EU to discuss ban on Nazi symbols

[t3gah]

EU to discuss ban on Nazi symbols
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/29/content_2522880.htm)

2005-01-29 11:13:27

LUXEMBOURG, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Luxembourg will push for a European Union (EU) ban on Nazi symbols as a specific measure to fight racism and anti-Semitism, Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc Frieden said Friday.

Frieden, who chaired an informal meeting of EU justice and interior ministers here, called the 25 EU governments to quickly implement the proposal which has been laid on the table for two years.

"Discussions have been going on too long," said Frieden, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

"We owe it also to the victims of Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Racism is something that is incompatible with the fundamental values that are the basis of the European construction."

Thursday's commemoration marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp highlighted the growing problem of xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Europe.

"The ceremonies that took place yesterday in Auschwitz, the symbol of Nazi atrocities, remind us that we must be very vigilant that such ideas, such ideologies, can no longer find grounds in Europe," Frieden said.

Also, pictures showing Britain's Prince Harry wearing a Nazi swastika armband at a costume party earlier this month added to EU calls to ban all Nazi symbols across Europe.

During the two-day meeting, EU justice and interior ministers will also discuss coordination on justice, security, fight against cross-border crimes, and refugee management.
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[Dr. Nosophoros]

We owe it to "this and that to do this" again, I feel whether in America or elsewhere, social pressure through media can form public opinion/norms. I feel this is no different than "in the name of MLK" etc. which is overused IMO. In Germany, a country that has seen it's share of "right wingers" has become a nation of "left wingers" to the point of denying the right of "rightwingers" to speak, they fear equal thought or opportunity to the point of exclusion. Is that true democracy- or is that reality according to whoever is on top?

 

[No*s]

While there is legitimate reason to fear the Nazi nutjobs...there is more reason to fear censorship IMO. Where do we draw the line on what symbols are acceptable? Let society clean itself up and keep government out of the business of morality except to safeguard lives from immediate threat or economic ones.

 

[anders]

So, what is a Nazi symbol? The discussion seems to be exceedingly simplicistic.

I can agree with a ban on symbols directly implying sympathy with anti-democratic movements, but it gets tricky if you concentrate on the symbols themselves. The swastika/fylfot/tetraskele is an age-old symbol, found in most cultures all over the world. It appears in art and design throughout human history, symbolising many different things — luck, the sun, the god Brahma... In antiquity, the swastika was used freely by Sumerians, Hittites, Celts, Greeks, the Navajo, Indonesians... The pre-Christian ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, contains several artifacts bearing swastikas. Swedish bronze/iron age rock carvings depict swastikas. It is also included as a component in most Chinese and Japanese dictionaries and fonts. One usage in Chinese is pronounced "wàn", meaning 10,000. Can't be less harmful than that. The Sanskrit word svastika might be translated literally as "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm". Today, the swastika is used primarily as a religious symbol by Hindus, but it also appears in Buddhism and Jainism. Lots of Buddha images include a swastika on the Buddha's chest.

A very comprehensible page is http://q-basic.xodox.de/Swastika.

So, what if a miniscule sect of murderers during a few years used the $ sign as their symbol? Would you agree to totally banning the $ symbol?

 

[Isis-Astoroth]

If we make Nazi symbols illegal we are simply trying to erase some of the only things that remind us why what the Nazis did was wrong. You cannot erase a whole chapter of history out by censoring its symbols.