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Scheming Gypsy Proposes New Hate Speech Law

22 October 2012
1 minute read

Unfazed by a Constitutional Court ruling striking down a sweeping "hate speech" law passed by the Hungarian Parliament last year, the National Gypsy Authority (Országos Cigány Kisebbségi Önkormányzat, or OCO) last week renewed its campaign to get a law on the books that would make it a crime in Hungary not only to instigate violence against minorities, but to "incite hatred" towards them.

According to statenewswire MTI, OCO CEO Orbán Kolompár (right) says that an increase in the number of such cases of hate-mongering against Hungary’s Roma (Gypsy) population mean that Parliament must act:

Kolompár argued that it was not enough to say that "the majority of people reject statements inciting hatred". Legal means are also needed against people, groups, organisations or parties that made openly offensive, racist remarks, he said.
Even setting aside the Constitutional Court’s previous rejection of the law, Kolompár’s proposal raises several troubling questions.

First – and most important – is whether it is likely that curbs on even hateful expression are likely to serve the cause of lessening tensions between Hungary’s Roma minority and the country’s other ethnic groups, or just the opposite. Second, given the highly-charged nature of Hungary’s currently political scene, one must be concerned about whether such a law could be administered impartially. Third, would the penalty for inciting hatred against the Roma be more or less than, say, training your kids to pick the pockets of tourists on the No. 2 tram? Finally, anyone know of a good lawyer?

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