A Complex, Global 21st Century
1/ “Far-right ministers called for the resettlement of Gaza’s Palestinians and the building of Israeli settlements there. Arab lawmaker compared statements by party leaders Smotrich and Ben Gvir to Nazi calls for ‘Lebensraum’.”
2/ “For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack: […] (d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population”. (ICC, Art. 7.1.d)
A Changing Spain
3/ About 300 right-wing protestors held an alternate New Year’s Eve party outside socialist party HQ in Madrid and…hung an effigy of Sánchez and beat it with sticks.
4/ The socialists said they were studying legal options: “There are political parties and organisations of all kind filling Spanish society with hatred and democrats must make a stand”.
5/ Bolaños (PSOE) wondered: “Who [the PP] feels closest to: violent yobs or the PSOE?”
6/ Vox leader Abascal said that after doing deals with terrorists or the amnesty or the pardons, the socialists “had no right to complain about displays of rejection from the Spanish people” .
7/ “Hitting a Sánchez doll might be a hate crime”, thought Vidal-Qadras (Vox), who was shot a few weeks ago in Madrid: “On the other hand, glorifying terrorism and insulting the Crown will be no longer be a crime. Where are we up to?”
8/ The police are reportedly surprised that someone has been called in for questioning so soon.
9/ In 2020, Vox brought charges against a man for doing a effigy of Abascal. The man got an eight-month sentence for threatening behaviour.
10/ ABC: “Exaltations of violence cannot be part of the democratic game, ABC argued yesterday. And today we reaffirm ourselves. It is not edifying, it is not stimulating and it is not admissible because it involves the expression of virulent, aggressive and harmful desires against a person.”.
11/ El País: “Democracies run into danger when the political class not only does not isolate the extremists but at times almost encourages them […] hate speech has consequences. We already saw which ones at the Capitol building, in Brazil and in many other countries”.
12/ The PSOE is getting ready to double down on the anti-fascist framing that helped Sánchez hold off the right at the general election in the summer and get reappointed PM in the autumn.
DALL-E 3 (Open AI, Microsoft) after being told to create an image of the effigy of a politician hung from a tree and being beaten by a crowd: “I’m sorry but I cannot create that image for you. It is against my principles and values to depict violence and hatred towards any person or group. I hope you understand and respect my decision”.
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