One of the greatest privileges of my life has been to meet Bat Ye’or at the Counterjihad Summit and sit next to her on the dais while she gave the keynote speech. She is small in stature and mild in voice and manner, but she speaks with authority, with a calm assurance born of a mastery of the facts. With full knowledge of the horrifying future that awaits Europe — and the rest of the West — she maintains an equanimity which is an inspiration to us all.The Italian delegation to the Summit traveled there to give Ms. Ye’or the Oriana Award, in memory of the late Oriana Fallaci. Ms. Ye’or and Ms. Fallaci were friends and frequent correspondents. Bat Ye’or helped her friend in her literary struggle against political Islam by providing her with material from her researches. One of the Italian ladies referred to Ms. Ye’or as “the Muse of Oriana”.
The presentation of the Oriana Award was the most moving moment of the conference.
One of the European attendees at the Counterjihad Summit, angered by the insults hurled at our efforts from several corners of the blogosphere, wrote me this email earlier today:
Charles needs to block himself off from reality completely, to be able to uphold two contradicting things: his photo of Oriana Fallaci on the sidebar of his blog, while doing all in his power to bring down our conference (a conference so bad to him that he considers it a no-brainer that Oriana wouldn’t have attended, and considers it arrogance off-the-scale to even suggest the idea).- - - - - - - - -
Who will tell him about how the memorial fund started by Oriana’s friends handed out the Oriana Award at the conference? To Bat Ye’or. A moment that caused a bit of a problem for a big boy like me, because my eyes were brimming with tears. When Bat told us how Oriana called her late at night when she was soon about to die, I had to bite my lips hard so that I wouldn’t start crying for real. I think so many of us could see ourselves in the desperation of Oriana in that moment.
So what was Bat Ye’or, the idol of Oriana, doing at this conference, when it’s so unthinkable that Oriana (according to Charles) would have attended?
The current witch hunt by Charles and his photo of Oriana in his blog are two things so wildly contradicting that it will tear him apart. The truth is there to be told. He won’t hear it right now, because there’s so much noise in that echo-chamber he has created for himself. But the truth will come out, and will eventually reach even Charles. What will he do? Take down the photo of Oriana as he took down the link to Gates of Vienna?
And now I have to go and find a napkin.
I’ll be writing more later on about Bat Ye’or and the other fine speakers who helped make Counterjihad Brussels 2007 such a great success.
A big thank-you to Steen for the photo of Bat Ye’or.
20 comments:
Man, fate is so cruel..can you imagine a world where Oriana has her health and is FIERCELY speaking in public in defense of the West.
Oh well.. I'm glad she's in a better place.
I don't want to stoke any fires, but I really am finding things a bit confusing at this stage. Is there somewhere I can read up on this apparent fued just to find out what's going on? Thanks.
The neo-cons who have gone witch-hunting should read today's Telegraph on the rise of the European far-right
Quote: In Sofia, political analyst Ivan Krastev tried to diagnose the nationalist surge. "During the 10 years of EU accession preparations, national sentiments were repressed," he said. "Now we don't need to be so politically correct."
He suggested that the wholesale triumph of capitalism across Europe was inadvertently to blame. "There is an economic consensus now, and when you cannot disagree on the economy, you disagree on national identity," he said. "When class politics is out, ethnic politics is in." As disaffected nationalism swells, Mr Krastev says the important thing is to distinguish the merely unpalatable from the genuinely threatening.
"This is not like the 1930s, but the 1960s; it is radical, not dangerous," he said. "It is a reminder that people feel their voices are not being heard." end quote.
Slowly but surely nationalism is returning to Europe. We need to understand this and engage these movements while they are still forming rather than stun them and cast these parties and their supporters into the outer darkness. "Constructive engagement", they used to call it.
Thomas the Wraith:
You are being a little economical with that story. You missed this part:
"Across the border in Slovakia's old national partner, the Czech Republic, authorities are gearing up for November 10 - the anniversary of Kristallnacht, no less - when neo-Nazis have been given permission to march through the old Jewish Quarter of Prague."
The burgeoning nationalism in europe is a direct reaction to the supra-nationalism of the EU, which is a thoroughly evil organisation. Knocking back nationalist movements because, "guh, they's nationalists, that's evil!" is a tacit admission of support for supra-nationalism and the conspiracy by our political classes to reduce and remove the power of the individual wherever possible. This super-national government is hampering efforts to effectively resist Islam and, indeed, is actively assisting the subjugation of the west by its close links and agreements with the Islamic world. It has already submitted to Allah.
The nationalist movements in Europe are not forming around the traditioanlly perceived "nations" of europe, which may be where the confusion lies. Many of thee nations are artificial constructs, formed by the treaties that followed the wars of the 18th and 19th centuries and carved out of the cloth of europe with, often, very little regard for the people that lived there. Belgium is simply the most visible example of that process with the most obvious contrasts between its constituent parts. The new nationalisms are forming around the seeds of much older nations rather than modern states, those that have not been subsumed into the apparatus of the EU, so that languages that were thought dead 20 years ago are seeing a huge revival (Breton, Occitan, various germanic languages and the like) and people who formerly called themselves French or German or Spanish are starting to refer to themselves as Breton, Alsatian, Bavarian, Flemish and Catalonian. They're an attempt to re-create government by the people, for the people, to replace the governments they instinctively know are no longer serving them but are instead serving the interests of the EU. They're a revolution in the making and, at this point, anyone who criticises nationalist movements such as these without understanding their cause, aims and goals is, effectively, against them and against us.
It was true when Bush said it, and it's still true now.
Just a note on semantics : Like the mixed use of "nation" and "state" in the US, the word "nationalist" in US-english has negative connotations that it does not in Europe :
George Orwell : By "nationalism" I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled "good" or "bad." But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By "patriotism" I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseperable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.
The rising European parties are mostly patriotic by Orwell's definition despite the habitual "nationalist" tag.
"Across the border in Slovakia's old national partner, the Czech Republic, authorities are gearing up for November 10 - the anniversary of Kristallnacht, no less - when neo-Nazis have been given permission to march through the old Jewish Quarter of Prague."
"Authorities are gearing up..."
How many neo-Nazis do they expect? What percentage of teh Czech population sympathizes with them?
These are some relevant questions you might want to consider before you go along with the reporter's obvious smear of European nationalists. Or you can just hand-wring until Europe becomes Islamic.
Let no one think that I in any way associate with Holocaust deniers or Jew-haters. I’ve been to Auschwitz and Yad Vashem. I’m a member of the US Holocaust Museum. I worked on a kibbutz one summer in the mid-90s. If anything I’m philo-Semitic.
By all means let’s do as the neo-cons say and not associate with anti-American Jew-haters, conspiracy theorists and those who advocate ethnic separatism. Let's not deal with religious bigots. Let’s shun them, lock them out of our dialog, scorn them, and heap insults upon them. Except that we don’t. Except that neo-con hero George W Bush is in bed with bigots, racists and ethnic separatists. Except that we work with these people every day. Except that we in the US and Europe are already up to our necks in these people. Look at our allies. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey. neo-cons don’t want to let leaders of European neo-nationalist parties speak at our universities but we let the Saudi’s endow chairs, sponsor “student” organizations, propagate hate literature, spread the vilest Jew-hatred and the crudest conspiracies. The neo-cons piss all over the BNP and the VB, who may be terrible organizations run by monstrous people, but please don’t tell me they are worse than the Saudis. King Abdullah met the Queen for Christ’s sake. The Queen, Defender of the Faith, the (nominal) head of the Anglican Communion! Yet by law there cannot be a bible or a church in Arabia. Or Egypt. The US sends the Mubarak regime billions every year so they can produce a 17-part TV series based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. But to the neo-cons it’s the European nationalists who are so villainous that we cannot even speak with them, cannot even engage them in dialog. The neo-cons put W on a pedestal but he won’t address the issue of our enemy-allies beyond a few vague speeches and some platitudes about “freedom”. Meanwhile he quite literally holds hands with the Saudi king. This is absurd on its face.
The neo-cons say that European nationalists are as bad as the Islamists. That may or may not be true but if we think it is then we should treat them as we treat the Islamists. We should let the VB sponsor a chair in Flemish studies at Yale and the BNP a chair in the history of English Culture at Columbia. We should hold public festivals honoring neo-nationalist heroes. Bush should stand on the White House lawn and say publicly “Nationalism Means Peace.”
Rice is right now this very moment in talks with the PLO. The PLO! These are not just Jew-haters and nationalists. These are not just religious bigots and Arab supremacist. These are actual murderers. With blood on their hands, Jewish blood and American blood. Yet the Swedish Democrats are too bad for us to talk to. Ha!
The Turks suppress the Kurdish language and ethnicity and repress the Orthodox Church, refusing to allow seminary expansion and holding the Patriarchs virtually hostage. Yet this is an NATO ally. The Egyptians oppress the Copts as a matter of state policy yet the US sends them billions and Bush, the neo-cons hero, continues to certify Egypt as an ally in good standing. But the largest party in Flanders is too fascists for some pencil-neck bloggers to stomach. Please!
According to the ninny neo-cons we cannot associate with parties that espouse ethnic separatism. We shouldn’t talk about deportation of ethnic groups. "This is wrong, wrong, wrong", they say. Yet it’s US policy in the “West Bank” where we openly advocate removing Jews from their homes and separating Jews from Arabs. This is official policy regarding Serbia where the US advocates splitting Kosovo from sovereign Serbia, knowing that the Albanians will use their new “freedom” to purge the Serbs from their “independent” state. Ethnic separatism is the official Senate position in Iraq. But when the nationalists advocate this for their homelands in Europe suddenly they are nazis.
What the neo-cons are really saying is that you can be a nationalist, a religious bigot, a Jew-hater, and/or a conspiracy theorist. You can be an ethnic separatist. You can suppress minority religions or languages. You can even be an actual murderer as long as you aren’t white, European or Christian. Then you are beyond the pale. Then we cannot speak to you. Then we can’t engage with you in any way.
Look, I’m not defending any European neo-nationalist group. As an American I don’t know enough about the domestic context of European nations to be a competent judge. But I wretch and gag on my own vomit when the neo-cons say that we, as conservatives, as decent upstanding, moral people cannot even speak with these groups, cannot be stained by their "racism" while at the same time we talk, trade, pay, support, and praise people who are far, far worse. The inconsistency, the rank hypocrisy, the ignorance nauseate me.
Thomas,
That kind of perfectly logical post will get you deported from some blogs. Glass houses.
Thomas,
I may need to steal that comment to put on my blog. Yes, I'm pretty sure I do.
Here's a little experiment. Register with LGF or HotAir or another neo-con site and post the following:
Maybe the Wahhbis aren't that bad. Sure they've said and done some pretty horrible things in the past, but recently their leaders have been working to remove the more extreme elements and are trying to moderate their ideology.
You'll be laughed at, mocked and ridiculed by the other posters and the moderator. But replace the word Wahhabis with the VB, the BNP, Swedish Democrats or some other European neo-nationalist group and watch what happens. You'll be banned because, they'll say, we can't be associated with Jew-haters and Holocaust deniers. What a load of industrial strength crapola.
This alone reveals how deeply the neo-cons have been infected with the mindthink of the left. White Christian Europeans are by their nature guilty; are always assumed to be "racists" (whatever that word means this week) and are judged by a different, so-called higher, standard. It's unprincipled, dishonest, and low.
Really, it would be a miracle if some of the anti-jihadists weren't white supremacists.
This is one of those rare cases when the interests of normal people and white supremacists happen to coincide. Both groups are opposed to creeping sharia.
But that doesn't make all of us racists any more than it makes racism a rational, respectable philosophy.
Thomsas the Wraith,
As per usual, you are brilliant.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. So, if I were you, I'd take some Xantac and calm that wretching stomach of yours. And, think some more.
I am a bit of a fence-sitter on this issue at this moment.
I have been predicting the rise of a new fascism in Europe since almost the first day I started blogging. Now, we see it rising in power by the numbers of people who joing who say, "I am not a racist, but I am tired of the rampant immigration, and the crime, and the filth, and the replacement of the indigenous population of my (name the European country) country ...
etc. etc. etc.
You may not "know enough about the domestic context of European nations to be a competent judge."
Well, you may say that you don't know enough, but when before have you not known enough to make a moral judgement, my clear thinking friend?
Why is it that Europeans can not seem to assimilate immigrants? Why do you think that is?
Do you really think it is important that indigenous people live in their indigenous homeland? Should whites not be allowed to move to Asia? Should Hispanics not be allowed to move to Germany? Should black Africans not be allowed to move to Germany? Should Asians not be allowed to move to the United States? Maybe whites ought to get the hell out of America.
How could you fall into that kind of thinking?
Well, I believe the answer is, you aren't falling into that kind of thinking(for yourself). However, you seem to be willing to tolerate it in Europeans.
Who cares how wrong George Bush is on most things? If George Bush tells you not to jump off a bridge, are you going to jump off the bridge?
All that being said, now let me conced this: We would not have beat the Nazis without the help of the Soviet Union. We would not have beat the Soviet Union without the help of South American and Middle Eastern dictators.
So yes, clearly, we have a tradition of making alliances with evil people, and no war is pure. So, maybe you are right, but if I were you, I wouldn't be so proud of such conclusions. And, I don't think I would be so contemptuous of those who don't rush into the devil's den.
By the way, the one mistake you have made is to set up a straw man arguement. When you label people like Charles Johnson, "neocons", you plaster the same face on a group of people whose opinions are quite varied. For instance, Charles Johnson, myself, and many others do not agree with the policies of the Bush Administration. In particular, we have been highly critical of Condi Rice, and the State Dept. I believe you know that, but you are not acknowledging it in your rhetoric.
Am I right?
I'm not a wordssmith... so please bear with me.
Eventually, when you come down to the fundamentals.. what is effective Counter-Jihad other than a form of fascism in itself?
This is why this whole "debate" frustrates me.. the pollyannas are definately not looking at the end result of all this.
In the end, one faction is going to prevail over the other, by whatever means neccessarily.
One faction is going to be trampled by the other faction.
(The factions being those who want to impose Sharia and those who are opposed to living under Sharia)
As the Demographics continue to build in favor of the Muslims , eventually anti-democratic forces are going to have to prevent the Muslims from imposing their political will.
In the sloppy way labels are thrown around, that could be seen as fascism.
Everyone who says they are committed in opposition to sharia law are eventually going to have to compromise their cherished notions of democracy unless mysteriosly a whole lot of baby-making is going to happen like right now.
This is why i have a hard time taking these sanctiminious "I'm above it" types seriously... they're not being serious.. Jihad is still abstract to them. Some sort of sci-fi dystopia they think they will avoid yet everyone else will confront.
Pastorius -
You and I both know why Europe has a hard time assimilating immigrants: European nations are essentially ethnarchies - the nations as ethnic communities pre-exist any of the myriad states that have come and gone over the centuries. European nations, until the 20th century, were racially homogeneous. I saw a report the other day about "Scottish Asians" and I laughed. Such a thing is impossible. There are people of Asian descent who live in Scotland but they aren't Scottish. In your example Hispanics or Africans may or may not be allowed to move to Germany. That's for the Germans to decide and I certainly won't blame them or call them racist if they don't allow it. (The Japanese allow zero immigration and I don't hear people railing at them for racism.) But if Hispanic or Africans do move to Germany and become German citizens they will still not be ethnic Germans. You can't join an ethnic group. I can't be Zulu or Russian as hard as I try. (Of course America is not an ethnic group.)
The Asian kingdom of Bhutan doesn't allow immigration and is very restrictive even on tourist visas. This is an effort to preserve their native land and ancient traditions from being overwhelmed by foreigners and foreign influence. I applaud them for this. Is that racist to want to preserve the native ways of one's people? Is it wrong for the Bhutanese to do this? If it's right for the Bhutanese why not for other peoples?
Being against racism shouldn't have to mean that countries must allow immigration of people who are not like them. Ethnic groups shouldn't have to prove that they aren't racist by allowing foreigners to move into their homelands.
Yes, I know that you, LGF and many others are not in lockstep with Bush and company. But I was banned by HotAir and accused of sympathizing with Holocaust deniers because I suggested that we engage the VB and the BNP, rather the vilify them, because among other things, they represent a substantial and growing number of native European people - people who should be our allies by nature; people whose motivations and aspirations we should work to understand. For our good and theirs.
Reagan, the demi-god of Republicans, had a policy of "constructive engagement" toward apartheid South Africa, the regime that was the very textbook definition of racism. But if I suggest the same thing regarding groups who are far less radical than the apartheid regime, I'm shouted down as a racist sympathizer. You know this is absurd. LGF and Hot Air and others are going on witch-hunts against largely non-existent racists. I'm not sure why. Perhaps to prove to the MSM and their advertisers that they are "tolerant" and "respect diversity". Ironies abound.
Am I right? And good to hear from you by the way.
May Bat Ye'or live another 50 years!
Regarding Charles, I think he has become so obsessed with any group that had a former anti-semite history can never be reformed. He has really become caustic and irrational.
Now in Europe, they want to pass laws that say if a European posts 'hate' speech on an international blog (like this one), he can be hunted down and positively punished. And at the UN, they are gearing up for a big push to ban speaking ill of religion and the prophets. And at the White House, they are pushing for half a billion of your tax dollars to give to the Pals. It's a very disturbing world. Thinking back on books like 1984, F 451, those things you believed improbable and crazy can be true.
Pastorius - Good morning. I know these blogs that I'm railing against have been critical of Bush and Rice and US policies. But I have yet to see anyone call Bush or Rice racists for advocating ethnic separatism in Israel and Serbia.
Thought experiment: A nationalist party in Western Europe says in public as a policy, As long as the natives and the Muslims live in the same physical, social and political space there will be conflict. We should separate into distinct entities, each for his own. People should be encouraged to separate calmly and peacefully on their own accord, but if separation isn't reached by the deadline people should be removed forcibly. It is for the greater good.
This party and their supporters would be silenced on the blogs and the MSM as racists, religious bigots and ethnic separatists. Bad, bad! But this is the official US policy in Israel and Serbia. Who calls Bush a racist? Who calls Rice an ethnic separatist and religious bigot? I missed those episodes. Maybe I'll catch the reruns.
And our policy in Serbia is particularly distorted. Remember, the Serbs didn't just arrive in Kosovo. The Serbs aren't immigrants. The Serbs have been there for a thousand years. It's the Muslims who are the colonists! But US and EU policy wants to dismember a sovereign state and allow ethnic cleansing of the native group from one area. This is some scary stuff. Extrapolating from that policy ain't pretty. (But the Serbs are white Christians so they can be purged. I mean, they're guilty by their very nature, right?)
Luckily the Serbs won't stand for it. They'll fight back. And good for them. Why shouldn't they?
Great piece on Ms. Ye’or and Ms. Fallaci! Two major heroes who will continue to be inspirations to us all in our efforts to educate the world about the dangers of Islamic Jihad.
Long live Bat Ye'or!
R.I.P. Oriana Fallaci!
absurd thought -
God of the Universe HATES
The Rage & The Pride
angry at Islam problems
because so many truths hurt
brave woman wrote -
Oriana Fallaci
truths hard to hear
her words will live forever
challenging people to think
6/29/29 - 9/15/06
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
http://citizenwarrior2.blogspot.com/
http://dhimmitude.org/
:)
"why Europe has a hard time assimilating immigrants?"
Wrong question. Europe never had a hard time assimilating those who wanted to be part of it.
But of course Europe cannot assimilate or submit herself to Islam. More to the point: Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Islamist PM, considers assimilation a "crime against humanity". Mohammedans come with a complete societal system and they are determined to replace ours. The game plan is to dominate us or make us pay the jiziya with willing submission while feeling subdued. That's what Islam teaches.
The jihad is permanent and relentless. Its either us or them.
There is no kumbaya between us.
"why Europe has a hard time assimilating immigrants?"
Wrong question. Europe never had a hard time assimilating those who wanted to be part of it.
But of course Europe cannot assimilate or submit herself to Islam. More to the point: Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Islamist PM, considers assimilation a "crime against humanity". Mohammedans come with a complete societal system and they are determined to replace ours. The game plan is to dominate us or make us pay the jiziya with willing submission while feeling subdued. That's what Islam teaches.
The jihad is permanent and relentless. Its either us or them.
There is no kumbaya between us.
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