D e p a r t m e n t o f C r i m i n o l o g y

Hate Speech in the UKChris Allen – Associate Professor in Hate Studies, University of Leicester

25th June 2019 - Daiwa Foundation, London

@DrChrisAllen

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Hate Crime: Is the UK in Crisis…?

Hate Crime versus Hate Speech

Hate CrimeThe UK College of Policing (2010) defines a hate crime as any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by hostility or prejudiceRecognises five monitored strands: disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender with the caveat that other characteristics can prompt hate

Hate SpeechGeneral definitions only, for instance an expression of hatred towards

another person or group of people that can find form in writing, speech and so on

No actual laws against hate speech – various statutes afford legal protection, e.g. offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or

behaviour; incitement to racial or religious hatred; and, glorification of terrorism

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Hate Speech, Free Speech, Offence

Free Speech

Article 10 of the Human Rights Act safeguards the right to free expression

although this is not absolute

Offence

Liberty (2019):

criminalising even the

most unpalatable,

illiberal and offensive

speech should be

approached with grave

caution

Hate Speech

The expression of

hatred towards another

person or group of

people that can find

form in writing, speech

etc

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Hate Speech: Some ExamplesJo Brand, Comedian

Heresy programme on Radio 4 replying to a question about the “terrible time” UK

politics was going through: “…that’s because certain unpleasant characters are being

thrown to the fore and they’re very, very easy to hate and I’m kind of thinking: ‘Why

bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’”

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Hate Speech: Some ExamplesNigel Farage, Leader of The Brexit Party (former leader of UKIP)

"I am sick to death of overpaid, left-wing, so-called comedians on the BBC who think their

view is morally superior. Can you imagine the reaction if I had said the same…"

In 2016, 40,000 people lodged a complaint with the Metropolitan Police alleging

Farage’s ‘Breaking Point’ poster incited racial and religious hatred

Hate Speech: Some Examples

Killdren, Rock Group

Glastonbury Festival organisers were criticised for inviting the band Killdren to

perform this year given the lyrics to its song "Kill Tory Scum”: “Even if it's your dad or

your mum, kill Tory scum, kill Tory scum...murder them all to the beat of a drum, kill

Tory scum, kill Tory scum”

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Hate Speech: Some ExamplesBoris Johnson, Conservative Member of Parliament

In his column in the Telegraph newspaper, he stated that Muslim women who wear the

niqab (full face veil) look like “bank robbers” and “letterboxes”

Rod Liddle in the Spectator responded by stating: “My own view is that there is not

nearly enough Islamophobia within the Tory party”

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Do We Know What Hate Speech Is…?

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• Despite all fitting the general definition of ‘hate speech’, none of

the examples resulted in police action

• This is because hate speech is wholly subjective

• Given the lack of legislation and guidance, so hate speech is

typically derived on the basis of biased and partial value

judgments that reflect our political and personal preferences

including who we like and – importantly – who we dislike

• In this respect, are we miscasting the issue?

The Brexit Referendum

• On the day Farage unveiled the ‘Breaking Point’ poster, Jo Cox - the MP for Batley and Spen - was shot and stabbed to death in Yorkshire by Thomas Mair who was inspired by the extreme right wing

• A few days later, Farage claimed the success of UKIP had come “without a single bullet being fired”

• More recently he has stated he will “don khaki, pick up a rifle and head for the frontlines” if Brexit isn’t delivered

• Since Brexit, numbers of ALL hate crime have increased by 29%

• Racially and religiously-motivated hate crimes have seen the largest overall annual increase since recording began (Home Office, 2017)

• In the 11 months following the referendum, hate crime numbers surged by 23% (Bulden, 2017)

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Johnson and Letterboxes

• In the weeks following the publication of Johnson’s article, Tell MAMA’s (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) confirmed a sudden upsurge in the number of Muslim women reporting hate crimes during which they were referred to as ‘bank robbers’ or ‘letterboxes’

• Prior to Johnson’s article, the same data showed no evidence whatsoever of such phrases being used

• The insults also became widely used online

• Are Farage and Johnson then guilty of hate speech given it could be argued that both incited hatred – and violence - against racial and religious groups?

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Miscasting the Issue: Permission to Hate

• Perry & Ponyting (2007) note how the socio-political landscapes we live and reside in have the potential to create conditions that bestow permission to hate…and by consequence, enact hate crime

• For them, this is contributed to by political figures utilising their power to discursively demarcate ‘us’ from ‘them’: constructing ‘Others’ that are seen to be oppositional, fear inducing and threatening to ‘us’

• For two decades, British politicians have routinely and repeatedly demarcated ‘immigrants’ and ‘Muslims’ as problematic ‘Others’ -including both Farage and Johnson

• The record levels of racially and religiously-motivated hate crimes in the UK then are a reflection of the UK’s contemporary socio-political climate - an echo chamber of an ever-more demarcated, differentiated and divided country and society

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What Does This Mean…?

• If the future Prime Minister says it OK to refer to some Muslim women as ‘letterboxes’, what argument exists to stop someone else saying it in the street or online?

• While certain forms of speech may not be deemed hate speech nor necessitate censure, they contribute to and encourage the conditions that afford permission to hate

• Two further considerations…

• The right to free speech – and, the right to offend – can be exploited with impunity (see for instance Tommy Robinson and him being championed as a ‘defender’ of free speech)

• Likewise, those advocating free speech can be hypocritical – so while Farage resists censure for what he says about migrants, he simultaneously demands that others are

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A Way Forward: Four Needs

• Need to better understand the complexity of the relationship and overlap between hate speech, free speech and offence – this does not necessarily mean more legislation or censure

• Need to balance the protection of free speech with the protection of those being targeted by hateful speech including that speech that is contributing to a more hateful, intolerant socio-political climate

• Need to acknowledge that some forms of speech have greater potential to encourage and ferment hate and division than others – political rhetoric than one-off jokes or lyrics to individual songs

• Need to challenge and counter those who use their positions of privilege and influence to drip-feed hateful messages about certain groups, communities and types of people

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