Discrimination and Xenophobia
New law against online hate speech causes stir in Germany as AfD politician’s twitter is suspended
On January 1, 2018, a new law went into effect in Germany with the aim of curbing ‘fake news’ and hate speech online. The Act for the Improvement of Law Enforcement on Social Networks – thankfully shortened in common parlance to the Network Enforcement Law (Netzdurchsetzungsgesetz) targets social media such as Twitter and Facebook, seen…
Scholars, Twitter community, express support for Leïla Slimani
A public letter signed by more than 100 French women that denounced the #MeToo movement has sparked debate over everything from the appropriate limits of flirtation to the extent to which the French should absorb American sexual norms. Among those who disagreed with the public letter was Leïla Slimani, a novelist who won the Prix Goncourt in 2016….
Killing of 15-year-old girl lays bare the dilemmas surrounding crimes committed by refugees in Germany
The death of a 15-year-old girl, stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in a drugstore in the German town of Kandel, has not only sparked a public outcry but also become a case of high political salience – because the suspected killer was an Afghan refugee. The case The girl’s death occurred on December 27,…
Ofsted criticised for decision to question primary school girls wearing the hijab
The head of Ofsted says the hijab “could be interpreted as sexualisation of young girls”.
Doctor, fired from hospital for beard, loses in court
The request of a trainee doctor practicing at the Saint-Denis hospital center, fired in February 2014 because his beard was deemed “religiously ostentatious,” was rejected by the Administrative Appeal Court of Versailles in a decision issued December 19th. The court ruled that “growing a beard, even a long one, cannot alone constitute a sign of…