Говор мржње као облик политичког насиља
Hate Speech as a Form of Political Violence

Summary/Abstract: According to the conclusions of this paper, hate speech can be defined as a complex and indirect form of political violence. In this case, the complexity refers to the criterion of the number of participants and their mutual relationship, while according to the method of violence, an indirect relationship is apparent between the hate speech broadcasters and the subject against whom the violence is carried out. Hate speech is aimed to provoke intolerance, hate and violence, towards an individual citizen or a group of people, most often due to their ethnical, religious, sexual or political background, and to encourage and confirm such discriminating attitudes. Although just one segment of its common manifestations relates directly to the political views of the victim, hate speech is an expression of extreme political standpoints, and its motives can be defined as political. Predetermination of the victim of hate speech can be found in their specific individual characteristic, singularity or affiliation, as a personal peculiarity of that person or a group. Such characteristics, as a rule, differ from the usual, major and generally accepted social category or value, in other words, the wider culture’s main stream. Personal characteristic of a particular person is precisely what is of vital importance for defining hate speech, since the message expressed in hate speech is aimed directly to frighten, insult or degrade on the basis of race, ethnic, religion, language, gender, sexuality, political belief, social origin, or other personal characteristics of an individual. The genesis of hate speech is more about its recognition as such, rather than its specific occurrence and historical development. Throughout centuries, there has been a socially accepted practice, where the winners in war completely destroyed their enemies, as retribution or a severe kind for a “punishment for defeat”. In such circumstances, it is quite certain that hate speech practically existed, but was not condemned. The political ideology of hate-speech broadcasters is not especially significant, since it was practically used both by radical leftists and right-wingers. However, regardless of whether it is a “Jewpig” or “The enemies of the people” (in the case of Holocaust or Stalin’s purges), the impression is that hate speech is a second-degree crime. In periods of mass murders and similar cruel crimes, hate speech goes relatively unnoticed. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that uncontrolled hate speech serves as an announcement, that is, an introduction to a crime of much wider proportions.

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