Czech President criticizes racist campaign ads as crossing the line of what is acceptable
Czech President Petr Pavel has expressed his view of the electoral campaign being waged by the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement, the PRO party and the Tricolor party, which has sparked controversy due to its racist content. According to the president, such ads cross the line of acceptability and should not be used to spark negative emotions.
Pavel made his remarks on Monday in a live social media broadcast during which citizens asked him questions. “My opinion is that those cross the line,” he said of the ads.
“We should not awaken negative emotions in people in such a format, because we already have many cares and problems around us already,” the president said. He especially criticized the way in which the campaign is targeting specific groups in the population.
“To scare people about what might happen and to suggestively target a particular group as the alleged source of such risks is not absolutely fair,” Pavel stressed. His remarks were made in response to the campaign ads recently published by the SPD which sparked a wave of criticism because they are aimed against migration and the Romani minority.
The ad against Romani people used artificial intelligence to generate an image of two Romani boys with cigarettes in their mouths and the message: “They say we should go to school, but our folks couldn’t care less…” and “‘Welfare only for families whose children attend school!'” A previous ad shows a dark-skinned man wielding a bloody knife and wearing a bloody shirt with the message: “Deficiencies in health care can’t be solved by importing ‘surgeons’. ‘Stop the EU Migration Pact!’”
Pavel said electoral campaigns should be courteous and fair: “I am in favor of political campaigns being conducted with courtesy, they should be conducted fairly, on the basis of arguments, not on the basis of negative emotions.” Romani community member Cyril Koky and the ROMEA organization decided to file a report of a crime against the SPD over the anti-Romani ad.
Koky, who is the official expert in the field of national minorities at the Central Bohemian Regional Authority, said the SPD’s campaign “is sparking hate and animosity in society”. Štefan Balog of the ROMEA organization said the campaign “spits in the faces of all Romani people who motivate their children to get an education.”
Marián Dancso, Vice-Chair of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs, has called for the ads to be immediately removed. Former Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil (now TOP 09) contacted police about the first ad featuring the dark-skinned man as well.
Pospíšil said he believes the ads incite hatred of minorities. He sees them as committing two felonies: The first is defamation of an ethnic, national, racial or other group, the second is incitement of hatred against a group.
The chair of the SPD, Tomio Okamura, has since called the ads “allegories” and alleged that his movement is merely “describing the state of affairs in society”.
President Pavel: Freedom of speech must never be a pretext for spreading hatred and racism
In his remarks, Pavel stressed that freedom of speech has its limits, which must be respected in the interests of protecting both individuals and society as a whole. According to him, freedom of speech should never be abused for the dissemination of hatred, racism, or to attack the safety of any group.
“Freedom of speech is the same as freedom in general – it ends where the freedom of another begins,” the president said. From his perspective, it is not possible to consider situations where attacks are committed against the safety of a group, an individual, or even against the country as a whole to be covered by freedom of speech protections.
“We decidedly should not consider it freedom of speech when somebody spreads racist sentiment or hatred against any group,” the president stressed. Pavel warned that it is dangerous when society is unable to differentiate between legitimate statements of opinion and speech that is harmful.
“We have to be judicious enough to distinguish what is harmful to us,” the president said. Crossing the line, in his view, is not in the interest of society.
