Don’t Say “Fat Lesbian”

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND — The glory days of the European intellectual provocateur seem to be numbered. This directional shift was felt last week by French-Swiss writer Alain Bonnet – pen name Alain Soral – who was sentenced to 60 days in prison by a Swiss court for the charges of defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred.

The crimes were committed two years ago, and the venue was Facebook – where Bonnet attacked his colleague Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Tribune de Genève and 24 Heures, in a video – calling her a “fat lesbian.”

Controversial – and extremely popular (in Europe) – French author Michel Hoeullebecq narrowly escaped a conviction for incitement to hatred in 2002. Houellebecq had stated in an interview with iconic literary magazine Lire that he despised monotheistic religions, singling out Islam as “the most stupid one.”

Four Muslim organizations sued Houellebecq for instigating religious or racial hatred. A Paris court dismissed the charges with the motivation that Houellebecq’s comments couldn’t be construed as general contempt for Muslims or a call for acts against them.

The focus on “hate speech” has accelerated during the past few years, coinciding with increased censorship on social media and governments – in collusion with corporations – attempting to control citizens’ speech with an iron fist.

The push to criminalize speech is a major priority for the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations.

“Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights norms and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development and the fulfillment of human rights for all,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the launch of United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.

The UN strategy includes spying on citizens of member countries and colluding with media and private actors to silence voices that express viewpoints that the UN globalist bureaucrats consider unacceptable.

For example, being critical of the official COVID-19 narrative and mRNA vaccines is defined as “COVID-19-related hate speech” and the organization has developed a strategy to silence dissenters on this topic as well.

In July of this year, an American teen girl who spoke out against a man pretending to be a woman prowling her swim team’s locker room was accused of “hate speech” by her local YMCA.