regime which is in prospect could taint Denmark's image and make it less attractive to foreign investment. The new government is likely to be an ally for much of UK Prime Minister David Cameron's EU reform agenda.

French labour reform may be watered down further

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Current State ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Promotional Campaign ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

Significance The draft law was presented by Labour Minister Myriam El Khomry in late February and aims at introducing more flexibility in France's rigid labour market. The government has led a promotional campaign in favour of the reform, against a backdrop of opposition from trade unions, students and public opinion. Valls has watered down the most controversial proposals but even in its current state the proposed reform would be a significant step forward. Impacts The government will need to assemble a diverse majority spanning the centre-left to the centre-right in order to pass the draft law by July. Reformist trade unions support the revised version of the law but more militant unions maintain their opposition. The right wing and the main employer association oppose the revised draft which they consider not favourable enough to companies.

The Media and Power in Postliberal Venezuela

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Sapiezynska
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Negative Freedom ◽  
The Public ◽  
Positive Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Hugo Chavez ◽  
The Right

Two narratives dominate the literature about the state of freedom of expression in postliberal Venezuela, and they have few points in common, since they depend on different conceptualizations of the notion of freedom of expression. While the traditional liberal narrative focuses on the negative freedom that prohibits state interference, the postliberal narrative is based on positive freedom that encompasses the collective right of self-realization, particularly for the previously marginalized. During the government of Hugo Chávez, the discourse of freedom of expression was renewed, placing it in the context of power relations, accentuating positive freedom, and emphasizing the role of the public and community media. The establishment of the international public channel TeleSUR has revived the 1970s debate about the right to communication and contributed to the creation of a new Latin American-ness. En la literatura predominan dos narrativas acerca del estado de la libertad de expresión en la Venezuela posliberal las que tienen pocos puntos en común porque parten de visiones distintas del concepto de la libertad de expresión. Mientras la narrativa liberal tradicional enfoca sólo en la libertad negativa que previene la injerencia estatal, la narrativa posliberal se centra en la libertad positiva que abarca la autorrealización del derecho colectivo, también de los previamente marginalizados. Durante el gobierno de Hugo Chávez el discurso acerca de la libertad de expresión se renueva, insertando el concepto en el contexto de las relaciones de poder, acentuando la libertad positiva y enfatizando el rol de los medios públicos y comunitarios. El establecimiento del medio público internacional TeleSUR revive los debates sobre el derecho a la comunicación de la década de los 70 y aporta a la creación de una nueva Latinoamericanidad.

scholarly journals Digital Security Act and Investigative Journalism in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-236
Author(s):  
Md. Aliur Rahman ◽  
Harun-Or Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Right ◽  
Harmful Effects

The Digital Security Act 2018 has created some barriers for citizens' accessing information and freedom of expression, particularly for the media professionals including journalists in Bangladesh. Thus, investigative journalism is now in a state of fear for distinction. In this context, the purpose of the study is to explore various effects of this Act, as well as to focus on different directions of protection while facing fears associated with the law. Showing the necessities for investigative journalism, this article also presented different fields of such an effective journalism. Methodologically, this article has followed the qualitative approach and collected information from both the primary and secondary sources. The findings from this study have shown that the fear of negative impacts form the Digital Security Act is dominant although the aim of the law, as described, is to provide security for information and communication. From the analysis of opinions of experts, it is easily predictable that some articles of the law have created dangerous threats on the way of investigative journalism, considering its applicable effects. Most of the experts expressed concerns about the negative impacts the law does have, as shown in the findings.  It is also reflected that these harmful effects would fall ultimately on the shoulder of the state creating such a bad situation where the government is feared to have lagged in terms of taking the right decisions at the right time.

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