Lara Hedegaard, A Danish Free Speech Hero

OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH IS BEING DETERMINED NOW IN EUROPE.

An Interview with Lars Hedegaard

by Jerry Gordon, NEW ENGLISH REVIEW

In George Orwell’s 1984 the totalitarian credo of the Party is ”Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” If one looks at what passes for speech control in the European Union (EU), we see continued assault on basic freedoms. Freedoms that we take for granted in America under our Constitution’s First Amendment – the masthead of the Bill of Rights.

Notwithstanding this American bulwark in defense of free speech, we are witnessing the lawfare of Muslim Brotherhood front groups abetted by the US Department of Justice that seek to derogate and even supplant basic Constitutional protections via intimidation and the gradual insinuation of Shariah into our judicial system. That would explain the efforts led by David Yerushalmi, Esq. and the Public Policy Alliance who are endeavoring to introduce bills in a number of state legislatures seeking to bar Shariah from being used in our legal system based on the model ”American Laws for American Courts.”

The EU unfortunately views criticism of Islam as tantamount to racism and official hate speech. It is a stalking horse for de facto adoption of Islamic blasphemy laws as sought by members of The Organization of Islamic Conference. Their most recent effort was overturned by the UN Council on Human Rights in late March. Criticism of any religion is protected under the US Constitution. Not so in many EU member countries.

This is evident in several legal actions brought by public prosecutors in Holland against Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, in Austria against Elisabeth Sabaditsch–Wolff and in Denmark against Lars Hedegaard, President of the Danish Free Press Society,who is also leader of the International Free Press Society. They all have dared to criticize Islam, a protected religion in many EU countries.

Hedegaard’s case is particularly troubling, because he was ensnared in an interview, disseminated without his permission, during which he told the truth about Shariah – Islamic doctrine – that permits rape within a Muslim family and honor killings of women – daughters and wives. He was tried on a Kafkaesque hate speech complaint under an arcane Danish law and was acquitted on a technicality in late January, 2010, only to have the matter appealed by the public prosecutors.

The case will be be heard again on April 26th by the Superior Court in Copenhagen. It is a show trial not seen since the Moscow purge trials in Stalin’s Russia in the 1930’s; this in liberal, tolerant Denmark. Hedegaard is seeking to advance the view that Islam is a totalitarian doctrine seeking world domination with what we have called, ”the thin veneer of religious practices.” Hedegaard has clearly rankled the politically correct ruling Danish elite by taking on the cause of criticizing Islam. They are trying to muzzle him for telling the truth by bringing him to trial a second time. He was informed by public prosecutors that the matter of truth about Islam has nothing to do with the adjudication of the hate speech charges brought against him.

Hedegaard will not be muzzled. In this regard he joins courageous Scandinavian champions of free speech and free expression, fellow Dane and political cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, and Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who have dared to criticize, at great personal risk, the exemplar of Jihadist Islam, Mohammed. The Danish prosecutors’ arguments are akin to the exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice in the topsy turvy world of Though the Looking Glass:

“When I use a word,’ ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”

Prior to Hedegaard’s Copenhagen Superior Court hearing, we were afforded the opportunity to interview him.

Watch this incisive RT interview with Lars Hedegaard about his legal battle for free speech in Denmark and note his comment: ”the Fate of Free Speech in the Europe is being determined, now.” (Read More)