A/50/476
English
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and xenophobia. The mass media have a decisive role to play in combating racism
and in arousing an awareness of acceptance of others and respect for the dignity
of the human being.
128. Incitement to racial hatred is also practised by more or less well
organized political groups, or even individuals, who do not have access to the
mass communications media. Their racist message is therefore disseminated on a
smaller scale and in a more insidious manner. In 1994, for instance, a
resumption of threats was noted in France, mainly in the form of racist tracts
and graffiti. "The Algerian political context is in all likelihood responsible
for the resurgence of former provocative tracts such as JALB and Francarabia
musulmane, which had almost disappeared after January 1992. ..." The end of
1994 was marked by the appearance of a new pamphlet, essentially anti-Muslim,
which was addressed to several security companies. Emanating from the so-called
"Forces républicaines de Libération de la France", it urged them to "kill,
crush, burn, dynamite everything which is Algerian or Arab, preaching Jihad on
our soil". 66/
129. In the United Kingdom, an important
held at Wembley Stadium on 7 August 1994
organization Hizb al-Tahrir. In January
called for the murder of Jews throughout
Last Judgement". 67/
rally of Muslim fundamentalists was
under the banner of the British
1994, this organization had publicly
the world to "hasten the coming of the
130. Governments are facing the delicate task of finding a proper balance
between the conflicting principles of a democratic society: the obligation to
recognize the freedom of expression of all its members, and the obligation to
protect ethnic minorities against insults and persecution. The task is all the
more delicate in that language can be adapted to arrive at racist conclusions
without incurring the penalties of the law. Racism can henceforth be expressed
using the words of democracy.
131. The emphasis has been placed on the resolute manner in which neo-Nazi
parties are the ones most often condemned or banned. Democratic societies are,
however, confronting the emergence within democratic parties of extreme rightwing political organizations of a new kind "capable of playing an effective part
in national political life to the point of shaking up the traditional power
structure. These organizations appear more ’modern’ in the sense that their
leaders have quickly understood that in order to win over the electorate they
must detach themselves from old ideological references to fascism or national
socialism ...". 68/ The prototypes of these parties are the Centrum Democraten
in the Netherlands, the Front National in France, the Republikaner in Germany,
the Front National and the Parti des forces nouvelles, the Vlaams Blok, in
Belgium, the Freiheitspartei Österreich FPÖ in Austria and the Movimento Sociale
Italiano (MSI) in Italy. This pressure of nationalist xenophobic movements
reflects a growing estrangement between elite groups and ordinary citizens.
/...