Miriam Cates/National Conservatives conference

[AdamRyan]

Miriam Cates was due to speak at the NatCon conference in Brussels tomorrow, on the topic of "Save The Children!"
The conference has been shut down because the Mayor will not tolerate the far right.

Here is a tweet to GB news discussing why the conference was shut down:

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1780239986861744280?s=19&t=hHgjMANzaGdj92-GTys1ig

I'm putting this here because I know a lot of GC feminists support Cates - I don't, and this stuff is why. She is awful.

So is the point of your post to tell off feminists who may have agreed with something that Cates has said? Or to pretend that GC women are actually all far right loons?

Neither. Just raising awareness for people who may assume "bad faith" when posters say they don't like her.

I don't 'support' Cates. I do support freedom of speech. Closing a conference in this way is disgraceful. If anything illegal was said then arrests should be made afterwards.

This is a time when protests by people supporting terrorist organisations are allowed to protest in the name of free speech across Europe.

Either we support freedom of speech within the law or we don't, it applies across the board.

Do we know if Cates will be voting tonight on banning smoking and therefore saving children?

Apologies - I hadn't looked at who had started the thread. It all becomes clear now. I shan't be posting on this thread again.

Well, I assumed that's why your first post was so prickly but good to know its just your way and nothing personal 😂

I just read about the conference being closed down and was shocked actually. One of the reasons given was that the police thought it would cause violence. Other venues had already turned them down after bomb threats. So basically, if I say something and a man threatens to punch me for it/kill me the Belgium police should swoop in and stop me saying any more. To prevent violence.

Incidentally the owner of the (Turkish wedding) venue where the conference took place said that he is opposed to the politics of the organisation but absolutely determined to enforce their right to say it. Maybe if more people were like that guy the world would be a better place.

She had no vote recorded!

Yeah i don't agree with them shutting the conference down. But I'm pretty alarmed by British "mainstream" politicians being happy to speak at a conference the Europeans would dub "far right".

Even the BBC called one of the speakers a "Frence far right politician".

How odd, I had been led to believe she was interested in helping people.

Comforting to know that there's a puffed up mayor elsewhere besides London.

Seriously though I was shocked that this right of free speech was stomped on so thoroughly. There looked to be more police than delegates. It's chilling.

Its a good point that there weren't many delegates, perhaps they are best just ignored?

Jonathan Ashworth, "I'm a champion of free speech.. But I am surprised that Suella Braverman is a speaker there because some of the speakers have unsavoury views

Not really a champion of free speech then.

I thought Keir Starmer would be interested too but he also had no vote registered

By 'the Europeans' you presumably mean the far left Socialist Mayor who previously hosted a radical Islamist Mayor Alireza Zakini involved in serious human rights violations in Iran.

I have absolutely zero respect for this infantile name calling. Far right is now as meaningless as Terf.

I am pro-choice. I am also in favour of gay marriage. I still think people have every right to be against those things and to say they are against them. When gay marriage was legalised in the UK there were debates in parliaments where both sides could speak freely and debate openly and in the end the bill was passed. That's how democracy is supposed to be done.

What would happen if a faction opposed to abortion got into power and decided that saying life didn't begin at conception was hateful/against human life. Any weapons built can be turned against you.

Even the BBC! I'll have to take to my fainting couch

https://medyanews.net/the-european-politicians-in-bed-with-turkeys-far-right-islamist-paramilitaries/
The "Belgian" politician boasting of having banned #NatConBrussels2 has ties to the "Turkish far-right" and is an Armenian Genocide denier. Emir Kir was expelled from the Belgian Socialists because of his connections to the "far-right, ultranationalist" MHP Grey Wolves. #Brussels

This is what Far right looks like. I'm pretty alarmed at your confected outrage over anyone who doesn't follow your political position. It's really pathetic that you get exercised about people you don't like having a voice rather than the real issue of the totalitarian attack on free speech.

https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1780265580072939988?t=V9zAZfbr8GYKHU7aiuScIg&s=19

Is this the rabble you identify with?

I'm.coming to the conclusion that the real dividing line in current politics is how you handle dissent.

Right and left don't mean so much any more, they are broad categories about attitudes towards economics and towards social issues.
You can be leftist on one and rightish on the other but the real divide is whether you think the other side is merely wrong, but means well and can be reasoned with, or whether you think the other side is wilfully evil and must be destroyed.

The totalitarian intolerant impulse, whether sugar or salt flavoured, is incredibly dangerous.

Statement by the Prime Minister. What happened at the Claridge today is unacceptable. Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy but can never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly since 1830. Banning political meetings is unconstitutional.Full stop.— Alexander De Croo 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@alexanderdecroo) April 16, 2024. You should be ashamed Adam.

I couldn't agree more.

Interestingly some of those who were speaking in Brussels have suggested that peaceful protests in London and other cities should be banned. Curious how they are affronted when their freedom to rabble rouse is limited, but dislike it when other people express their opinions.

These are the press headlines. "Far right" seems to be the term.
Lol at "meaningless like TERF". Yes, let's get rid of political theory because it hurts your feelings