Emir Kir, mayor of the Brussels commune of Saint Josse, tried on Tuesday to silence a gathering of right-wing populists from across Europe, warning that “the far-right is not welcome.” It’s likely he now regrets this decision.
The ban on the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference was overturned late on Tuesday after the legal advocacy organisation ADF supported a challenge filed by the event’s organisers. Kir’s actions have been heavily criticised by at least three prime ministers, including that of his own country. And the conference itself has picked up more press coverage across the globe than it could ever have hoped for.
Toby Young, who is the director of the Free Speech Union, told The European Conservative that “trying to silence the leaders of populist parties will have precisely the opposite effect. You’d have thought progressive officials would have learnt that lesson by now, but apparently not.”
Speakers at NatCon, scheduled in Brussels for April 16th and 17th, include former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, and president of France’s Reconquête party Éric Zemmour.
After Kir sent police to the Brussels venue to shut the conference down, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo fumed online that “banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop.”
Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, added that “what is happening in Brussels leaves us in disbelief and dismay.” She said: “To all the victims of this unjustifiable abuse … goes my total solidarity.”
A statement from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street also said that the Conservative Party leader “is very clear that cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result.” The statement added that Sunak “is very clear that free debate and the exchange of views is vital, even where you disagree.”
In response, the Labour Party, which looks almost 100% likely to lead the next UK government, was more cavalier about free speech. Wes Streeting—the party’s representative on health and social care issues touted as a future Labour PM—used the matter in a half-hearted joke in which he said the event was being attended by “far-right fanatics.”
Toby Young criticised Kir’s failed attempt to silence NatCon speakers as “an all-too-typical interference in free speech.” He told this publication that it shows
European elites are terrified of the coming wave of populist revolts and are using any means necessary to fend them off.
The Washington Post noted correctly—though not at all enthusiastically—that the banning order gave Europe’s right “a further opportunity to rail against cancel culture and Brussels overreach.” Likewise, left-wing Guardian writer John Crace sounded equally disappointed that the presence of police at the conference, and the closing of the doors for attendee hopefuls, really put the National Conservatism event “on the map.”
As the conference continues today, The European Conservative’s Rod Dreher declares that “we will not go meekly.”
