Beginning the Brussels Process

Update: New links have been added.


In the wee hours of this morning I returned from an intensive three-day visit to Brussels. One of those days was spent in the Belly of the Beast: the European Parliament.

As Dymphna noted here on Monday, the occasion was the International Conference for Free Speech and Human Rights sponsored by the International Civil Liberties Alliance. It was co-sponsored by two Members of the European Parliament, Philip Claeys (Belgium) and Magdi Allam (Italy).

The conference honored the Danish historian Lars Hedegaard with the ICLA Defender of Freedom Award, which was presented by Mark Steyn.

It also launched the “Brussels Process” — an ongoing initiative involving numerous organizations and individuals united in their determination to protect free speech in the West from the danger posed by Islamic sharia.


(Photo © Snaphanen)
The final list of speakers was as follows:

• Mark Steyn (Canada), commenter and author of “America Alone” & “After America”
  
• Lars Hedegaard (Denmark), book author and President of the International Free Press Society
  
• Prof. Hans Jansen (Netherlands), retired Professor of Modern Islamic Thought at the University of Utrecht
  
• Mgr Ch.-C. Boniface, dit Pére Samuel (France), Bishop, Syrian-Catholic Church
  
• Nidra Poller (France), book author and commenter on challenges from Islam
  
• Alexandre del Valle, author, co-founder of the “Geopolitical observatory of the Mediterranean Sea”
  
• Sabatina James (Germany), apostate from Islam and author of three books
  
• Sam van Rooy (Belgium), editor of two books with essays on the dangers of Islam and of the crisis of the European Union
  
• Pierre Cassen, editor-in chief of “Riposte Laïque”, author
  
• Tommy Robinson (UK), joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party
  
• Ingrid Carlqvist (Sweden), President of the Swedish Free Press Society
  
• Magdi Allam (Italy), MEP, apostate from Islam, convert to Catholicism
  
• Gavin Boby (UK), Law and Freedom Foundation
  
• George Igler (UK), Discourse
  
• Jean Maher, (Egypt) president of l’Organisation franco-égyptienne pour les Droits de l’homme
  
• Conny Axel Meier German publicist, Chairman of Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa (BPE)
  
• Christian Jung, (Germany) writer and editor for blu-News
  
• Ned May, a freelance writer, editor, and computer programmer living in Central Virginia
  
• Alain Wagner (France), leader of the Stop Sharia campaign
  
• Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff (Austria), lecturer on Islamic politics and victim of sharia-compliant “hate speech” laws
  
• Philip Claeys, (Belgium) MEP

Monday’s events concluded with the signing and publication of the Brussels Declaration, which will be posted here shortly.


The conference in Brussels was the beginning of the Brussels Process, a continuing series of events that will strengthen free speech and civil liberties in the West, and provide an alternative to the notorious “Istanbul Process”. Numerous individuals and organizations will participate in the Brussels Process, and their efforts will be publicized here, at the ICLA website, and elsewhere.

We have had some problems with the audio accompanying the footage that was taken on Monday, but we expect to be able to post videos soon.

My deepest gratitude to everyone who made the Brussels conference possible.

Links to other reports and documents related to the conference (this list will be updated and expanded as new links come in, so check back here periodically):

At ICLA:

Brussels Conference
Agenda
Speaker Bios
The Brussels Declaration
Brussels 2012 Defender of Freedom Award
Proceedings – Brussels 2012

At The Amsterdam Post:

Baron Bodissey: “Het Proces van Brussel was een groot succes!”

At Professor Jansen’s website:

What is Sharia?

At Citizen Times:

Der Brüsseler Prozess beginnt

Europe News:

German translation of the Brussels Declation

Brussels Journal:

The Brussels Declaration