Thousands of officers protect a far-right congress while those protesting hate speech are criminalized. A clear imbalance between the security of an exclusionary ideology and the right to dissent. The solution is not more repression, but regulating hate speech and investing in mediation and civic education to prevent unrest.
Control algorithms: technology as a double-edged sword 🤖
The video surveillance and facial recognition systems deployed to protect the event could be redirected towards early detection of hate speech on social media. Digital mediation platforms, combined with AI trained on biases, would allow identifying tension hotspots without automatically criminalizing protesters. Investment in these tools, along with educational programs, would reduce the need for massive deployments.
VIP protection: escorts for ideas that don't convince 😏
Seeing a far-right politician surrounded by a police cordon of 2,000 officers while a lone protester ends up handcuffed for shouting is quite something. It seems freedom of expression is like Wi-Fi: it works fine for some, but if others use it, it clogs the network. Good thing we pay taxes so certain ideas travel first class and criticism, in the trunk.