Encouraging Signs, Discouraging Signs

The brutal murder of 17 year old Joe Van Holsbeeck in Brussels sparked a protest march of over 80,000 people over the weekend. Van Holsbeeck was murdered for refusing to turn over his MP3 player to two thugs of North African lineage. What's really encouraging is that many in the crowd were Muslims very much opposed to the violent racism some youths of North African descent espouse. What's encouraging is that it was a Muslim Member of Parliament who called for the march.

What's discouraging about the whole situation is that only the Muslim MP could have called for the march and make statements denouncing the racist Muslim street gangs. A native Belgian who did so would face immediate prosecution by the Belgian government.

Ahidar, a father of five, already called for a protest march on 15 April, saying that if the victims had been immigrants and not Belgians, “or even if an immigrant just gets a few kicks from police officers, half of Brussels would be on the streets in solidarity with the victim.” According to the Moroccan-born MP, anti-Belgian racism is rife among Muslim street gangs. “This murder stinks of racism,” he said. “There is a growing group of criminal Moroccan and Turkish youths who go after victims who look like infidels. We have to fight racism in all its varieties, whether by the immigrants or the native community.” What Ahidar says is common knowledge but only he may say so. If a native Belgian makes such comments he or she risks being taken to court for racism by the authorities’ racism watchdog CEOOR, an instrument used by the government parties to silence political opponents.

The situation illustrates exactly what attempts to declare certain speech as "hate speech" leads to; political oppression. Make no mistake, attempts to regulate free speech lead down this road. Belgium is further along, but there are many in the US trying to follow.