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.

And your point is?

Also if someone is ashamed of their political views I'd suggest they do some self reflection to understand why. That must not be a very nice way to live.

Exactly. It's a real pity we can't discuss rationally instead of this tribalism. I'm just so tired of it.

If someone finds it shameful to associate with the Far Right, might they be better off not associating with them?

My point is that there are aspects of NatC thinking that fits Gove's definition of terrorism.

^MCC  is conservative, nationalist and Eurosceptic, and “plays a key role in spreading the ideology of the Hungarian government”.
Balázs Orbán  has said: “It is our goal for Hungary to become an intellectual powerhouse, in which MCC plays a key role.^

I didn't realise how much influence the body responsible for the laws of cricket has.

There was a quote from someone involved in the conference on the BBC News at 6 last night - "You can't buy publicity like this".

It's a spectacular own goal by the mayor.

I don't agree with right wing parties on pretty much anything, but I do know a stupid move when I see one.

I just googled him. He sounds pretty inflammatory to be honest so I'm not losing sleep over it.

Some people think JKR is inflammatory …

Are you saying that you've never heard of Yanis Varoufakis?

It does look like the Streisand effect in action.

anothernamitynamenamechange ·Yesterday 22:17
I just read about the conference being closed down and was shocked actually”

Why do you find it shocking that right wing extremists were closed down?

Yes. I just looked up why Germany had banned him. I think anyone with hard line views on the Israel/Gaza conflict and a high political profile is going to cause a risk of unrest at the moment and suspect Germany are even more sensitive to that than most.

Personally I think free speech has limits and the risk of significant civil unrest with the associated potential for harm to people/damage/rioting etc is a legitimate reason to stop an event going ahead.

Gove/Braverman go even further than me given they are increasingly wanting to shut down "hate marches" and limit peaceful protest.

That's likely because after your initial comment "I'm putting this here because I know a lot of GC feminists support Cates..." many women and feminists on here have carefully tried to explain how free speech is an important foundation of democracy. Think it's logical rather than interesting?
I always reckon the fierce Andrea Dworkin saw it most clearly:

“Feminism is a political practice of fighting male supremacy on behalf of women as a class, including all the women you don’t like, including all the women you don’t want to be around, including all the women who used to be your best friends whom you don’t want anything to do with any more. It doesn’t matter who the individual women are.” - Andrea Dworkin

Most posters (not all) on FWR seem to get this.

Exactly. I didn't even know this conference existed until someone sent me a message about the events of yesterday.

I see the conference is going ahead today, I wonder if someone had a quiet word with the Mayor and reminded him of the ECHR and that he might be in breach.

Which is all kinds of irony from every side

I'm just surprised that someone who appears to have an interest in politics claims to never have heard of of a high profile European politician. How did you miss the whole Greek financial crisis which was less than 10 years ago?

Yanis Varoufakis has been an influential voice for years. He wrote a series of best sellers. He was outraged at how Greece had been treated by the EU during the Greek economic crisis. In that respect he was a serious critic of the EU and who it was set up to benefit ( France/Germany, primarily - with France as the junior partner); but he then moderated his position to one in which he thought the EU could be made to work in all its members' interests.

I'm not sure you should be dismissing such an influential voice in such a way.

I'm just surprised that someone who appears to have an interest in politics

Surely not? I've detected no interest in actual politics per se, just in who "supports" whom...

If someone hasn't been called "far right", and hence isn't a stick to beat someone with, they're of no interest.

increasingly wanting to shut down "hate marches" and limit peaceful protest.

Is it still to be tolerated as peaceful when major roads are blocked as the M25 has been at times. Buildings and internationally important artworks are deliberately vandalised, does this count as PEACEFUL?

They are mainstream Conservative figures from across Europe. They are not illegitimate terrorist organisations.

Are you aware of what totalitarianism means and how it operates?

Probably because they are bullied by sanctimonious progressives.
See anyone who voted No in the Scottish Independence referendum or Brexit or those who believed puberty blockers for kids were wrong. The left is constantly surprised at how well the Tories do because they have silenced discenting voices or so they think.

Let me tell you that this shower of shit government will do better than predicted come election time and you can all throw your hand up and say 'how did that happen?'. The current right wing trend (including Trump) is a response to tone deaf liberals who have chosen to ignore electorates because they know better. I despair.

Actually I have to say this is unintentionally funny is as much as Gove has given such an ambiguous definition that it can be used against more extreme conservative thought as well as leftist extremism. He was told that persisted. As for Yannis, the UK has also banned a variety of people from entering the UK on similar grounds. It's up to the Germans who they let in or not, just as it is for us.

I don't agree with Varoufakis at all on Palestine......but the idea he should be banned from a country is just ridiculous. It strikes me that many EU countries are in quite a bit of inner turmoil and flux at present....as stressful circumstances cause national characteristics and the consequences of national histories to come to the fore. The growing polarities and chasms which are heightened across the world at present will prove to be a very testing time for inernational or european unity.

I'm sure they would be happy for him to talk about topics he's an expert in. He's banned from talking on a particularly inflammatory topic he's not an expert in.

Not really relevant to the Far Right sympathies of the Nat Cons though, is it.

😂
People have no agency. If they vote for a lunatic, its because the left made them do it.