Rendezvous in Aarhus

As most readers know, a Counterjihad event will take place in Aarhus, Denmark, on March 31, 2012. It is being organized by the European Freedom Initiative on behalf of the European Defence Leagues. As I mentioned the other day, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff contacted us about this demonstration and the problems she’d encountered in attempting to have her name removed from their promotional materials.

Dymphna was concerned by the tone that appeared in the comments almost immediately after I posted. Accusations and counter-accusations flew, and pleas to avoid a “blog war” were aired. She was mystified — why was this request a “blog war”? All we had done was to help Elisabeth make a public request that her name and image be withdrawn from their publicity.

As Elisabeth told us then, her private request had gone unanswered and she was growing uneasy at the silence. She thought perhaps a more widely broadcast appeal might solve the problem. When Dymphna heard about the situation she asked me to post a notice to correct the record. In her opinion Elisabeth had every reason to be concerned, given that she is in the midst an ongoing appeal in an EU court against that “hate speech” conviction.

This was/is the sum and substance of our motive in “Setting the Record Straight” — a plain and simple honoring of a colleague’s request. Thus Dymphna’s mystification about the tenor of the comments. “Creating a war”? Say what?

Well, now Elisabeth’s name and image have been removed from some of the event materials; we trust the rest will be taken care of shortly. It’s gratifying to resolve this matter. I’m sure our commenters agree.

Before Elisabeth contacted us, I hadn’t paid much attention to the event being planned for Aarhus. For one thing, I’m three thousand miles away. In addition, I was never involved in the discussion and preparations because I knew from the start that it would not be possible for me to travel to Europe twice in one month.

I’ve recently become aware of rumors that neo-Nazis will be attending the demonstration. This would be troubling indeed were it to occur. The potential for violent conflict between Nazi infiltrators and the Antifas could be deeply damaging to our cause. This would be especially true for the Defence Leagues, which stand four-square against Nazi-type ideologies and their adherents.

However, as far as I can tell, no neo-Nazis have been knowingly invited to the Aarhus event. I don’t read Danish very well, so it’s hard to learn details about what’s happening. The demonstration will be an open one and anyone can attend. Thus it’s always possible that provocateurs could be injected into the mix to discredit our cause, as has unfortunately occurred at some EDL demos.

Gates of Vienna — Dymphna and I — offer our best wishes to everyone who will attend the event in Aarhus. We hope your efforts will be a huge success.

A paean to the Aarhus demo: May the weather be beautiful, and the beer be Danish!

Call him a Nazi, he won’t even frown.
“Ha — Nazi, schmazi!” says Wernher von Braun.

— Tom Lehrer