Holness seeks to quell concerns over ‘hate speech’ stance
Published:Friday | December 15, 2023 | 12:15 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is seeking to downplay comments he made about “hate speech” while speaking during a monthly discussion forum of the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC.
During his presentation, Holness had indicated that to address the chronic levels of violence on the island, the Government would have to address the issue of hate speech, among other things, although it was not a feature of Jamaican society.
His comments caused concern among sections of the society, including from the president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, Bishop Dr Alvin Bailey, who, earlier this week, questioned whether Holness was being pressured by the international community to implement legislation to address hate speech.
Speaking on Power 106 FM earlier this week, Bailey questioned whether there was a hidden agenda, saying he did not believe there was a need for such legislation in Jamaica.
Bailey’s concern was that hate speech legislation could affect family values, and some clergymen could also find themselves in trouble for speaking out against certain behaviours that tend to “endanger” society.
However, addressing a Citizen Security Business Group meeting at Jamaica House yesterday morning, Holness sought to clarify what he meant.
Holness said that while the term ‘hate speech’ was used originally to deal with racism and discrimination of ethnic groups, it has evolved to mean any speech that is going to be considered as a violent threat to any ethic group or social grouping.
“For Jamaica, we do have laws on our books that deal with incitement, that deal with threats, and so forth. My intention was to kind of guide the conversation around, how is violent language not just inciting but normalising the use of violence towards each other?”
Holness said this was something the country needs to look at in an era where persons can hide behind fake social media profiles and issue threats and make people feel unsafe.
“So really what I’m targeting and what I would want us to talk about is not necessarily hate speech as Europeans may have used it in their jurisdiction, but for our problems that we have, and that’s what I want us to focus on.”
Holness indicated that legislation might not be required to achieve the goal.
“It may not be necessarily legislationt. It may be public education to educate particularly our parents about how they speak to their children,” the prime minister said.