For the tenth anniversary of Flemming Rose's publication of the Danish Mohammed cartoons in Jyllands Posten, Mark Steyn made an appearance in Copenhagen along with fellow freespeechers Douglas Murray, Henryk Broder, and Vebjørn Selbekk. Invited at the behest of The Free Speech Society (Trykkefrihedsselskabet), they were listened to and applauded in a filled hall of the Danish Parliament.
• From all the attacks on free speech for the past decade or so, it has become apparent now that Muslims came with a deal to Western leaders:
Either we kill you.
Or you kill free speech.• During a visit to the Bush White House, Steyn recalled during his talk, George W Bush told him that he didn't worry too much about the Islamic world's attitude towards the West. The Canadian author — and Bush's words — drew a long round of applause when Steyn quoted the 43rd president telling him why that was so:
If it's not the crusades, it's the cartoons.(The Bush quote was repeated 10 minutes or so later, and got just as much applause the second time.)
• By contrast, what got the biggest boos was the story of Barack Obama's speech to
• In reference to the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Emperor's New Clothes, as well as to Steyn's recent article, The Emperor's Moral Narcissism, the Canadian pointed out that Denmark's most famous author had it wrong: in reality — at least in the 21st century — the little boy's remark that the emperor was naked would not cause gales of laughter along with sympathy for he who saw and for he who told the truth. Today, instead, the boy would be beaten to a pulp.
From Steyn Online:
1.30pm Saturday September 26th at the Landsting Hall at Christiansborg (the Danish Parliament)
Steyn marks the tenth anniversary of an important milestone in the struggle between a fainthearted west and a resurgent Islam: the publication of the Danish Mohammed cartoons. Mark will be appearing in Copenhagen along with Flemming Rose, the editor who commissioned the original Motoons, as well as fellow freespeechers Douglas Murray and Henryk Broder. Tickets are 100 krone - or, for members of the Free Press Society, 75 krone. One hundred krone sounds a lot, particularly if you say it like Doctor Evil, but it's about 15 bucks US or ten quid in sterling. You can email for tickets or more details about the event here. There's no need to write to them in Danish: the Danes speak better English than most English-speaking countries. If you're in the general area - Scandinavia, Europe, the Northern Hemisphere - we hope to see you there.
More on Mark Steyn from the files of No Pasarán
Update — Mark Steyn in Copenhagen:
"Fight the hate speech fairies, and fight their islamic Enforcers!"
• VIDEO UPDATE: The MSM is "an industry that gives itself awards back and forth for courage and bravery—far more than soldiers and firemen do!": Mark Steyn's Speech in Copenhagen (Video!)
