Logo of the Stop the Islamisation of Europe organization
This could be a historic occasion — Europeans openly defying a restriction on their liberty because of official dhimmitude. By basing the denial on the possibility that Muslims will react with violence against the demo, the Brussels authorities have in effect given Muslims veto power over any public activities opposing Islamization. If the SIOE leadership caved in and called off the protest, it would set a terrible precedent by which the state could restrict individual rights to free expression just by citing the threat from a mob.
I wish there were more I could do in support of the SIOE. And I'm worried about certain scenarios. The demo could turn out to be a damp squib, if only a handful turn up and are arrested or driven off by police: that would solidify the conviction that Muslims need only broach the threat of a violent encounter to shut down any active protest. It's even possible that some of the demonstrators will be seriously hurt or, God forbid, killed. That sounds ridiculously melodramatic, but I never imagined I could be one of hundreds wounded by law officers at People's Park in Berkeley, 1969. (One man was killed, another blinded.) The state will go to extreme lengths to enforce what it holds dear: at People's Park, it was property rights; in Brussels, it may be, the state's ability to uphold Islamization against the wishes of the indigenous population.
Let's hope that freedom, nonviolence, and tolerance prevail.
I wish there were more I could do in support of the SIOE. And I'm worried about certain scenarios. The demo could turn out to be a damp squib, if only a handful turn up and are arrested or driven off by police: that would solidify the conviction that Muslims need only broach the threat of a violent encounter to shut down any active protest. It's even possible that some of the demonstrators will be seriously hurt or, God forbid, killed. That sounds ridiculously melodramatic, but I never imagined I could be one of hundreds wounded by law officers at People's Park in Berkeley, 1969. (One man was killed, another blinded.) The state will go to extreme lengths to enforce what it holds dear: at People's Park, it was property rights; in Brussels, it may be, the state's ability to uphold Islamization against the wishes of the indigenous population.
Let's hope that freedom, nonviolence, and tolerance prevail.
2 comments:
This event will reveal, I think, one of two paths for Europe. If large crowds show and overwhelm the police and Muslims, then there is hope. They'll still have lots more work to do. But if few show, or are matched and thus defeated, then Europe is lost. Definitely lost.
That may sound even more melodramatic than your description RD, but in contemporary Europe the "battles" are waged by unarmed crowds in the street. This event is the modern-day equivalent of Tours. It will take several years yet afterward for the consequences to be seen clearly, but what happens tomorrow will be marked as a critical point - one way or the other.
Rick,
I am afraid we can't have it both ways : if we want freedom, we shall have to fight for it, so forget about nonviolence, not to mention tolerance....Those I call "vendus" to islam are pushing in that direction because they think they will win ; well, they may win in the near future, but they should remember what the Europeans -among whom the French !-can do, and did do, in matters of underground resistance.
Thank you for your post ; it was much needed !
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