Saturday, May 01, 2004

ANTI-DEMOCRATIC TREATMENT OF IMMIGRATION OPPONENTS

No free speech in Belgium: Pretty alarming -- a major Belgian political party has been BANNED by a Belgian court because it opposed immigration. That's the European version of democracy, apparently. At the height of the Red scare in the 1950's the Australian conservative government wanted to ban the Communist party. But the High Court of Australia REFUSED to allow the banning. The issue then went to a referendum and the referendum was lost -- despite the very small membership of the Communist party. That's what a real democracy does.

But recently a local Australian court did send our best known anti-immigration politician to jail on trumped up charges of fraud -- which were thrown out by a higher court a few weeks later. The charges were technicalities which would never have been pursued against anyone else.

And Britain is attacking democracy too -- sacking a teacher who is a member of the anti-immigration British National party: "A teacher who is set to stand as a BNP candidate at the forthcoming European elections has been suspended from his post, it emerged tonight.... Simon Darby, BNP regional organiser for the West Midlands and a fellow candidate of Mr Smith, said: “What has he done wrong? “Have we reached a stage now where if you hold political opinions to the right of the Tory Party or contrary to those of the Labour Party you cannot be a teacher?"

No comments: