Belgium: Top Court Overrules Conservative Conference Shutdown
BelgianBelgium: Top Court Overrules Conservative Conference Shutdown
The Facts
The mayor of a Belgian town on Tuesday ordered police to shut down the National Conservatism Conference being held in the area. Mayor Emir Kir said the order was to "guarantee public safety," adding, "the far right is not welcome."
The organizers of the conference appealed the order to the high administrative court, which ruled the threat to public safety came not from the conference but rather "the reactions that its organization might provoke among opponents."Mayor Emir Kir of Saint-Josse, a Brussels municipality, on Tuesday ordered police to shut down the National Conservatism Conference to "guarantee public safety."
The Spin
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 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.
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 a hatred of 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.
