00:00Are Romanos really protesting against an anti-free speech law?
00:07Thousands joined a protest in Romania last week,
00:10organized by far-right MEP Claudio Terziu.
00:13Online, the protest was presented as a stand against a law
00:16allegedly designed to abolish free speech,
00:19with claims that the government could jail citizens for spreading hate online.
00:22But the reality is more complex.
00:24Protesters were calling for the repeal of what they are calling the Vexler Law,
00:28which is actually aimed at combating extremism.
00:31The law, proposed by MP Silvio Vexler,
00:33bans the glorification of fascist figures
00:35and introduces prison terms for promoting anti-Semitism, racism or xenophobia online.
00:42Terziu fears that the law will erase heroes and genuuses from Romania's national memory.
00:47By that, he is referring to iconic national figures,
00:50such as the poet Mihai Eminescu.
00:52But some of Eminescu's writing include anti-Semitic and xenophobic passages.
00:56So, is this law really a threat to the national memory of Romania?
01:00So, there is nothing in the law that bans such discussions,
01:06or the artistic use, the educational use, the use for this kind of public debates.
01:13You can still publish them, or you can still talk about them,
01:18again, in a contextualized manner.
01:20Of course, we can also look at the opera from a historical context point of view,
01:27from the point of view of the times that they were being written.
01:32The law also bans awarding public honours to war criminals or leaders of fascist organizations.
01:38Nevertheless, before its adoption last December,
01:41President Nico Chordain called for the law to be re-examined,
01:44citing vague wording and potential for abuse.
01:47His objections were rejected by Parliament and the Constitutional Court,
01:52sparking a national debate about freedom of speech.
01:54The law is a law to be re-examined,
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