Meinungsfreiheit ist unteilbar

Minette Marrin, Kolumnistin der Sunday Times, hat heute wieder einmal einen Artikel geschrieben, den man sich am liebsten einrahmen möchte. Sie gehört für mich überhaupt zu den freundlichsten, humorvollsten und interessantesten Menschen, die man im britischen Journalismus treffen kann. Das liegt nicht zuletzt daran, dass man mit ihr so herrlich streiten kann, selbst wenn man einmal überhaupt nicht einer Meinung ist.

Um diese gelebte Toleranz geht es auch in Minette Marrins heutiger Kolumne. In der letzten Woche war bekannt geworden, dass es im Ensemble des English National Ballet eine Tänzerin gibt, die der rechtsextremen British National Party angehört. Daraufhin kam es vor dem Theater zu Protesten, und im Theater wurde die “BNP-Ballerina” ausgebuht. Allerdings bekam sie auch Unterstützung von etwa zwei Dutzend Parteifunktionären der BNP, die sich wahrscheinlich zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben in einer Ballettaufführung fanden. Es muss ein herrliches Bild gewesen sein, wie sich die Skinheads mit ihren Springerstiefeln das romantische Ballett Giselle angesehen haben.

Ms Marrin nimmt diesen Vorfall zum Anlass, um ein paar Dinge klarzustellen:

One of the strangest things about political activists is that they so rarely understand freedom, the very thing they think they are fighting for. Everyone in this country ... is entitled to freedom of thought and of speech under the law, but there are countless high-minded activists who do not think so. ...

This is a strange story in every way. Despite her fear of mass immigration, Clarke [die Ballerina, omh] has an immigrant boyfriend of Chinese-Cuban descent, also a dancer; there is a hint of inconsistency here surely, and the BNP certainly finds it a touch embarrassing. And then the protesters in the street, who say that ethnic English people’s fear of immigration is nothing but irrational racism, rather undermined their own case by shouting “We are Muslim, black and Jew, there are many more of us than you” — by this threat confirming that a fear of mass immigration is not merely irrational racism. Brilliant.

All these big bold men lined up against a single rather underweight woman; it is not an edifying spectacle. If only they had the intellectual modesty that she has shown. Explaining to a newspaper that she’d been drawn to the BNP by watching the news and by their manifesto, she said: “I am not too proud to say that a lot of it went over my head, but some of the things they mentioned were things I think about all the time, mainly mass immigration, crime and increased taxes.” The world might be a better place if more people were not too proud to admit that things are complex and difficult to understand.

Für Minette Marrin kann man aus dem Fall der Ballerina vor allem zwei Dinge lernen. Zunächst, dass Meinungsfreiheit nicht teilbar ist. Man kann eben nicht nur “gute”, “richtige” und “erwünschte” Meinungen zulassen, alles andere aber verbieten, denn dies hätte weder mit Meinungsfreiheit noch mit Toleranz etwas zu tun. Sie schreibt:

It is clearly too difficult for Friday’s activists to understand that free speech is indivisible. Perhaps they have forgotten the McCarthy era in America, when performing artists, particularly in Hollywood, were outed, sacked and ruined for their pro-communist views (real or alleged). That was entirely wrong, I hardly need say. But there are plenty of people, including me, who think that pro-Trotsky, pro-Stalin, pro-Mao communism, and all kinds of views expressed by people in the arts to this day, are hateful and despicable, and, I think, a great deal worse than the BNP.

Die zweite Lektion, die es zu lernen gilt, besteht für Minette Marrin darin, die politischen Meinungen von Künstlern und Kulturschaffenden nicht für bedeutender zu halten, als sie es tatsächlich sind:

Besides, why should anyone take the political views of artists seriously? I know that everyone does these days, and pop stars such as Bono are called upon to pontificate on matters of global concern. But the fact that they are famous and talented does not mean that their views are worth paying attention to (rather as the BNP ballerina’s views are of no interest). ...

In fact if artists were judged on their views, theatres and galleries and bookshops would be almost empty.

So kommt sie zu dem Schluss:

People who loathe their views may love their talents. It is high time that liberals, luvvies and political activists started either to defend free speech, or stopped pretending to.

Bravo! Thank you, Minette.