Last week, the European Parliament, meeting in Strassbourg, France, gave its Sakharov Prize honoring free speech to Chinese freedom campaigner Hu Jia. Bravo. The same day, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament cancelled a screening of the Dutch film "Fitna" [a short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders] on the grounds that criticizing Osama bin Laden and other terrorists is tantamount to "racism" against Muslims...Gerard Batten, a British member of the European Parliament, hit it on the head in stating, "The banning of this film is a direct attack on free speech. A parliament that constantly talks of freedom, democracy and tolerance has shown once again that these are empty words when it does not agree with what is being said." Obviously the European Left has become increasingly dependent on Muslim votes and is caving into the demands of a radical Muslim minority...
The European Parliament, multiculturalists and PC fanatics in Europe are acting more in line with Islamic censorship decrees than with Western tradition of free speech. The European Parliament seems to endorse it in China, but not in its very own meeting halls.
(From a Washington Times editorial, December 26)
