The building of the Royal Spanish Academy (Grosby)
Federal judge Ariel Lijo ordered this Thursday that the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) immediately delete from the Dictionary of the Spanish Language the fifth meaning of the word “Jew, a” where that person is described as “greedy or usurer” for “ “configure hate speech that incites discrimination on religious grounds.” He maintained that it is an offense against human dignity. The ruling also ordered that the National Communications Entity order the immediate blocking of the website until the RAE complies with the decision, judicial sources revealed to Infobae.
“In light of the broad protection enjoyed by the right to freedom of religion and the factual considerations formulated herein, I will order the Royal Spanish Academy to immediately suppress – that is, without the prior intervention of the Academies of the Spanish Language—the fifth meaning of the word ‘Jew, a’ for configuring hate speech that incites discrimination for religious reasons. For its purposes, I will issue an appeal to the Kingdom of Spain in the terms of articles 28.1 and 30 of the Treaty on Extradition and Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters signed with that nation,” the judge said in the resolution.
And he added: “It should not be lost sight of that the requirements articulated through international cooperation mechanisms are characterized by a slowness that is not compatible with the case at hand. Nor should it be forgotten that the numerous complaints made to the authorities of the Royal Spanish Academy were not attended to, or received an unacceptable response from the perspective of human rights.
The case began on August 28 when Claudio Gregorio Epelman, in his capacity as representative of the World Jewish Congress Foundation, and Jorge Knoblovits, in his capacity as president of the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), filed a criminal complaint against Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Royal Spanish Academy, as well as against any other responsible human person who is a member of said organization. They were accused of inciting hatred against the Jewish community through the discriminatory meaning of the term “Jew”. There it is described: “said of a person: greedy or usurer.”
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The presentation maintained that Law 23,592 was being violated, which punishes with imprisonment from one month to three years those who participate in an organization or carry out propaganda based on ideas or theories of superiority of a race or a group of people of a certain religion. , ethnic origin or color, which have as their objective the justification or promotion of racial or religious discrimination in any form.
Judge Ariel Lijo (Jaime Olivos)
For this reason, the complainants affirmed that the meaning published by the Royal Spanish Academy and that is questioned here constitutes “hate speech, defined by the United Nations Organization as ‘any form of communication by word, in writing or through behavior , which is an attack on or uses derogatory or discriminatory language in relation to a person or group on the basis of who they are or, on the basis of their religion, ethnic origin, nationality, race, colour, ancestry, gender or other identity factor ‘”.
The presentation added that in November 2021 the Latin American Jewish Congress sent a letter to Santiago Muñoz Machado, in his capacity as director of the Royal Spanish Academy, requesting the deletion of the fifth meaning of the word “Jew, a” from the dictionary of said institution. On January 30, 2023, the response arrived: “In accordance with the criteria established for the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, it is not possible to eliminate a meaning when it is supported by use —as is the case in this case—, no matter how much it may be socially inappropriate or reprehensible. However, it has been considered appropriate to add the indication that its use may be offensive or discriminatory”, an amendment that gave rise to the current wording: “Saying of a person: greedy or usurious. U. as offensive or discriminatory.”
Faced with that, in September 2023, more than 20 Spanish-speaking Jewish communities gathered in the Latin American Jewish Congress again made a similar request, together with the authorities of the then INADI, and the Special Representative against Antisemitism and the Special Representative to the Alliance for the Holocaust Memory of Argentina, corresponding to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, and the Presidency of the National Institution of Human Rights and Ombudsman of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, support all expressed through various documents that also accompany the complaint. All of this gave impetus to the criminal complaint where a precautionary measure was also requested to stop the illegal act.
Prosecutor Franco Picardi promoted the case and proposed “some alternative solution or solution” within the framework of the so-called ‘restorative justice’, in the search for “a space for dialogue that contemplates the complainants, this representation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the denounced” to “completely repair the damage caused, put an end to the denounced discriminatory act; and the necessary guarantees of non-repetition and awareness regarding the phenomenon under treatment are addressed.”
Claudio Epelman, from the Latin American Jewish Congress (Nicolas Stulberg)
In his resolution, after accepting the complainants as plaintiffs, Judge Lijo stated that “given the nature of the facts reported and considering the international commitments assumed by the Argentine Republic in relation to the protection of the full exercise of human rights, it is appropriate to formulate certain considerations about the effects produced by the permanent publication of the fifth meaning of the word ‘Jew, a’ in the Dictionary of the Spanish Language.”
In this context, he highlighted that “the broad protection of freedom of religion is due to the fact that religion or convictions constitute one of the fundamental elements of the conception of life of those who profess them” and stressed that “as part of the international community, “The Argentine Republic shares the solemn responsibility of combating actions that contradict the exercise of fundamental rights.” “One of the most aberrant expressions of these actions that curtail the right to religious freedom is anti-Semitism,” he added. “Anti-Semitism is, in effect, hate speech.”
“I consider that the conditions are met to maintain that the fifth meaning of the word ‘Jew, a’ – even with the note of its use as offensive or discriminatory – contains hate speech at the base of its meaning. Well, it attributes pejorative characteristics to the member of a group for the sole fact of being such. I also consider that this is not hate speech with abstract effects, but that it produces concrete effects on an indefinite but important number of people,” the judge stated.
As he highlighted, “the formulation of the speech in question is not reserved for an intimate forum or, although public, with restricted access; On the contrary, it is incorporated into the Dictionary of the Spanish Language. In this sense, the broad scope of this compendium cannot be overlooked. According to the estimates of the Cervantes Institute, more than 599 million people are potential users of the Spanish language – approximately 46 million are inhabitants of the Argentine Republic – and it is the fourth most studied language in the world.
For Lijo, “it is evident, then, that the mere existence of this meaning – in the terms in which it is published today – has the capacity to condition the behavior of those who share the language and to incite violence in any of its different forms. forms.”
One detail: the judge stated that sometimes the Royal Spanish Academy makes modifications to its dictionary due to the discriminatory content of some of the meanings of the words that are part of the Spanish language. This is what it did in 2015 with the meaning of gypsy as “trapazero” in its dictionary by incorporating a note of “offensive and discriminatory” use. Also in 2018 with the fifth meaning of the word “easy” so that it did not refer to “woman” who lends herself to having sexual relations without problems, but to “person.” A final example was when the third meaning of the word “masculine” and the sixth of “feminine” were eliminated, since one referred to “manly, energetic” and the other to “weak, weak.”
Jorge Knoblovits, president of the DAIA (Nicolas Stulberg)
“The reality is that the commitments assumed by the Argentine Republic and the conviction that must guide every magistrate regarding the protection of human rights lead to the interruption of the massive and pernicious dissemination of a stereotypical image of the Jewish people, that incites discrimination on religious grounds. Above all, if you take into account that the Royal Spanish Academy has communicated through its website that it is carrying out writing tasks for the new edition of its dictionary, corresponding to the 2023 update, he assured.
In this context, Lijo asserted that the meaning of the word Jew as “greedy or usurious” is “without a doubt an offense against human dignity and, therefore, must be combated in the terms of the Stockholm Declaration. Well, it is a stereotypical vision of the Jewish people that constitutes an obstacle that prevents the enjoyment of fundamental rights. That is why it is necessary to order the deletion of the fifth meaning of the word “Jew, a” from the Dictionary of the Spanish Language. Now, without prejudice to the fact that the Royal Spanish Academy does not have offices or personnel based in Argentine territory, the reality is that its website – a mandatory source for learning the Spanish language – is publicly accessible to anyone who is in this country. Therefore, the reported conduct would produce its effects in the Argentine Republic.”
The ruling considered that “the persistent inactivity of the Royal Spanish Academy and the delay inherent in the international cooperation process could make the right to freedom of religion whose protection it is intended to guarantee illusory, a measure that has immediate effects must be taken.”
Thus, Lijo issued an international appeal to the Kingdom of Spain in the terms of articles 28.1 and 30 of the Treaty on Extradition and Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters signed with that nation, which must be completed through the relevant diplomatic channel, to the effects of ordering the Royal Spanish Academy to immediately delete – that is, without the prior intervention of the Academies of the Spanish Language – from the Dictionary of the Spanish Language the fifth meaning of the word “Jew, a” – whose wording refers to “said of a person: greedy or usurer” – for configuring hate speech that incites discrimination for religious reasons in the terms of Law 23,592. It also ordered the National Communications Entity to order the immediate blocking of the website linking the definition of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, questioned in the proceedings, until the Royal Spanish Academy complies with the measure ordered by this court. And he notified the resolution to date to the Argentine Academy of Letters -in his capacity as representative of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language-.
