Conference Facility Caves To Pressure From Islamic Groups, Bans Mark Steyn From Speaking

From Winds of Jihad:

Steyn unmuzzled, unprevented


by sheikyermami on October 22, 2010



BREAKING: Conference facility caves to pressure from Islamic groups, bans Mark Steyn from speaking







So I was reading about Oskar Freysinger of the Swiss People’s Party and the curious difficulty he was having in getting a hotel in Brussels when I got the news about certain, ah, last-minute changes to the venue of my speech in London, Ontario on November 1st. As The London Free Press puts it, “Author Denied Hall Rental“:



Controversial author Mark Steyn may be too hot a potato for one city-owned London hall…



Non-controversial reporter Kate Dubinski seems to have learned only one adjective at journalism school. Either that, or while I was sleeping some wag had my name legally changed to Controversial Author Mark Steyn. Whatever the reason, this is the way it is. All London taxpayers pay for the London Convention Centre, but the London Convention Centre apparently does not serve all London taxpayers. It won’t be too long now and, like Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, we’ll be having to hold our get-togethers in a clearing in the forest on the edge of town. Robert Spencer adds:



This is what they do to anti-jihadists: they compile a dossier of lies, distortions, half-truths and spurious refutations of their work, circulate it to overworked, careless, and ideologically compromised mainstream media reporters, and use it to pressure groups not to invite anti-jihadists to speak or refer to their work.





It’s fascinating to me how little you have to do to be a Controversial Author. Still, pending the next move by the Islamic supremacists, we’re booked into Centennial Hall, which is a 1,400-seater. What do I have to do to fill that? Deliver an apocalyptic head-for-the-hills speech and sing “Marshmallow World” (the extended remix)? Let’s go for it! London is about equally convenient (or equally inconvenient) for Toronto, Buffalo and Detroit. So, if you’re a SteynOnline reader in Michigan or western New York, we’d love to see you. It’ll be a rollicking night, I promise. And, whatever happens, I’ll be there on November 1st, and neither the Islamic enforcers nor their prison wives in the City of London bureaucracy can prevent that. More details here.



In related news of the Islamoleftist pantomime horse (in which the western left seems happy to play the rear end), my sometime Hannity & Colmes sparring partner Juan Williams has been defenestrated by NPR (National Peace-be-upon-him Radio). In the US, as in Canada, as in Belgium, they are not interested in winning the argument but in denying you the opportunity to have one.



“CONTROVERSIAL AUTHOR” LEADS TO SOMNOLENT ARTICLE



Strange that this newspaper does not see fit to inform its readers that its principal interviewee, Faisal Joseph, was, in fact, the Canadian Islamic Congress’ lawyer in the Maclean’s/Steyn trial. More on the controversy over the controversially controversial author here – and here.


And, from Jihad Watch:

Ontario: Conference facility caves to pressure from Islamic groups, bans Mark Steyn from speaking


This is what they do to anti-jihadists: they compile a dossier of lies, distortions, half-truths and spurious refutations of their work, circulate it to overworked, careless, and ideologically compromised mainstream media reporters, and use it to pressure groups not to invite anti-jihadists to speak or refer to their work. Their campaign of intimidation and marginalization is in line with the Organization of the Islamic Conference's agenda to choke off the freedom of speech regarding Islam in the West. Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "BREAKING: Conference facility caves to pressure from Islamic groups, bans Mark Steyn from speaking," by Andrew Lawton at Strictly Right, October 21:



Strictly Right sent out a press release earlier today to Canadian media with some rather startling news about the upcoming Mark Steyn speech in London, Ontario that we're putting together. Mark Steyn will be speaking on November 1st in a speech entitled "Head for the Hills: Why everything in your world is doomed." Apparently, London-area Muslims didn't like that idea too much.

Due to capacity constraints at the University of Western Ontario, the original venue for the event, we had booked the London Convention Centre (LCC,) London's premiere conference facility. On Tuesday, I received a phone call from the LCC telling us that our venue had been pulled, and that Mark Steyn would not be permitted to speak there. The reason offered by the LCC was that they had received pressure from local Islamic groups, and they didn't want to alienate their Muslim clients. It's interesting to note that the LCC is owned by the City of London, and is therefore a government operation.



It's interesting that a government-run business decided that freedom of speech was no longer a concept to be upheld, and even more interesting is the fact that the Muslim community in London is applying pressure to a company to not entertain a speaker when only a day earlier they made a statement to the press saying that they didn't care about Steyn speaking and wouldn't do anything to counter it, (except "charity work.")...





Steyn's speech will, however, be going on. See here.

Posted by Robert on October 21, 2010 1:13 PM