Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Freedom of Speech — If Nobody Complains

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the chilling effect on the First Amendment exerted by “hate speech” provisions. Even though the issue has not yet been codified by law, many people — university students, government employees, corporate employees, etc. — have felt the cold breeze of enforced silence as brought in by anti-harassment policies and “diversity” rules.

In order to end “exclusion”, speech which offends protected groups must be curtailed, and the list of the protected keeps expanding. First were African-Americans, then Hispanics, then women, then homosexuals, disabled people, and so on.

The latest protected group, of course, is Muslims. Those who speak out against any aspect of Islam instantly join the ranks of bigoted racists. Just ask Virgil Goode.

A similar process seems to be at work in Denmark. The Danish blogger Exile posted last Saturday about the selective suppression of free speech in Denmark:

SIAD logoThere is an organisation here in little Denmark that is apparently not allowed to demonstrate peacefully and freely on the streets of Denmark. This organisation is made up of ordinary Danes with a peaceful and democratic message to all, but the Danish Minister for Justice, Lene Espersen, is denying them the right to publicly, and peacefully, go out and demonstrate by forbidding them to demonstrate because she fears for public order. Not from the demonstrators, but from their critics. Violent critics.

She fears the demonstration would cause public disorder because these peaceable demonstrators would be attacked by their opponents.

The organisation is called SIAD. Which freely translates into English as “Stop the Islamification of Denmark”.

I find it strange, that Hamas, Hezbollah and any other Islamic group can freely demonstrate in the middle of Copenhagen, waving their terrorist flags and carrying their hateful banners, burning our flag and inciting to murder unopposed, while a home grown grass roots movement that opposes the Islamification of their own society is banned from the same right to protest. Has Denmark gone mad? No. Only the politicians, especially Lene Espersen.

Holger Danske seems to be stirring — notice his appearance on SIAD’s logo. Modstandsavisen means “Resistance Newspaper”, and Fem-i-Tolv means “Five minutes to Twelve”.
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The 910 Group, working through some of its Danish members, took up the issue of SIAD. I have adapted the excerpt below from the 910 Group blog; it was translated from the Danish by Zonka from an article on the SIAD website:

An attack on all of Danish Democracy

SIAD is a legal and peaceful democratic party that supports democracy as we know it: democracy, freedom of speech, equality between the sexes, and animal welfare. Lately we have become mostly known in the media because of our demonstrations that pay homage to the Danish freedom of speech (look here). But countless times the Minister of Justice, Lene Espersen, has refused permission for our demonstrations in Gellerup [A suburb of Aarhus, with a majority of muslim immigrants — translator], Vollsmose [A suburb of Odense, with a majority of muslim immigrants], and Nørrebro [A part of Copenhagen that has a strong influx of muslim immigrants] and recently, since she has found that §79 in the Danish Constitution supports our side (read below), the Ministry of Justice has invoked emergency laws against SIAD.

Thus has she denied us our constitutional rights and indirectly legitimized the autonome attack on SIAD’s meeting at Valby Medborgerhus yesterday afternoon [Saturday] where we discussed SIAD’s bill. When the State demonstrates that one cannot freely speak all places in the country, and doesn’t support constitutional rights, the foggy brains can’t help but perceive that freedom of speech is a bad thing if it upsets immigrants. So, all in all, the spineless government has legitimized the attack on SIAD.

At approximately 3pm there was a forceful knock on the door to SIAD’s closed meeting. The door was opened and then the doorway was filled with hooded and masked autonomes armed with bottles which they threw at the people in the meeting, while yelling “Now you shall die, pigs!” But four courageous SIAD members jumped directly at them and thus saved the rest of the participants at the SIAD meeting, of whom some were elderly people. They took the fight into the hallway, but three of them were severely injured by thrown bottles. Despite being outnumbered and with blood running down their faces they forced the autonome gang of about eight people to flee.

The three wounded will later be rewarded with SIAD’s newly instituted medal for being wounded in battle against Islam. This event shows that Islam and the autonomes have shaken hands on fighting the democratic society, and attack people who dare to reveal the problem that Denmark faces today: Islam versus Democracy. The autonomes have found themselves comfortable in their dhimmi-status, useful idiots for Islam in the fight against freedom of speech. Thus it has been shown that the autonomes have become errand boys and shills for Islam.

Now is the time for society to react. This is not just an attack on a democratic and non-violent party, but on the Danish freedom of speech and assembly.

A note from Zonka:

As many are not familiar with the term autonomes I’ll explain: The autonomes are a spinoff of the BZ movement in the 70s and 80s who were squatters and very leftist youngsters, punkers and general troublemakers. They are a part of an alternative and rather aggressive youth movement found in many major cities in Europe.

There was a link to Den Danske Forening in the excerpt above, so Vicktorya, the 910 Group’s founder, wrote to a leader of the group with a message of support and encouragement. This is what he wrote back:

There is some kind of misunderstanding. Den Danske Forening is a serious anti-immigration movement. We have nothing to do with the self-promoting person who recently started SIAD, and we do not want to have anything to do with him. We have been fighting for Denmark and western democracy for 20 years against all odds.

In this connection we would like to cooperate with you and all other serious people.

It’s no surprise that the Counterjihad in Denmark has its factions and infighting, just as we have here in the U.S.A. Since my grasp of Danish is rudimentary, I can’t make out the subtleties of the politics involved. But Zonka had this to say in an email:

It seems that [the leader who wrote] is not affiliated with SIAD but Den Danske Forening (The Danish Society). There are several right-wing groups and anti-immigration groups in Denmark, and unfortunately they are often at odds with each other, as they are “fighting” for position and often the same potential members. From the 910 Group’s perspective, they may both be coalition partners, as we are not playing favorites here but trying to embrace all those who oppose the dangers of Jihad and Sharia.

Holger DanskeZonka’s right: the 910 Group is a “network of networks”, dedicated to coordinating and communicating with all those groups that oppose the Great Jihad. It must of necessity include under its umbrella various organizations which share common goals but would not otherwise be speaking to each other.

It’s painful to watch Holger Danske take up arms against himself. Will there come a time when these differences will have to be put aside in the face of a common enemy?

Quite a few Danish readers stop by here from time to time. If any of you want to weigh in on the pros and cons of these different groups, or supply additional stories, please feel free to do so.

12 comments:

Anonymous said... 1

An attack on Freedom of Speech anywhere is an attack on all freedom everywhere.

The best defense is to use that freedom and speak out.

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on all this.

Asger Trier Engberg said... 2

The difference between the two groups are mostly due to age and organisation.

Den danske forening:

- Is founded after the second world war by resistance fighters (freedom fighters fighting the nazis)
- Has a lot of tradition and very well educated people

SIAD:
- Is a new organisation, and a more dynamic organization
- It has a more active profile, actively seeking confrontation with the islamist. It made quite an impression, 800 islamist threw stones and pretty heavy artillery after the organisation at demonstration last summer. After that stunt the official Denmark has been pretty wary
- So the tactic is to confront, but with nonviolent means. This gives a very good pay off in the media, because it actually shows to everybody the nature of the islamist, without stigmatizing the confronteres as nazis, right wings or whatever. It is normal citizens fighting an evil force - and it works.

It is pretty dangerous though, as you can read in the above. But all fights come with a price.

Concerning the feelings btw. the two groups, it is not so bad - perhaps it is just a little envy. Siad is actually making results, and that can be provoking to some. This is however not much of an issue in the groups - the issue is the Islamists.

SIAD is pro freedom of speech, pro democracy, pro Israel, pro USA - anti communism, anti Islamism

Yorkshireminer said... 3

Aarhus was the seat of power of one of the Muslim Imam's who started off the Cartoon row. The Danes and the Danish press have harried him so much that he left to go back to his Islamitic hell hole, complaining about how much he was unappreciated. I say good bye. Aarhus has also had to combat gangs of muslim youths, mainly Somali who have descended on the city center and caused havoc, one wonders what they have been listening to in there mosques. SIAD is a natural reaction to this phenomenon. The founder of the web site is I think is also from Jutland , a Danish Nationalist pure and simple. I have been on the web site many times and it does not seem to me to be in anyway racist, This web site says that the Danish Constitution is paramount. I await Kepiblanc who I am certain is also from Jutland with his comments. I am certain that they will be far more enlightening than what I have to say. If this is an attempt to stifle this strident critic of Multiculturalism in Denmark then I think that they are in for a rough time. This to me smacks of of the police putting pressure on the Justice department to help them keep the lid on the problem and buy themselves a little more time.

Exile said... 4

Well. I seem to have started something here.

Firstly let me express my thanks to the 910 group for taking up the challenge. I don't know how I manged to mix the Danskeforening with SIAD. I was definitely on their (SIAD)website when I found the original e-mail address I gave to Viktorya, maybe I got my wires crossed somewhere. I have now found a direct link to SIAD and that has been passed on.

There are doubtless other organisations in Denmark. The problem is that they are all almost invisible. This may be due to the kind of action that is being taken by the government, or elements in it, against SIAD now. If we are unable to legally protest our dissent with the multicultural, the politically correct or indifferent attitudes within Europe, then we are truly lost. This battle must be won.

I am not at odds with the present government in Denmark. It is progressing. It is doing what it can. It does, however, need to listen to what is becoming a silent majority.

The question is, who is keeping them silent? And worse, why?

kepiblanc said... 5

Yorkshireminer, although I live not very far from Aalborg (where the founder of SIAD started the group) I know next to nothing about it - or, for that matter Den Danske Forening. My guess is that there are some personal rivalry or animosity involved between them. I know that the former chairman of DDF, professor (jurisprudence) Ole Hasselbalch left some years ago and now has better access to the MSM, which he handles well, IMHO.

And - as Exile says - there are other groups here, not all of them in the open. Our experience from the last war tells us that being clandestine can be necessary in order to avoid infiltration. And diversity isn't necessarily a disadvantage, Every group can have its own 'modus operandi' and supplement each other that way. Of course, now seeing our minister of justice Lene Espersen whack our constitution reminds us of the Danish police hunting down Danish freedom fighters during the initial phase of WW2. It's disgusting, and I'm sure she'll pay for it. At least I'm not going to vote for the present government anymore. And you're right : if they attempt to stifle this strident critic of Multiculturalism in Denmark, they're in for a rough ride...

Anonymous said... 6

Exile:

"If we are unable to legally protest our dissent with the multicultural, the politically correct or indifferent attitudes within Europe, then we are truly lost. This battle must be won."

This topic prompted me to begin commenting:

An Echo from the Past

Cobra said... 7

And the demsheviks want the "fairness doctrine" now (see Kuchinich at FCC), to silence the conservative movement.
We must defeat the demsheviks ASAP, otherwise they will damage our country immensely.

Witch-king of Angmar said... 8

Attack on free speech has started ever since "political corectness" came into being. But now that the globalist left took over the media and education western countries are starting to resemble more and more like the USSR in that department. Take the case of Simone Clarke as an example.

Asger Trier Engberg said... 9

Kepiblanc:

Of course, now seeing our minister of justice Lene Espersen whack our constitution reminds us of the Danish police hunting down Danish freedom fighters during the initial phase of WW2. It's disgusting, and I'm sure she'll pay for it.

I really agree on that, it is absolutely disgusting, and hyppocritical. It is also extremely stupid, it has exactly the opposite effect of what she intends - now people get really angry. Taking away the freedom of danes is not a smart move.

There are probably also election tactics involved in the decition (there is an parliament election coming up soon) - if we have major riots - it will decide the election agenda. And that will be problematic.

What I really wonder about, is; what about the police? Their actions are illegal, and they know that very well. At some point they have to permit the demonstrations, what are they waiting for? To end the conflict with autonome? It is strange.

Yorkshireminer said... 10

Dear Kepiblanc,
I have just spent a delightful hour perusing the Danish Bloggs and checking up on Mr. Ole Hasselbalch when I came upon this delightful quote, it seems that you Danes have the right to resist any attempt to change your constitution without having to go, as I think the Americans have to do, to the Supreme court to get a ruling. This says it all for me, try and bring in Shari law and the Danes have every right to resist by what ever means they think fit.

Vi har som danskere ret til at forlange at vores grundlov bliver
overholdt. “Et folk hvis eksistens sættes på spil, har ret til at anvende
alle tjenlige midler for at sikre sig. Herom kan man læse i
statsforfatningsretten, og det var i øvrigt denne sætning, som skabte
modstandsbevægelsens retlige legitimation i årene 1940-45 på tværs af
folkevalgte politikere.”
Citat fra Ole Hasselbalch i Jyllands Posten 1991.

We have as Danes the right to demand that the constitution be observed.
A people whose existence is threatened has the right to to use all reasonable means to secure this
This can be read in the constitution and it was these sentences that gave the resistance movement legitimacy in the years 1940-45 even against the legally elected politicians.

Citation Ole Hasselbalch in Jyllands Posten 1991.

Cobra said... 11

This how the new Congress wants to suppress the freedom of speech, by restricting the grassroots organizations.
Please take action.

January 15, 2007

Dear xxx,

Thank you so much for signing our Freedom of Speech petition to stop Congress’ plan to tie up groups like Focus on the Family Action in miles of new red tape and to severely restrict your ability to stay informed about key issues.

We've just learned that an amendment to S.1 has been approved that doubles the fines to $200,000 and adds prison sentences up to 10 years for each infraction of these egregious provisions.

S. 1 is expected to be voted on by the Senate this week, so it's imperative that you forward this message to your family and friends so they can sign the petition as well. Please keep calling your two senators as well, urging them to support the Bennett amendment to strip the unfair grassroots lobbying restrictions from S. 1. You can reach them through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

In the few days since we launched FocusPetitions.com, more than 95,000 concerned Americans have signed the petition. I will be in Washington, D.C., next week to formally deliver the petitions to Majority Leader Harry Reid. We'd like to reach 200,000 petitions in the next few days.

Please help us spread the word by forwarding this message to your friends and encouraging them to sign as well:

http://FocusPetitions.com

The liberal media is not telling the truth on this chilling restriction on our grassroots freedoms. Fortunately, Dr. Dobson appeared on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes” program last Friday to explain the threat to our rights. You can read the transcript of that interview here:

http://www.focuspetitions.com/TranscriptHC.htm

Also, please listen to our recent Focus on the Family radio broadcast on this bill:

http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000188.cfm

Again, this is an extremely dangerous bill. It could require Focus Action to report to the Senate every grassroots effort (including e-mails and radio broadcasts) -- before we even get the message out to you!

The Senate should be cleaning up its own house instead making it more difficult for everyday Americans to keep abreast of what the politicians you elected are doing – and our nation's important business.

Thank you for standing with us in defense of our rights,


Tom Minnery
Sr. Vice President, Government & Public Policy
Focus on the Family Action

bruddah said... 12

Australia's hate speech provisions have already been tested and abused by various malcontents. Pastor Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries has spent the last 3 or 4 years defending himself in court for criticising Islam.
http://catchthefire.com.au/blog

See what these laws to curb religious and racial tension have actually achieved.

Christians have been pitted against Muslims, and witches against Christians. Tensions were so high during the Catch the Fire case that scuffles broke out on the courtroom steps and the pastors took along guards.

And guess what? In the five years we’ve had these insane laws against free speech, not a single true racist has been convicted. What a dreadful farce.