Freedom of "issue-oriented" expression

[Gob]

Transport officials in Washington DC have blocked plans by an American free speech pressure group to have a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad displayed on the subway.


The American Freedom Defense Initiative wanted to display the cartoon, which won first prize at an event in Texas. Two gunmen were shot dead by police outside the event earlier this month.
Washington transport authorities on Thursday banned political, religious and advocacy adverts on the subway.

The transport authority in the US capital voted unanimously to suspend advertisements it describes as "issue-oriented".

AFDI founder Pamela Geller strongly criticised the decision to ban the advert, describing it as an attack on free of speech. Ms Geller commented on her website that "rewarding terror with submission is defeat, absolute and complete defeat. "These cowards may claim that they are making people safer, but I submit to you the opposite. They are making it far more dangerous for Americans everywhere."

The advert calls for Americans to support free speech and features a bearded, turban-wearing Muhammad waving a sword and shouting: "You can't draw me!" In reply, a cartoon bubble portrays an artist grasping a pencil and saying: "That's why I draw you."

Ms Geller insists the cartoon is a "political opinion" which does not contain any violence. Her organisation, described by critics as a hate group, has run controversial adverts on subways and buses in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco as well as in Washington's Metro in 2012.

[liberty]

It is cowardly. Before the era of Islamic terrorist in the US, they would have had no problem with disrespectful images Christian and Jewish symbols.
The only way to test freedom of speech these days is post negative images of Islam, because everything else is ok.

And, this proposed poster is not even disrespectful; it is no more than the truth.

[wesw]

liberty, I agree with your basic assertion, however I do not think a city bus is the place for it.

the riders of that bus did not agree to risk their life in defense of liberty, as you or I or a journalist or a political leader might. it is not our place to put them in a position where their lives are at risk without their consent. that risk should be assumed voluntarily, just like faith in God. any bus with that image on it is at risk of being blown up. just a fact.

[Big RR]

Well said wes, freedom of speech is subject to reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner--and the transit authority can clearly choose not to post any mages it thinks might pose a danger (or even a major inconvenience) to their riders. There are many other venues in which this same speech can be published.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Don't be letting common sense get in the way BigRR. Can't have any of that, can we?

[MajGenl.Meade]

liberty, I agree with your basic assertion, however I do not think a city bus is the place for it.

the riders of that bus did not agree to risk their life in defense of liberty, as you or I or a journalist or a political leader might. it is not our place to put them in a position where their lives are at risk without their consent. that risk should be assumed voluntarily, just like faith in God. any bus with that image on it is at risk of being blown up. just a fact.

[wesw]

since I am enjoying basking in your accolades I will refrain from commenting on the phoenix mosque protest and ending my brief moment of fellowship with you....

[Sue U]

Ahem. Pam Geller and her pals are not free speech advocates any more than is the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nations. She is simply an anti-Muslim provocateur.

We just went through this in Philadelphia, and the transit authority was rightly forced to accept her ads, having effectively made its buses into a rolling public forum for the general display of messages. (The ads in Philly accused the Qur'an and Islam of "Jew hatred," featuring a 1941 picture of Hitler meeting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem -- an anti-British, anti-Zionist Arab nationalist.) No buses were blown up and to suggest that it's even a plausible risk is ridiculous.

If a public transit agency makes its vehicles a "public forum" available for the display of messages, it is highly unlikely there could be any compelling state interest that could justify suppression based solely on the content of the message. The antidote for hate speech is not suppression, it is exposure for what it is.

That said, there is no requirement that public transportation must be made available as a public forum for speech. But if the governing agency is going to open up such spaces for messages, any rules for those messages must be carefully crafted so as not to discriminate solely on the basis of their content. That is what "free speech" is all about.

[wesw]

boy sue, if you had just gotten rid of that first sentence you would have had a well reasoned and accurate post there....

again the far (italics) left uses comparisons to the worst of the worst to vilify and silence anyone who disagrees with them, yet not a peep about muslim massacres, genocides, religious cleansing, or slavery.

you save your condemnation for those drawing pictures..... (eye rolling emoticon)

[Sue U]

Rabbi's guerrilla war against anti-Islam bus ads
By Paul Nussbaum, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: April 30, 2015

Rabbi Linda Holtzman, who has made a career of liberal activism, ventured into new territory when she scampered across Broad Street in North Philadelphia to slap a black-and-yellow sticker on the back of Adolf Hitler's head.

Hitler is featured in an anti-Islam ad displayed on SEPTA buses this month, and Holtzman and other Jewish activists have launched a campaign of guerrilla protest.

They are pasting stickers that are a parody of SEPTA's own "Dude, It's Rude" pro-civility ad campaign onto the anti-Islam ads: "Dude It's Rude . . . Hate Speech - Really?"

"It's our Jewish obligation to stand up and acknowledge there is oppression in our society and act on the behalf of our friends and neighbors," Holtzman said Tuesday. "Muslims are faced with deep prejudice. For us not to speak feels like a deep disgrace."

She and a loose coalition of activists say they have been stickering the bus ads almost since the provocative images began appearing a month ago, after a federal court ruling that SEPTA had to accept the ads.

SEPTA was aware of only two such stickers, spokeswoman Jerri Williams said Tuesday.

The anti-Islam ads will soon come down, as the monthlong, $30,000 advertising contract expires at the end of this week, Williams said.

The ads, which read, "Islamic Jew-Hatred: It's in the Quran," were paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, an organization underwritten by a Jewish activist, Pamela Geller, an outspoken critic of Islam.

The ads feature a photograph of a 1941 meeting between Hitler and Hajj Amin al-Husseini, a Palestinian Arab nationalist who made radio broadcasts supporting the Nazis.

SEPTA had refused to accept the ads, but U.S. District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg ruled March 11 that because SEPTA had accepted other political and controversial ads on public issues, it could not refuse to accept the Hitler ad.

SEPTA officials said on March 26 they would not appeal the ruling and said they had tightened the agency's advertising standards to legally prohibit such ads in the future.

Holtzman, 62, is on the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote and has been active in campaigns against gun violence, for Palestinian rights, for immigrants, and for a higher minimum wage. She said she was disappointed by the lack of reaction to the Hitler ads.

"I would support other actions, like marching at the bus depots," she said. "If these ads just become part of the accepted background of what it means to live in America, that feels awful to me."

The ads will start coming down Friday, Williams said, and virtually all will be removed by Monday. The ads have been on 84 buses.

New advertising has been sold to take the place of the Hitler ads, Williams said.

Source

[Sue U]

Contempt for SEPTA Bus Ads Brings Groups Together
March 31, 2015 By: Eric Berger

When Mayor Michael Nutter decided to call a news conference to counter anti-Muslim advertisements on SEPTA buses, an official of the public transport agency initially questioned whether it was a good idea to give more publicity to the group behind the ads.

But at the end of the gathering Tuesday at Love Park — in which Nutter and Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy spoke — SEPTA assistant general manager Francis Kelly said, “This actually could have a reverse effect” of “people coming together.”

The public officials and religious leaders organized the gathering after SEPTA decided not to appeal a federal court ruling that the American Freedom Defense Initiative could run advertisements on buses that state “Islamic Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran” and show a picture of Hitler meeting with an Islamic leader in the 1940s.

The speakers emphasized the need to combat the incendiary advertisement in a peaceful manner and encouraged members of the various faith communities to reach out to one another.

“We will not allow any misguided and opportunistic political tactics to undermine or obscure the shared respect among communities of faith, nor will we permit it to distract or disrupt our city as we prepare for a week in which we observe great religious traditions of Easter, Passover and other traditions that anyone else may enjoy,” said Nutter.

A coalition of organizations brought together by the Interfaith Center of Philadelphia has also launched a Dare to Understand public messaging campaign, countering the advertisements on social media and with a billboard in the city.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative purchased the advertisements — which were expected to go up this week — for $30,000 and they will run on the sides of 84 buses for one month, according to SEPTA. The group has won similar court battles and run its ads in Washington D.C., New York and San Francisco.

After the group initially tried to purchase the advertisements, SEPTA changed its policy to not allow political advertisements or those deemed political in nature, but the federal judge ruled last month that the agency still had to run the ads.

SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams described the new standards, which are aimed at preventing such messages in the future, saying they would allow, for example, advertisements for your local drug store, but not ones from your local drug store saying that vaccines cause autism.

Tuesday’s gathering drew more than 100 people, including Jews from across the religious spectrum. Among those present were leaders of the Orthodox Congregation Mikveh Israel; Reform synagogues, Main Line Reform Temple and Congregation Rodeph Shalom; and Conservative synagogues Congregation Beth Am Israel and Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel.

Representing the Muslim community — which also had a strong presence at the gathering — Imam Mikal Shabazz of the Masjidullah Center for Human Excellence in Germantown spoke out against the idea that Muslims hate Jews. He pointed to their connection as Abrahamic religions and to the Golden Age for Spanish Jewry, which occurred under Islamic rule in the Middle Ages.

“History bears witness to that fact, so for anyone to say that we hate Jews or anyone else of faith, doesn’t know what they are talking about,” said Shabazz.

He also instructed Islamic people in Philadelphia not to let the message “cause you to act in a manner which is unbecoming of a Muslim. It’s the antithesis of Islam to go berserk and cause destruction, violence and vandalism against SEPTA.”

Pamela Geller, the founder of the organization behind the advertisement, stated in an email to the Jewish Exponent when the court ruling came down last month that the group was responding “to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel ads that ran in major cities across the country. Lies must be countered with truth.”

She also said that donations to the organization “are coming in record numbers” after winning the SEPTA case.

Morton Klein, president of the hawkish Zionist Organization of America, declined to say whether he supported the advertisements but said that “Pamela Geller’s advertisements are not as shocking” when people see the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “following the Quran by beheading infidels.”

Still, Jewish leaders from many segments of the community have joined together to respond to the advertisement by speaking of solidarity with Muslims.

Both the Consulate General of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region and Rabbi David Straus of Main Line Reform Temple connected the need to counter such ads with Passover.

“It’s the eve of Passover and we were liberated from Egypt, from the bondage of slavery, facing hatred against us; and throughout history we faced hatred, and we shouldn’t support any hatred towards any religious group, whether it’s Jewish, Christian or Muslim, and we should stand together as a community against that,” said Elad Strohmayer, Israel’s deputy consul general in Philadelphia, who attended the gathering on Tuesday.

“It’s a holiday when we remember what it means to feel like and to be the other,” said Straus. He cited Rabban Gamaliel’s words recited during the seder that “in every generation, each person must see him or herself as if he or she personally went forth from Egypt. That’s why its important for all people of faith and people of no faith to stand up and fight injustice, stereotyping and hatred against any people.”

Source

[Sue U]

boy sue, if you had just gotten rid of that first sentence you would have had a well reasoned and accurate post there....

again the far (italics) left uses comparisons to the worst of the worst to vilify and silence anyone who disagrees with them, yet not a peep about muslim massacres, genocides, religious cleansing, or slavery.

you save your condemnation for those drawing pictures..... (eye rolling emoticon)

Don't be a tool. Pam Geller and her pals are not free speech advocates any more than is the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nations. She is simply an anti-Muslim provocateur.

[Big RR]

Sue--I wonder if the recent violence in Texas and elsewhere might make a difference about a compelling interest. I agree that hate speech should be exposed for what it is, but I also do think that this is far more than a trivial concern and a business like SEPTA has a legitimate concern about the safety of its passengers. That they have traditionally accepted political messages/advertisements complicates this, but it is something that should be taken into account, even if the chances for violence are remote.

Indeed, there are many other forums in which the same message can be presented just as publicly and loudly (perhaps even more so). Time/place/manner restrictions are upheld by the courts for lesser reasons.

[Sue U]

I don't have time to go into it right now (it's the weekend!), but a generalized fear of violence is insufficient to suppress free speech -- particularly where it is not the speaker who is engaging in the violence. (I think the case articulating the legal standards may have been Brandenburg v. Ohio, and if not Brandeburg itself, one of the cases in that line.)

[wesw]

I believe that they have decided to abandon all such ads, as is proper, rendering the point moot....

[Big RR]

Sue--as I recall, Brandeberg dealt with the speaker intentionally inciting the attendees to violence; but there are some cases (one which involved Virginia, e.g., which dealt with cross burnings by the KKK that discuss how that may be regulated. It is the weekend and I am not going to research it, but perhaps I will have soe time next week.

FWIW, I think even time, place, and manner regulations are things that should be approached with the utmost of restraint, and I have frequently opposed hate speech codes and supported the rights of those who have unpopular opinions to speak up (even the jerks at Westboro Baptist), but I do think the courts permit some limits. But you are correct, the best response to hate speech is to expose it for what it is. If you have a link to the Philadelphia SEPTA decision, I'd like to read it.

wes--I'm not certain the abandonment changes all that much; it depends what the policy they put in place states.

[rubato]

I don't think we can accept having the physical instruments of society subverted into a purpose which is entirely socially destructive simply because some cannot think of a principled method for identifying and excluding hate speech.

City buses which are publicly owned and operated represent the community which pays for their existence and operation. Thus signs put on those buses are an expression of that community thus no one can be allowed to subvert that expression to a purpose which is hateful to that community harmful to them and does not represent their values.



yrs,
rubato

[liberty]

How is this poster hate speech? What does it actually say?

Would it be hate speech to say, Southerners are traitors and racist and I will glad when they die?

Plug into my little example any other group that you don’t like such as Christians, conservatives activist or the rich.

[BoSoxGal]

Imagine if we just adequately funded public transport so they didn't need to sell advertising and the space could be used only for public service announcements by department of health, etc.

[Lord Jim]

Imagine if we just adequately funded public transport so they didn't need to sell advertising and the space could be used only for public service announcements by department of health, etc.

Public transportation (which I avail myself of fairly regularly; I hate driving downtown) is already heavily subsidized...

Personally, I prefer to have the private advertising rather than government propaganda nanny state scold messages shouted at me...

As far as this specific case is concerned, I agree with the point wes made here:

the riders of that bus did not agree to risk their life in defense of liberty, as you or I or a journalist or a political leader might. it is not our place to put them in a position where their lives are at risk without their consent. that risk should be assumed voluntarily, just like faith in God. any bus with that image on it is at risk of being blown up. just a fact.