When the process is the punishment

Sofia Hörder has a useful Mercator reminder that the process can be the punishment. It concerns the former Finnish Minister of the Interior, Päivi Räsänen.


When the state engages in cancel culture

Who comes to mind when criminal charges categorised under “war crimes and crimes against humanity” are levied? Likely a dictator, corrupt general, or other terrorist actor. But the world has been put on notice that even a grandmother and longstanding parliamentarian in Finland can fall prey to such odious charges when the state becomes ideologically committed to censorship.

"Hate speech” charges under the Finnish criminal code’s war crimes section for “agitation against a minority group” is what happened to the former Finnish Minister of the Interior, Päivi Räsänen, who has served as a parliamentary representative for nearly thirty years. On the basis of her simple and peaceful articulation of a Christian view of marriage and sexuality, Räsänen was criminally charged and dragged through the courts for over four years, beginning in 2019. If her case wasn’t such a serious warning shot to us all regarding the erosion of the basic human right to free speech, it would be laughable to consider that the legal persecution she faced started because of a tweet.


The whole piece is well worth reading as another reminder that supposedly civilised modern states do engage in cancel culture, including the UK. In particular, it is a reminder that there are powerful, supposedly enlightened people behind it, surely the most disturbing aspect of modern times. 


Some might disagree with Räsänen’s convictions, as is and should be their right. But respect for disagreement is foundational to any healthy democracy, and protecting the principle of free speech is paramount. Vague and subjective “hate speech” laws, the likes of which were leveraged to shut down Räsänen, must be vigorously opposed. For so long as these laws stand, any of us could end up in this grandmother’s shoes, charged with “crimes” we hopefully can agree should be reserved for those who commit actual crimes against humanity, not peaceful Twitter posts.