Don't look prosperous in Charleroi

Charleroi, Belgium. Wear your overalls and
look like you could use a good meal.

Charleroi is a town in the Belgian region known as Wallonia, where French is the main language.

A cyber-friend who lives in France sent me this story. The EU is no friend to individual liberty, and if you want a sample of how far parts of Europe have descended into Jacobin tyranny, here it is.

The news article says (my translation, with a little help from my friend):

“The rich must not be surprised at being attacked in Charleroi”

For justice, it is not reasonable to display signs of wealth in a run-down region

Brussels The civil tribunal of Charleroi has just dismissed the victim of several acts of violence on the grounds that he himself was responsible, the judge considering it unreasonable to display signs of wealth in a run-down region like that of Charleroi, several newspapers reported Tuesday.

Judge Geneviève Denisty ruled against a businessman of the Wallonia region who was carjacked and had his home invaded three times by armed persons at his residence at Rensart, ruling that the victim had merely received what he deserved.“It is not reasonable to attract attention to oneself by driving in a Jaguar and living in a ‘beautiful house,’ ostensibly showing off his prosperity or a certain prosperity in a region economically poor and derelict like that of Charleroi,” wrote the magistrate in a judgment that has just been issued to the victim of the aggressions.

Cue the tumbrils. Get those guillotines out of the museum and set them up in the Place de Ville.

Is it bad taste to flaunt one's wealth in a poor area? Perhaps. Then again, maybe the businessman in question came by his wealth honestly, through his own initiative and hard work. It's not even clear that he was a plutocrat — maybe it was a used Jaguar, and the "beautiful house" he lived in was just … a beautiful house.

Never mind, the judge in the Marxist heart of the EU considers that he deserved being a crime victim for such inflammatory acts.

I would like to think no such judgment could ever happen here. But a famous ex-football player was acquitted of a double murder, which he almost certainly committed, to the cheers of his co-ethnics. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld, in Kelo v. City of New London, the city's taking a resident's home to give the land to a private developer. And, in case you hadn't noticed, the Obama crime family is dedicated to community organizing against malefactors of great wealth and is leading a shout-out for redistributionism.

Anyway, if you ever have an itch to visit Charleroi, look very downmarket and drive responsibly. A 30-year-old Deux Chevaux with broken seat springs should not get you carjacked and in trouble with the local Robespierres and Robespierrettes.