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4 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
The massacre of 22 people in El Paso, an
attack announced in a hate-filled mani-
festo about an immigrant “invasion,”
has revived debate about the limits of
free speech, protected in the United
States by the First Amendment of the
Constitution.
But in Europe, where history has
proved that domestic threats can be as
devastating to democracy as those from
abroad, freedom of speech, while often a
constitutional right, comes with certain
caveats. Restricted in scope and linked
to specific threats, these limitations are
based on the premise that protecting
certain ideals, such as the public good or
human dignity, can justify curbing what
individuals are allowed to say.
A RIGHT, BUT A LIMITED ONE
Free speech is constitutionally en-
shrined in both Germany and France, as
it is in the United States. But there is an
important difference.
“The big nuance between the First
Amendment and the European texts is
that the European texts allow for possi-
ble limitations” on speech, said Emman-
uel Pierrat, a French lawyer who spe-
cializes in publishing and free speech is-
sues.
Freedom to express an opinion in
“speech, writing and pictures” is guar-
anteed under Article 5 of the Basic Law
in Germany, alongside freedom of the
press. But the same article warns that
this freedom can be limited by “general
laws, in provisions for the protection of
young persons, and in the right to per-
sonal honor.”
In France, Article 10 of the Declara-
tion of Human and Civic Rights guaran-
tees that no one can be “disturbed on ac-
count of his opinions, even religious
ones,” as long as they do not trouble pub-
lic order. Article 11 calls the freedom to
communicate thoughts and opinions
“one of the most precious rights of man,”
but adds that the law can determine
cases in which that freedom is abused.
Even in the United States, First
Amendment protections, while vast, are
not without any restriction. Journalists,
for instance, must routinely work within
the bounds of libel and defamation laws
and, as the famous example goes, peo-
ple are not necessarily free to falsely yell
“fire” in a crowded theater.
HISTORICAL NECESSITY
The restrictions in France and Germany
are partly linked to traumatic experi-
ences suffered by both countries in the
bloody wars of the 20th century. Other
historical trends, and more recent
threats, especially violent Islamic ex-
tremism and the expansion of the inter-
net and social media, have also shaped
legislation.
“Incitement to hatred” is a crime in
Germany that refers to any form of vio-
lence or defamation against parts of the
population, including assaults on hu-
man dignity. The law is often used to
punish acts that in the United States
would be protected by the First Amend-
ment, such as denial of the Holocaust or
promoting far-right ideology. In recent
years, the law has been used against
people posting hateful comments on so-
cial media about Jews or foreigners.
German law also prohibits the public
display of symbols from banned organi-
zations, such as the Nazi swastika or the
stiff-armed Hitler salute. These laws
date back to the founding of the coun-
try’s democracy after World War II. Re-
cent disputes have raised the issue of
whether they can be displayed, even
when crossed out.
In France, the act of publicly denying
the Holocaust is also an offense, as is the
act of publicly denying other crimes
against humanity. French laws punish
defamation or provocation to hatred or
violence on the basis of race, religion
and other factors.
“Disseminating” messages that are
“violent” or that could “seriously harm
human dignity” and that could be seen
by a minor is also an offense. The far-
right leader Marine Le Pen is being
prosecuted on that charge, after she
posted pictures of violence by the Is-
lamic State extremist group on Twitter.
Terrorist attacks over the past decade
have also shaped attitudes toward free
speech in France and elsewhere in Eu-
rope, with some recent laws punishing
the incitement to terrorism, or even the
public justification of terrorism.
The manifesto published shortly be-
fore the El Paso shooting — which
praises a gunman who killed 51 people
at two mosques in New Zealand —
would in France probably be considered
defamatory on the basis of race, an in-
citement to racial hatred and violence,
and an incitement to and justification of
terrorism. In Germany, it would likely
be seen as incitement and therefore be
against the law.
More broadly, France’s laws can be re-
strictive of free speech in cases of defa-
mation, libel, slander and privacy. That
is in part because of the historical con-
text of the French Revolution, according
to Mr. Pierrat.
“We were coming out of the absolute
monarchy, so there needed to be a liber-
ation of speech,” he said, a concern
shared both in 18th-century France and
America. But the proliferation in France
of anonymous incendiary pamphlets
made the French much more wary of un-
fettered free speech than the framers of
the United States Constitution, Mr. Pier-
rat said.
In Norway, where a gunman killed 77
people in a 2001 attack that he defended
in a 1,500-page manifesto against what
he viewed as the Muslim takeover of Eu-
rope, freedom of expression is also en-
shrined in the Constitution, but hate
speech or incitement to violence is a
crime.
In 2015, the Norwegian government,
realizing that hate speech was curbing
public discourse, created a strategy for
various ministries to combat its rise.
REINING IN SOCIAL MEDIA
European nations, and the European
Union more broadly, have been more
willing to regulate what is said over so-
cial media and other internet platforms
that are mostly the creation and domain
of powerful American tech companies.
Worried that social media platforms
were becoming a breeding ground for
hate speech, Germany passed a law in
2017 that required companies operating
social media platforms to remove illegal,
racist or slanderous comments or posts
within 24 hours of their appearance on-
line. Violators faced fines of up to 50 mil-
lion euros, or about $56 million.
Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice min-
ister at the time the law was drafted, de-
scribed it as “not a limitation, but a pre-
requisite for freedom of expression,” by
ensuring that “everyone can express
their opinion freely, without being in-
sulted or threatened.”
In a broad policy speech earlier this
year, the head of Germany’s domestic
intelligence agency, Thomas Halden-
wang, called for increased patrolling of
digital communication, including social
media. German law permits officials to
search through data in the digital sphere
in the face of certain threats, including
domestic terrorism.
Partly inspired by Germany’s social
media hate speech law, France’s Parlia-
ment recently started debating a similar
bill.
“There is no reason that comments
that would not be tolerated on a bus, in a
cafe or in school — basically, in ‘real life’
— should be tolerated on a website or
network,” Laetitia Avia, a member of
France’s lower house of Parliament who
is sponsoring the bill, said in June.
BOUNDARIES NOT ALWAYS CLEAR
Freedom of artistic expression is also a
right, one that has been used repeatedly
to test the limits of how far an individual
can go. Most recently, satire has proved
a stage for a debate around the bound-
aries of what is acceptable and what is
hurtful.
In Germany, a poem laced with pro-
fanity making fun of President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey landed the
comic Jan Böhmermann in a courtroom
and provoked a diplomatic dispute be-
tween Berlin and Ankara, the Turkish
capital.
Although Mr. Böhmermann was pre-
vented from repeating certain lines of
his poem, prosecutors dropped charges
against the satirist of insulting a foreign
leader, on the grounds that hyperbole
was allowed in the name of art.
In France, while limits on hateful
speech are broadly favored, there is also
robust support for open public debate
and biting satire, as shown by public
outpouring of support for free expres-
sion after the attacks on the satirical
weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in
2015.
But that balance is sometimes hard to
find.
The French comedian Dieudonné
M’bala M’bala, for instance, has repeat-
edly run afoul of France’s anti-hate-
speech laws, but his case has also set off
debates over whether some of the provi-
sions — in some cases, the authorities
went as far as to pre-emptively ban his
shows — were counterproductive and
overreaching.
In France, Mr. Pierrat said, “Freedom
of expression stops where it starts to en-
croach upon the freedom of others.”
Perhaps aware of the cultural and le-
gal differences that exist between
France and the English-speaking world
regarding free speech, the French gov-
ernment published in 2015 an English-
language guide called “Everything you
need to know about freedom of expres-
sion in France.”
Freedom of expression, the guide
says, is one of France’s highest values.
“But this freedom has limits,” it adds.
“Racism, anti-Semitism, racial hatred
and justification of terrorism are not
opinions. They are offenses.”
Looking at the limits of freedom
Melissa Eddy reported from Berlin, and
Aurelien Breeden from Paris.
People holding panels to create the eyes of Stéphane Charbonnier, the Charlie Hebdo editor, killed in a 2015 terrorist attack. In France, there is robust support for biting satire.
CHARLES PLATIAU/REUTERS
After El Paso massacre,
what lessons can Europe
offer U.S. on hate speech?
BY MELISSA EDDY
AND AURELIEN BREEDEN
The manifesto published shortly
before the El Paso shooting
would probably be considered
defamatory in France.
Countries that are home to one fourth of
Earth’s population face an increasingly
urgent risk: The prospect of running out
of water.
From India to Iran to Botswana, 17
countries around the world are under
extremely high water stress, meaning
they are using almost all the water they
have, according to new data from the
World Resources Institute published on
Tuesday.
Many are arid countries to begin
with; some are squandering what water
they have. Several are relying too heav-
ily on groundwater, which they should
be replenishing and saving for times of
drought.
In those countries are several big cit-
ies that have faced acute shortages re-
cently, including São Paulo, Brazil;
Chennai, India; and Cape Town, which
in 2018 narrowly beat what it called Day
Zero — the day when all its dams would
be dry.
“We’re likely to see more of these Day
Zeros in the future,” said Betsy Otto,
who directs the global water program at
the World Resources Institute. “The pic-
ture is alarming in many places around
the world.”
Climate change heightens the risk. As
rainfall becomes more erratic, the water
supply becomes less reliable. And as the
days grow hotter, more water evapo-
rates from reservoirs just as the de-
mand for water increases.
Water-stressed places are sometimes
cursed by two extremes. São Paulo was
ravaged by floods a year after its taps
nearly ran dry. Chennai had fatal floods
four years ago, and now its reservoirs
are almost empty.
GROUNDWATER IS GOING FAST
Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, is drawing
groundwater so fast that the city is sink-
ing. Dhaka, Bangladesh, relies so heav-
ily on its groundwater for both its resi-
dents and its garment factories that it
now draws water from aquifers hun-
dreds of feet deep. Chennai’s residents,
accustomed to relying on groundwater
for years, are now finding there’s none
left. Across India and Pakistan, farmers
are draining aquifers to grow water-in-
tensive crops like cotton and rice.
MORE STRESS IN THE FORECAST
Today, among cities with more than
three million people, World Resources
Institute researchers concluded that 33
of them, with a combined population of
over 255 million, face extremely high
water stress, with repercussions for
public health and social unrest.
By 2030, the number of cities in the ex-
tremely high stress category is ex-
pected to rise to 45 and include nearly
470 million people.
HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
The stakes are high for water-stressed
places. When a city or a country is using
nearly all the water available, a drought
can be catastrophic.
In 2018, after a three-year drought,
Cape Town was forced to take extraordi-
nary measures to ration what little it had
left in its reservoirs. That crisis only
magnified a chronic challenge. Cape
Town’s four million residents are com-
peting with farmers for limited water re-
sources.
Los Angeles has a similar problem. Its
most recent drought ended this year.
But its water supply is not keeping pace
with its galloping demand, and a pen-
chant for private backyard swimming
pools doesn’t help.
For Bangalore, India, a couple of
years of paltry rains showed how badly
the city has managed its water. The
many lakes that once dotted the city and
its surrounding areas have either been
built over or filled with the city’s waste.
They can no longer be the rainwater
storage tanks they once were. And so
the city must venture farther out to
draw water for its 8.4 million residents,
and much of it is wasted along the way.
A lot can be done to improve water
management, however.
City officials can plug leaks in the wa-
ter distribution system. Wastewater can
be recycled. Rain can be harvested and
saved for lean times; lakes and wet-
lands can be cleaned up; and old wells
can be restored. And farmers can switch
from water-intensive crops like rice, and
instead grow crops like millet.
“Water is a local problem and it needs
local solutions,” said Priyanka Jamwal,
a fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Re-
search in Ecology and the Environment
in Bangalore.
Global water crisis looms
BANGALORE, INDIA
A quarter of humanity
faces a dire shortage, says
World Resource Institute
BY SOMINI SENGUPTA
AND WEIYI CAI
Drinking water containers in Chennai, India. The city’s reservoirs are nearly empty.
MANISH SWARUP/ASSOCIATED PRESS
of three, who is so shattered that she can
barely speak.
Another grandson of Aziza Alimi,
Jaber, 8, was in school when the Taliban
attacked Ghazni in August 2018. He was
not physically harmed, but he was so
traumatized by the gunfire and explo-
sions that he has refused to return to
school ever since. His grandmother
tried spanking him, then cajoling him
with toys. After the July 7 bombing, he
said to her, “I told you so.”
She said Jaber fled to a relative’s
home after the bombing last month so
that she would not force him to return to
class.
Hamdullah, the 15-year-old, said he
went to his friend’s funeral but could not
face the grieving family.
“It’s like a nightmare. I hear his voice,
his laugh, his smile, and it drives me
crazy,” he said.
He said he felt guilty because he had
persuaded Hamidullah to transfer to the
school, Afghan Rahmati, so they could
attend classes together.
“In other countries, 15-year-olds are
kids,” Hamdullah said. “To be honest, in
Afghanistan we have never been kids at
all.”
Gullalia Ahmadi, 18, a first-grade
teacher, suffered hand and foot wounds
in the bombing. She saw children wail-
ing and smeared with blood, still in their
seats or wandering smoky hallways.
Since then, she said, she has slept fit-
fully some nights and not at all on oth-
ers.
“Whenever I try to fall asleep, I hear
screaming and crying and I smell the
blood,” she said.
Hekmat Zaki, 23, another teacher at
Afghan Rahmati, escaped physical inju-
ry but fears his emotional scars are per-
manent. He tried to resume teaching a
few days after the bombing, but many of
his students, like young Jaber, are trau-
matized and refuse to return to school.
“I can’t sleep,” Mr. Zaki said. “Every
night, I have to pace in the yard for
hours.”
He does not expect his students to re-
cover anytime soon, either.
“This attack has affected them terri-
bly and it will remain with them for the
rest of their lives,” he said.
Like other recent suicide bombings
claimed by the Taliban, the Ghazni at-
tack pierced the hopes raised by reports
of progress in peace talks between the
militants and the United States in Doha,
Qatar. The talks seek to reach a lasting
political solution in the nearly 18-year
war, along with a comprehensive cease-
fire.
On the morning of the Ghazni attack,
Taliban representatives met separately
in Doha with a group of Afghan officials
and citizens for informal discussions
about a possible road map to peace. Two
days later, the participants issued a joint
declaration vowing to work to reduce
“civilian casualties to zero.”
The declaration called for guarantee-
ing security in several types of public in-
stitutions. Among them were schools.
Ms. Neyazi, the teacher, expressed as-
tonishment that the destruction at Af-
ghan Rahmati had been brought about
by a Muslim.
“Look at me!” she said at the bombed-
out school, three days after the Taliban
took responsibility for the attack. “I am
wearing a hijab.” Only her hands were
visible.
Her garment, covering her from head
to toe, was of the type that the Taliban
required women to wear when they con-
trolled Afghanistan, before the Ameri-
can invasion in 2001.
Ms. Neyazi is socially conservative, a
devout Muslim. But she refuses to be-
lieve any pledge by the Taliban to pro-
tect civilians.
“I cry a lot, and I’m so hopeless,” said
Ms. Neyazi, who was waiting in vain for
her pupils to return. “We don’t want the
Taliban back in this country.”
Hayatullah, 40, who goes by one
name, lives near the blast site but was
not physically hurt. His four nieces and
nephews, who were in class but sur-
vived, were emotionally devastated.
They are behaving like many of the
other children. Farahnaz, 7, cries herself
to sleep every night, her uncle said. She
refuses to be left alone for more than a
few minutes.
Ayesha and Belal, both 8, and Moham-
mad Yusuf, 9, are also terrified. They
seem lost and adrift. They refuse to re-
turn to school.
Their uncle has heard the pronounce-
ments from the peace talks in Doha.
They leave him cold.
“Peace — what peace?” Mr. Hayatul-
lah said. “There won’t be any peace at
all. Suicide bombers and explosions are
all that we can expect for the rest of our
lives.”
An anguish that won’t stop
A FGHANISTAN, FROM PAGE 1
Two of the children injured in the bombing in Ghazni, Afghanistan. For most Afghans,
the counseling that many trauma victims would receive in the West is not an option.
SAYED MUSTAFA/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
“Whenever I try to fall asleep, I
hear screaming and crying.”
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