this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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Czech President Petr Pavel on Thursday signed an amendment to the country’s criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda.

The revised legislation introduces prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

The change follows calls from Czech historical institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they viewed as a legal imbalance.

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[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 48 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Did someone show him Hexbear and Lemmygrad?

[–] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 1 points 16 hours ago

Did someone show him Hexbear and Lemmygrad?

Hah, I'd say there's a non-zero chance. These places are so violent. I'd love to join in on some conversations over there if they wouldn't all turn so bloodthirsty that quickly.

[–] kebab@endlesstalk.org 1 points 11 hours ago

Oh, there’s no need for that, I got my comment removed at worldnews@lemmy.ml (why is this always ml, hmmm) after saying that Taiwan is a good functioning democracy and that they like their freedoms, so maybe China shouldn’t invade 😀

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 35 points 19 hours ago (8 children)

How it will be implemented: Law enforcement now have to waste their resources previously spent on going after the far-right for their hate crimes on going after "communists", with "class-based hatred" having a much looser definition compared to others. This will lead to union leaders being prosecuted, while white nationalists will be let going away unpersecuted, because "lack of resources".

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 5 points 14 hours ago

Especially since all the other things were already banned, class-based hatred is the only new thing in the list. So it's essentially a law just for that.

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[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 18 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I'm sorry but class-based hatred is kinda my thing. I think it's honestly fair to be against the people actively destroying society and the planet.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 9 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

They almost make it sound like "class" is some sort of immutable thing you're born into like ethnicity or skin color. When really it just means "rich people". And if you're rich beyond a certain threshold, it's pretty much a given that you decided to walk all over poorer people to get there. Hate justified.

[–] Aqarius@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

They almost make it sound like "class" is some sort of immutable thing you're born into

It would be if they got any say in it.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 12 hours ago

Fun fact (I know this is c/europe) about the US: In the US, Nazis literally have more rights than communists. There are specific exemptions written into all US labor and immigration laws that remove any and all protective from anyone deemed to be associated with a Communist Party front. Some examples of this being the right to file claims against discriminatory workplace practices or being able to obtain legal residency.

No such restrictions exist for Nazis or any other far-right ideology.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 9 points 19 hours ago (12 children)

up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

I'm uncomfortable with this. Wouldn't

up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

have been better?

While all that undoubtedly holds true for fascism, it does not do so for communism per se - just the authoritarian version of it which was developed in Russia in the past 100 years.

I know little about the political landscape in CZ, but isn't the regime currently rightwing-populist? And maybe the communist party is Kreml-backed?

Unfortunately neither that nor the "legal imbalance" is explained in the article.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago

I have a feeling that this institute is one of those ulltraconservatives, which thinks the nazis were bad, because they based their racism "not on facts and statistics, but on evil", and this is just one of the base building blocks of an Orbán/Trump/Putin style "illiberal democracy".

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like this too, but considering their past i think i can understand.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 6 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Considering their past I'd have hoped they know enough about this to phrase it better.

Frankly, even "Russians" (which was the contemptuous go-to term for their oppressors in most East-European countries) would've been better than "communists".

CZ is having trouble with several not-so-good extremes of populism and might even go the way of Hungary or Slovakia in the near future. That's probably the true reason for this misguided law.

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[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 5 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

It's fascinating that in a world where to far right is surging everywhere, having captured the only superpower, with the richest man in the world throwing sieg heils on live primetime television, where we are entering an era of new concentration camps, these kinds of liberals find it useful to do stupid shit like this. Do they not see that if/when the fascists capture their presidency they will use exactly these laws to turn the screws on everyone to the left of the far right?

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You can fight any authoritarian ideology at any time. There is no fighting only fascism/nazism or Leninism/Maoism/Stalinism/Juche. The law signed targets specifically Soviet era propaganda and it's sympathizers and puts it on a level with Nazi propaganda, which is banned in Czechia to the extent it is banned in Germany.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Sure, like right wingers fight pedophilia when they target LGBT people.

But ok, let's take it at face value. There is no threat of a Soviet style takeover in Europe. They're beating a dead horse. So as far as dead horses go, why stop at Soviet oppression, start passing law legislating I don't know, glorifying Roman imperialism and Ottoman expansionism. Ban glorification of hussites and violent Anabaptists. Take your revenge on history. I hope the orgasm is worth it.

But then remember that there is however a rabid far right that calls European institutions "Soviet" and that has no interest in any checks and balances. They love calling social democrats "communists" and they love to talk about the threat of antifa and they love giving police more power to crack protestor skulls. If you can't see how these laws today are going to be used tomorrow by the fascists, even after what Trump is doing at the US, I don't know what else to tell you.

[–] Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Vladimir Putin's attempts of rebuilding ‘Soviet’ Russia has been widely reported at least since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine when it started in 2014, and Putin won't stop there if successful. Russia’s threat to Europe goes beyond the battlefields of Ukraine comprising arson attacks, cyber warfare, election meddling, ... The number of Russian attacks in Europe nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024, after quadrupling between 2022 and 2023.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Putin hates Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Yes, he lionizes Stalin, but only to the extent that he can cast it as Russian imperialism. The beef is with Russian nationalism, there is zero need to drive a wedge with European left parties eg in the South, there is no reason to distract from the actual danger which is Russian imperialism and authoritarianism and it is in fact extremely dangerous to be building the legal infrastructure that fascists can and will use to crush the left.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org -1 points 14 hours ago

Meanwhile China wringing it's hands: "Yes, distract the Europeans away from our ambitions and tell them that multitasking is impossible."

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 2 points 15 hours ago

Plus Putin not only glorifies Tsar Nicholas II but also Stalin and is outraged when monuments of Russian and Soviet imperialism are taken down in eastern European countries.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Hello? China? China calls itself "communist". Like all authcoms, it isn't actually socialism, but usually capitalism with "communist" aesthetics. A state creating an economic monopoly while not allowing workplace democracy is not socialism. Socialism is when the workers control the MOP, not the state. The state just creates unnecessary hierarchies in modes of economy.

Also I am for banning all parties seeking to impose authoritarian anti-democratic rule.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Is China threatening European democratic institutions in any way shape or form?

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes through hybrid warfare and illegal police. Also our extreme right is oddly pro-China.

And look at the Belt and Road Initiative where they are doing things directly out of the US imperialism playbook where they build stuff and take control of infrastructure when countries cant pay in a timely manner.

https://www.euronews.com/2022/11/02/netherlands-orders-closure-of-illegal-chinese-police-stations-in-amsterdam-and-rotterdam

https://routesjournal.org/2022/04/07/r2099/

https://brusselsmorning.com/chinese-firms-tiktok-xiaomi-face-eu-privacy-complaints/64765/

https://fadec.eu/2025/05/25/hybrid-threats-with-chinese-characteristics-the-prcs-hybrid-influence-in-the-eu/

Also China used unfair trade tactics such as massive subventions to destroy European competition in the solar panel market in the EU and is now trying to do it with EVs.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/02/13/chinese-competition-poses-existential-threat-to-europes-solar-industry

Also trying to make the EU dependent on China is also a form of imperialist measure.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca -1 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I don't know what Chinese hybrid warfare you are talking about. Any articles I've found with these keywords always seem to lump China with Russia, which I find just sensationalist. China is one of our biggest trading partners and I don't see any reason why Europe cannot find a live and let live modus vivendi with them. I mean if we can stomach the Palestinian genocide at our doorstep without a fucking peep, the Uighurs are far enough...

The illegal police issue is nowhere near an existentially serious problem that affects the viability of European democratic institutions.

And the danger of the far right has nothing to do with China.

China is an authoritarian state, yes, but it's one that for 3 decades at least has played nice with us. They are far less disruptive and threatening than the Trumpist Americans are. If Europe can find a way to work with Trumpist USA, why not with China too?

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

I friggin linked you articles. Also are you for real? You are just going to downplay serious stuff as basically "it's not as bad as what others are doing"? Also just because the US and Russia are problems, doesn't mean China isn't. Most of your counterarguments are whataboutisms and deflections so far.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You edited your article afterwards, I responded to your post when it was just the first line.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I didn't change any wording. I only added something long before you replied.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 0 points 12 hours ago

I did not say you changed wording. I am saying I started replying when your comment only contained the line "Yes through hybrid warfare and illegal police. Also our extreme right is oddly pro-China." and did not see what you added until after. You can either accept that asynchronous communications sometimes has this issue or you can believe that I'm an evil manipulative person whose trying to win internet points. 🤷

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca -2 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Now that I took a peek at the articles you posted, here is my sense (and it's just a sense): none of these things are existential. They are all problems, but they do are not at the level of needing to start clamping down freedom of extreme speech in Europe, the way the Czech law does. The same cannot be said for the very real and existential threat to democracy that the resurgence and mainstream-ization of far right extremism is a threat. Meloni, Orban, Lepen, Wiilders, these kind of fascist assholes are much more of a threat to European democracy than Xi is at the moment.

China is friends with Russia. Yes, so are the rest of BRICS: India, Brazil, South Africa. How high do you want to build the wall?

This is not "whataboutism" by the way. It is looking for the balance. Liberal democracy is striking a balance and that means managing the "about these" and "about those". In this balancing act, the kind of no holds barred demonizing of China that I think you're pushing for is NOT where European democracy needs to be.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

It is a whataboutism. When a problem was brought up, you turned to other problems stating they were bigger. That is what whataboutism is.

If you are not interested in being honest, why do you bother replying?

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca -1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Disengaging, this is not a good faith discussion. Cheers.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 1 points 11 hours ago

Nice to see you being honest about yourself.

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago

Also you can fight both the far-right and authcoms at the same time. It's called anti-authoritarianism.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 2 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Honest question: how did you deduce that "kinds of liberals" did this? What sort of party does the Czech president belong to?

[–] alfredon996@feddit.it 5 points 15 hours ago

He was elected by a coalition of center-right classical liberal parties.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 3 points 16 hours ago

He was widely lauded as a pro-western anti-populist liberal when he was elected. His political positions as re generally aligned with liberal parties across Europe.

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I can't imagine why a country that suffered under the USSR would want to put into law, to criminalize, the ideology that once fucked up East-Europe...

The Communist Party of Bohemia

How the fuck do they still even have a literal Communist party!?

[–] TanteRegenbogen@feddit.org -2 points 13 hours ago

When I hear Petr Pavel signs a law banning pro-Soviet crap, I think liberal or not, what a chad.

collapsed inline mediaOIP

[–] not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago

class based hatred

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