Inside the Attempt to Cancel NatCon Brussels
American ConservativeApr 03
Belgium: Top Court Overrules Conservative Conference Shutdown
Image copyright: Omar Havana/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Mayor Emir Kir of Saint-Josse, a Brussels municipality, on Tuesday ordered police to shut down the National Conservatism Conference to "guarantee public safety."
After the conference organizers challenged Kir's order, Belgium's supreme administrative court ruled that the alleged threat to public safety didn't come from the event but "the reactions that its organization might provoke among opponents."
The Spin
Right narrative
In their pursuit of complete control over ideas, liberal European elites think they can censor their way to victory in this summer's elections. Despite the court overruling this blatant violation of free speech, some of these leftist authoritarian leaders, namely Emir Kir in Belgium and the UK's Labor Party, still don't understand the electoral backlash coming this year. As they reveal their disdain for free speech ever more clearly, the citizens of Europe will respond with their vote.
Left narrative
While the decision to shut down this conference was somewhat understandable, the result has been turning these fringe politicians into martyrs. National Conservatives differ on topics such as foreign intervention, but what they all have in common — from the US to Hungary — is discrimination against Muslims, immigrants, and progressives. If their martyr status leads to government power, they will try to outdo each other in oppressing any demographic they deem non-European.