"Hvis frihed overhovedet betyder noget, så betyder det retten til at fortælle folk det, de ikke vil høre"

George Orwell

the extreme identity politics of today threatens freedom of expression

11. juli 2020 - International - af Michael Pihl og Aia Fog

The question is why do strong forces in politics, in tech giants and in the state-paid media at home relate to a racist, leftist and revolutionary organization like Black Lives Matter in Denmark with opinions that range between uncritical reverence to direct and active support?

"Plz Allah give me strength not to kill/cuss these men and white folks out there today ...". That's what the co-founder of 'Black Lives Matter Canada'; Yusra Khogali wrote on Twitter in February 2020. And not one of the Black Lives Matter spokespersons in Canada have condemned Khogali's black racism -(https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/black-lives-matter-rep-refuses-to-comment-on-tweet-from-co-founder-in-february-1.2846949)

In another hateful and racist tweet - also from February, Khogali described "white people" as "Sub human beings" who, according to her are "genetically defective compared to black", partly because they, according to Yusra Khogali's biological-Darwinian view of human beings, produce less melanin?

““Show them where it hurts, abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in black-owned businesses ”- said heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua at a BLM demonstration in Watford recently. This is clearly a racist statement that evokes memories of the Nazis slogans in the 1930s: "Kauft nicht bei Juden!" - only in this context aimed at shop owners and people who, biologically defined, fall outside a particular ethnic-black category. Joshua later claimed that his speech was not meant that way, but the wording of the content was unambiguously racist. Reactions to Joshua's black racism have been limited in mainstream media, and here one would have to imagine the reaction in state-paid media abroad and at home if a boxer with ethnic-European background had said something similarly aimed at non-European business owners?

Joshua could have told the BLM demonstration about how he has become a multimillionaire today on revenue from his (ethnic white) English fans. Joshua could have told you the fact that the only conflict he himself had with the law and the police was when he was selling drugs at a young age. And he could have told how the English community gave him another chance to create a career. But Joshua said nothing about this. If you take Joshua's formulations at face value, he appears to be a racist. Which was also expressed, e.g. when Joshua on social media belittled boxing challenger Eddie Chambers with the comment that Chambers was an outrage:

"... for the superior black race!".

In this forum, Aia Fog has written about how BLM also appears in Denmark as a leftist and racist organization, influenced by cultural Marxist and socialist revolutionary thinking from the 1970s Black Panther movement in America. The destruction of statues by Winston Churchill in connection with BLM demonstrations in London shows us that BLM is a violent cultural Marxist organization that in reality has little to do with defending the conditions for black people, but has a far more extreme cultural revolution as its goal. Nevertheless, the reactions to this were, in state-paid media both in the U.K. and in Denmark, strikingly ambiguous.

The question is why do strong forces in politics, in tech giants and in the state-paid media at home relate to a racist, leftist and revolutionary organization like Black Lives Matter in Denmark with opinions that range between uncritical reverence to direct and active support?

Facebook's censorship of Christian Frei's first-hand account of black racists targeting ethnic Europeans in the Americas - https://yourwatch.dk/christian-write-of-sortes-racism-mod-white-and-fik-sine-publication-of- -facebook / - shows how political forces here also want to use undemocratic censorship measures on social media, and the BLM movement for their own political purposes. And those purposes have nothing to do with the fight against real racism. Partly because Frei's post was certainly not racist or xenophobic, but merely sought to nuance the debate about race relations in the United States. Partly because Frei himself has a non-European background, hailing from Sri Lanka.

In relation to freedom of speech, the most worrying of recent developments is also the undemocratic efforts to shut down voices of debaters who have sought a critical and nuanced debate on BLM and the cultural revolutionary mob of violence, looting and vandalism against historical monuments, which has followed in the wake of the movement.

Thus, leftist organizations, such as the Soros-funded 'Media Matters', have successfully put pressure on private companies, such as Disney, to get them to retract commercials from Fox News - https://www.cbr.com/disney-tucker-carlson-anti-black-lives-matter/

This was done as political harassment and punishment because Tucker Carlson commented, in a critical debate, on the Black Lives Matter movement and its societal implications: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7aQ02YX7qo

In Denmark, we have seen similar trends when left-wing organizations pushed “Danske Bank” to withdraw advertising revenue from “Den Korte Avis” (an alternate Danish newspaper) a year ago.

All in all, this radicalization of the political debate is, unfortunately, another threat to freedom of expression. Partly because the BLM movement appears racially and violently intolerant of different opinions. Partly because it reflects a development in which rational debate and exchange of views have been replaced by violence and terror against political opponents. Finally, the very extremism of the new racist identity policy can be expected to trigger similar counter-reactions, which, overall, limits freedom of expression and public space for free debate.

Because that would more than likely be the outcome.  As our societies become ever more polarized, we divide ourselves even more by views, in ever more areas. If “Danske Bank” boycott the “Den Korte Avis”, will Danes who do not vote for “Enhedslisten” and “Radicale Venstre” (Danish left wing political parties) perhaps pull back their private financial transactions and deposits from Danske Bank? And that is how it could continue. Intolerance to people of differing opinions grows and so does the intolerance to freedom of expression.

 

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