I’ll be leaving shortly to attend a family wedding. I’ll be gone overnight and through much of tomorrow. This means no news feed tonight. As for tomorrow’s feed, it depends on how early I get home.
Dymphna will be moderating comments to the extent that she can manage. So mind your p’s and q’s!
Later.
Switzerland accepted its first batch of thirty “Syrian” “refugees”. It agreed last year to take part voluntarily in the EU’s migrant resettlement program. The Swiss plan to accept 900 migrants from Italy and 600 from Greece.
In other news, in the Austrian town of Floridsdorf an Egyptian man shouting in Arabic threatened to detonate a bomb, causing a block of flats to be evacuated and sealed off.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JD, Nick, Reader from Chicago, Reader from Indonesia, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
While Hungarians were voting “NO” to Brussels-imposed migrant quotas, Colombians were voting “NO” to the peace deal with FARC guerillas brokered by the Cuban government. Our Colombian correspondent Diego sends this brief report on the weekend’s referendum in his country.
Colombians Vote “NO”
by Diego
Probably many people woke up and noticed, among many other things, that “NO” to modern authoritarianism won two great victories. In Hungary (although the turnout didn’t reach the 50% threshold, the “NO” vote was at 95-98%) and in Colombia.
After a very close vote (which the MSM is trying to interpret as a “betrayal of the rural parts of the country”) the “NO” won with approximately 50.2% of the vote in the plebiscite to approve the peace accords signed in Havana.
Soon enough people began blaming other factors — dissatisfaction with Santos’ policies, abstentionism (which was, while still high, not as high as it was for example in the presidential elections that put Mr. Santos into office), and even a storm that prevented people on the Caribbean coast from voting. However, judging by the reactions in social media, I can say that the voters who had no arguments whatsoever were those who supported the President.
Another important phenomenon was the “Ghost No” vote. Such a vote was comprised of people who refused to vote, or cast invalid ballots, hoping to sabotage the plebiscite and keep it from reaching the threshold (13%), or simply not voting out of self-preservation (public employees, paranoid students and similar groups).
This is by no means an exhaustive analysis of yesterday’s vote, but I hope it will serve as a useful outline.
I, for once, will celebrate the fact that in my pessimism regarding this specific plebiscite I have been proved wrong.
See this BBC report for more on the Colombian referendum.
Previous posts by Diego:
We’ve been reporting for the past week about the pushback against “Islamophobia” by Muslim NGOs at last month’s OSCE/ODIHR conference in Warsaw. In the comments on two previous posts about EMISCO, the colorful and flamboyant “Danish” human rights activist Bashy Quraishy took exception to our use of digitally altered images placing him in juxtaposition with Islamic State mujahideen and Nazi military officers. He seemed to think it was unfair to associate him with ISIS and/or Nazis.
Strangely enough, Mr. Quraishy doesn’t have any problem labeling as Nazis the people he disagrees with. In the following video you’ll not only witness his validation of Godwin’s law, you’ll also hear him call for “Islamophobic” organizations — he mentions Pax Europa by name — to be banished from OSCE/ODIHR events.
It appears that the ideological basis of Islam is not strong enough to stand up to rigorous criticism. The application of reason to Islam is like a bucket of water thrown over the head of the Wicked Witch of the West, melting it down into a shapeless, shrieking puddle.
The anti-liberal goal of EMISCO and other Muslim entities in Europe is now made clear: they intend to silence the Transatlantic Counterjihad. They want to suppress our participation in public fora, and if possible prosecute us in a court of law. Our actions are publicly compared to the 20th-century Holocaust against the Jews.
Needless to say, the activists of the Transatlantic Counterjihad are not intimidated by these totalitarian wannabes. As far as we’re concerned, their diatribes against “Islamophobia” are a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of Mr. Quraishy’s pronunciation of anathema against the critics of Islam (which was also mentioned here):
My organisation had worked very hard to create specific recommendations today, but we have provided that to ODIHR, so I shall limit my two minutes to deal with a growing Islamophobic trend in all OSCE sessions.
Listening to Pax Europa and other anti-Islamic organisations, participants must have heard that anti-Islam propaganda and anti-Islam rhetoric and lies have now reached this noble platform.
Madame Moderator, such shameless rants against the world’s second largest religion must not be accepted, must not be tolerated and must not be let loose at this forum. This is not freedom of expression or freedom of speech.
We all agree that people can say what they like, but freedom to demonise and have efforts to spread hatred towards 1.7 billion Muslims should not be accepted in OSCE sessions.
Professor Şenay was very right, when he mentioned that many Muslims find themselves under siege. Listening to the wording of such anti-Islam formulations today, I am reminded of the tactics and the terminology used by Nazis during the Second World War.
And believe me, my Jewish brothers and sisters and nephews in this session, should also please remember that what happened at that time, should never never happen today with Muslims. We are your partners.
For links to previous articles about the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, see the OSCE Archives.
The brief video below tells an intriguing story about the “refugees” gathered in Szabadka in northern Serbia at the border with Hungary (see this previous post about Szabadka).
An unidentified group of visitors staged combined operation of disinformation and provocation among the migrants, mostly Pakistanis, at the migration center in Szabadka. The provocateurs — all we know about them is that they were whites — came to the asylum seekers and told them that after yesterday’s Hungarian referendum was complete, they would be allowed across the border and would be able to enter the EU.
Those who retailed this disinformation did not do so as a hobby. Some well-funded organization — a George Soros affiliate springs to mind — anticipated a turnout of less than 50% in the quota referendum, and used it as an opportunity to stir up trouble among the immigrants in Serbia. But it’s too early to determine anything else about the incident.
Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
The resistance to the building of a mega-mosque in Bucharest continues. Now the opposition group has started legal action against the proposed mosque.
Many thanks to Stefan cel Mare for translating this article from Alternative News Romania:
We must support him! Catalin Berenghi starts the legal process against the Mega-Mosque
The Mega-Mosque scandal has reached a new level. When last year Catalin Berenghi and Catalin Ioan buried pigs on the land given in Bucharest to the Muslim cult and planted hundreds of crosses in the same place, in protest against such a project, meanwhile they also started a legal action against the construction of the Mega-Mosque. The first hearing will be on October 14, 2016. The Mega-Mosque project, endorsed by Ponta [prime minister] and Iohannis [president of Romania], is defying the religious reality in Bucharest, and is part of Erdogan’s dream of spreading Islam through all of Europe.
What the Ottoman Empire never achieved in all its history, to build a mosque in Romania, is a step closer to being realized in the time of corrupt and irresponsible politicians since 1990. This is why the action of these two is being welcomed, even if for some it can be exaggerated.
We must not forget that, according to the plan, near the Mega-Mosque a Islamic university was to be built with 5,000 places. In other words, the plan was to build in Bucharest the bridge into Eastern Europe for Islam.
Now, with this legal process started and all the instability in Turkey, there will be enough reason to put a stop to the project forever.
We are watching, and we will inform our readers about the evolution of this topic.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the opportunity of German Unity Day in Dresden to remind citizens of the importance of suppressing right-wing tendencies, especially in the east — the former DDR.
Many thanks to Ava Lon for translating this article from the Rheinische Post:
Bürgerfest for German unity
Merkel calls on citizens to rise against the right wing
Dresden. While on 26th anniversary of German unification Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for opposing right-wing populists, the celebrations have started in Dresden with a street festival. Three quarters of a million visitors are expected by Monday. It has prompted the highest level of security for the police.
Given the increasing polarization of society, Federal President Stanislaw Tillich (CDU) urged further efforts to realize internal unity. That people lived in the East and West for over forty years in two different systems is now strongly felt as hasn’t been during the period since 1990, said the Saxon Prime Minister to the German Press Agency.
“We are celebrating something that is not self-evident in the story: A peaceful revolution that ended in the reunification of the nation,” said Tillich. This is at the same time a reminder “to continue to work on our internal unity”.
Dresden Mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP) stressed that his city with its historic center would not only provide a stage for a look at history. “Also the present and future of our region become clear in these days,” he said at the opening of the festival.
Merkel: All are the people
Meanwhile, at the 26th anniversary of German unification the Chancellor called for the defense of the central freedom of the East German civil rights movement against right-wing populists. One must intervene when people with a right-wing background proclaim “We are the people” [Wir sind das Volk], said Merkel on Saturday in a video message. This slogan was “very liberating” during the peaceful revolution in the GDR.
“Today we have a different situation: Today, we have an system, in which everyone has the right to freely speak his mind and to demonstrate. And that’s why we have to say: ‘All are the people’,” said Merkel. Today, the slogan is being used by the people who believe they have gotten a raw deal, but also by those with a right-wing background — “which of course I don’t find all right, and against which we must also intervene.”
Merkel expressly praised the handling by government and society of such tendencies in Saxony. She thinks they have responded very well when they said: “Anyone who believes that he has problems which aren’t noticed by society or by the politicians should raise his concerns and suggest constructive solutions,” said the Chancellor. “This is democracy in action.”
According to new information, seven out of the ten mujahideen who planned the terrorist attacks in Paris last November entered Europe disguised as “refugees” as part of the wave of migrants. The new information about the Paris massacre, which killed 130 people, was revealed by Hungarian security officials.
In other news, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called for the creation of a “German Islam”, a version of the religion based on the country’s values of tolerance and liberalism, so that Germany might better integrate the millions of “New Germans”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, Mark H, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
The following intervention was given by Debra Anderson of ACT! For America Minnesota at last week’s OSCE/HDIM conference in Warsaw. Ms. Anderson spoke on the Islamic ideology behind violent jihad, with a particular focus on the recent “knife jihad” incident at the Crossroads Mall in Minnesota.
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:
For links to previous articles about the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, see the OSCE Archives.
More than 90% of Hungarians who voted in today’s referendum rejected the possibility that Brussels might dictate migration policy to Hungary. After the vote, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a brief speech in which he expressed his intention to enshrine the will of the Hungarian people in their country’s constitution.
Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
Below is an intervention given by Henrik Clausen for Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa Austria at last week’s OSCE/HDIM conference in Warsaw, on September 27, during Working Session 12 “Fundamental freedoms I (continued), including freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”.
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:
Below is the prepared text for Mr. Clausen’s intervention:
Henrik Clausen, BPE Austria
Freedom of belief, and the freedom not to have one, is vital to our freedom, and must be defended against all threats to it, in order to guarantee our security.
Then, we need to differentiate between religious and political systems. A political system is not a religion, nor is it a body of law. Seeking to impose certain political or legal systems are not religious activities, they are political, and opposing this does not violate the freedom of religion.
Now, it happens that there exists an Apartheid-style legal system that discriminates people according to their religion, opposes equal rights for women, and even dictates capital punishment for apostasy. This legal system is Sharia, and is at odds with democracy and human rights (ECHR 2003).
The Islam-related security problems we are currently witnessing relate directly to attempts to introduce Sharia law in our free societies, by peaceful or violent means. This can be dealt with under the law. A best-practice example of this is how the US tried and convicted many organisations related to the Holy Land Foundation.
Voters were asked: “Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly?”
The bad news is that the turnout in today’s referendum reportedly failed to reach the 50% level required for the vote to be legally binding.
The good news is that 98% of those who voted rejected the EU migrant quotas.
I don’t have a figure for the estimated turnout, but we know it was over 40%. Obviously, not everyone who stayed home was in favor of the quotas — more likely the opposite. Therefore we can say with a fair degree of confidence that a huge majority of Hungarians are opposed to letting the EU dictate migration policy to Budapest. I call this a victory for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Here’s the report from the BBC:
Hungary Referendum Rejects EU Mandatory Migrant Plan
Hungarians who voted in a referendum on Sunday have overwhelmingly rejected mandatory EU migrant quotas, the national election office has said.
But exit polls suggest that turnout failed to reach the 50% needed for the result to be valid.
With nearly all the votes counted, 98% rejected the quotas, officials said.
Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Hungarians to reject the EU scheme, describing it as a threat to Europe’s security and way of life.
He described the result as “overwhelming” and said the EU “cannot force” Hungary to accept migrants. He urged EU decision makers to take note of the referendum.
The EU plan to relocate 160,000 migrants across the bloc would mean Hungary receiving 1,294 asylum seekers.
The polls just opened in Hungary for today’s referendum on whether or not Hungarians will accept mandatory migrant quotas from the European Union. The following op-ed was published by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in advance of the vote by the news portal Magyar Idők. Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation.
Every Thirty Years We Hit the Mainstream
by Viktor Orbán
October 1, 2016
On Sunday October 2nd a lot of people will be watching Hungary. We are calling for the Hungarians to take part in an historic referendum.
It is a beautiful tradition of free Hungary, to use referendums before decisions of historical weight, to determine the points of agreement and to act with a unified will.
This is what happened when at the regime change we had a referendum to determine our EU and NATO membership, which was based on our common will. the referendum about unifying our nation with the Hungarians who happened to live outside of our borders was a much harder case. We had more YES than NO, but we could not have cloudless happiness because the leftist Liberals attacked our nation. They denied the rights of Hungarians living outside of our borders, scaring people with the vision of 23 million Romanian migrants.
Déjà vu. Now the same leftist Liberals are advocating against our national interests again.
They sing from the music sheets of Brussels and prepare the field for the settlement of unlimited numbers of migrants without our permission, in the same way as their European colleagues who openly represent it in Brussels.
On Sunday we have a seemingly simple question to answer. But it is like a drop of the sea: everything is in it what could change the fate of the European Union, and in it Hungary. It is a fact worth mentioning that Hungary is the only EU member state that allowed its citizens to express their opinions about the migration.
It is a general European feeling that the elites in Brussels make decisions over the people’s heads, and some of those decisions are against the interests of Europe.
We want this practice to end. Are the Hungarians strong enough alone? Knowing the balance of powers, obviously we are not, but if we want change, someone has to take the first step and that does not depend on size. Today someone who does not believe in miracles is not a realist.
On Sunday we must veto the Brussels elites’ inhuman decision. The forced settlement brings back the worst of our memories: the forced movement of masses of people against their will. The human smugglers and politicians misleading thousands of unfortunate people. They lure them for a thousands-of-kilometers-long journey. They promise them things which are not possible and cannot be fulfilled. And now in facing reality the Brusselites want to make us to pay the price for their faulty political decisions.
They want to push the millions who arrive into places they do not want to live, and force them on communities that do not want this burden.
In politics there are mistakes which can be corrected. But the clock can’t be turned back, and we cannot afford to make such errors. We cannot risk the future of Hungary. Uncontrolled migration means real danger. Our usual peaceful European life and safety are at risk. So the discussion about the migration cannot be kept inside the plastic world of political correctness. We cannot accept the Liberal euro-blah-blah. It is not working; it is ineffective, because reality is escaping from its prison. That is why nobody can keep this discussion within a tight circle of the elites, either. Once the European people have a voice in this argument, there is no doubt about the outcome.
Now that Congress has cleared the way by overriding the president’s veto of the 9-11 lawsuits bill, an American citizen is filing suit against the Saudi government. The plaintiff is a woman who was pregnant when her husband, a naval officer, was killed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
In other news, British Prime Minister Theresa May has begun the actual process of Brexit by announcing the repeal of the first EU-related laws of 1972.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, JD, Reader from Chicago, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.