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Czech President Petr Pavel on Thursday signed an amendment to the country’s criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda.

The revised legislation introduces prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

The change follows calls from Czech historical institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they viewed as a legal imbalance.

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  • plyth@feddit.org
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    5 months ago

    Yes. E.g. with the minimal definition of a corporate state, fascism can respect human rights and doesn’t have to “incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

    • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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      5 months ago

      If communism can be done without the bad stuff, so should fascism.

      “The bad stuff” is the very definition of fascism:

      Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/ FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement that rose to prominence in early-20th-century Europe. Fascism is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

      “racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred” is pretty much built-in. No, it doesn’t actually say “hatred” in that text but if you don’t see the implication I can’t help you.

      • the_wiz@feddit.org
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        5 months ago

        Hypothetical:

        What about a fascist state that has a dictatorial leader and centralized autocracy that has the sole aim to move its people (and anybody else) to a ecological sustainable state. Perhaps the hypothetical fascist leader in this scenario has seen that the necessary steps to avoid climate based collapse (and so the end of modern society) can never be applied in a democracy and uses his (or her) dictatorial powers to form the world in this way? Militarism, furcible suppression of opposition and so on would be very handy in such a hypothetical “ecofascist” society.

        Still bad? Even if it “saves humanity”?

        • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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          5 months ago

          I see what you’re getting at, but not every dictatorship is necessarily fascistic. If it wants to save all of humanity it cannot be purely fascistic because Othering is a substantial part of fascism. And that’s where your hypothetical falls apart. Also the militarism, which - together with othering - leads to expansionism by war, which cannot be good for our ecosphere.

          I have played with the thought of global totalitarianism to save the planet from climate catastrophe myself. It might be our only chance, but it is extremely unlikely to happen before the climax of the catastrophe, and afterwards as well tbh.

          If that’s what you’re going for, just call it something else. You won’t be doing your ideas any favors by calling them fascistic.

          • plyth@feddit.org
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            5 months ago

            You won’t be doing your ideas any favors by calling them fascistic

            The opposition will. Would it be easier to argue that the organisation is not fascist or that fascism isn’t inherently bad?

            • Richard Wonka@mas.to
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              5 months ago

              @plyth arguing that fascism isn’t inherently bad is just not understanding what fascism is. … or you’re the fascist, then it wouldn’t be bad _for you_.

              Human rights for all humans are not possible in a fascist society. By definition.

              You are confusing a few things there.