Mia Doornaert on capitulating to radical Islam

Radical Muslims have prevented Benno Barnard from giving an anti-Islam lecture. This is further proof that the dialogue between cultures is a farce, adviser to the Belgian prime minister Mia Doornaert concludes in the daily De Standaard: "When the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced his death sentence against Salman Rushdie because of his Satanic Verses, almost the entire Western intelligentsia joined ranks behind Rushdie and freedom of speech. When at the end of 2005 violence broke out in many parts of the Muslim world because of some cartoons published in a Danish newspaper, freedom of speech came under suspicion. The newspaper Jyllands Posten and Prime Minister Rasmussen were given the blame. ... The violence - and what happened to Benno Barnard was violence - stems from a radical, intolerant view of the world. And unfortunately it works, as the intellectual capitulation and enormous self-censorship regarding Islam in our countries and media proves. Those who conduct the 'dialogue between cultures' from their ivory towers must finally wake up. Reality is happening elsewhere and poses a threat to our inevitably imperfect but nonetheless very precious system of freedom."

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