Is Offence An Offence?

Aberaeron is perhaps not the first place anyone would associate with controversy of any kind, let alone arguments about racial hatred. Nevertheless, the Welsh seaside town has become the latest battleground in the contentious debate about the boundaries of freedom of speech - boundaries which shift according to changes in public attitudes. But more interesting from a legal point of view is the reaction of the police and the authorities whose involvement has significantly heightened public interest.

The trouble was not found at a political rally or in a leaflet, but at the local Carnival. Four men entered the event on a float dressed up as characters from Cool Runnings, the 1993 film about the success of the Jamaican Bobsled team. In addition to wearing Lycra suits in the colours of the Jamaican national flag and a sled bearing a line from the film, they were blacked-up and wore dreadlock-style wigs. Edgy, offensive, or simply bizarre - the answer may depend very much on the individual's perspective. This display resulted in a complaint to the police and the men in question being investigated. For clarity, it does not appear that the individuals involved were intending to cause trouble of any kind. But would it be possible to argue the same point if the float had been at the Notting Hill Carnival rather than its much smaller counterpart in Aberaeron? In terms of perception, context matters.

Predictably, a wave of outrage followed the Aberaeron event. Local politicians and others were keen to re-churn the already much torn turf of the free speech vs right not to be offended battleground. Often, this a subjective question of context: who is doing or saying what, as well as where and why. What partially differentiates the incident in Aberaeron from most other instances of offensive conduct is that the police were swift to investigate the matter as a "perceived hate crime". This decision brought the matter into the arena of the criminal law. Any criminal investigation is a serious matter (especially for the suspect(s), but bringing the power of the state to bear on an individual's right to freedom of expression is inevitably contentious. Possibly all the more so since there had been no suggestion that those involved in the Carnival float had deliberately intended to cause offence to any racial group.

There is no doubt that blacking-up is offensive to many people of all racial backgrounds. Equally, that does not make it a criminal offence...

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