Speaking out in Europe

Paul Belien, the editor of the Brussels Journal, has written an op-ed describing the battle in the front lines in Europe — and the Europeans are not only losing, their handing their weapons over to the Islamic hardliners, with instructions about how to shoot. The heroine of his story is Marij Uijt den Bogaard, a 49 year old Belgian government employee who started getting an eye into what the radical Salafists were doing in the community, and how they were alternately bullying and cajoling the moderate Muslims around them to “get on board.” The description of the radicals’ conduct is ho-hum, because we’ve heard it all before, again and again. What’s shocking is the insight into how the Brussels’ government responds to the cancer in its midst:

Worried immigrants told Ms. Uijt den Bogaard what was happening. On the basis of their accounts and her own experiences she wrote (confidential) reports for the city authorities about the growing radicalization. This brought her into conflict, both with the Islamists and her bosses in the city.

The city warned her that her reports were unacceptable, that they read like “Vlaams Belang tracts” (the Vlaams Belang is Antwerp’s anti-immigrant party) and that she had to “change her attitude.” The Islamists sensed that she disapproved of them. They might also have been informed, because there are Muslims working in the city administration. One day, when she was accompanied by her superior, she was attacked by a Muslim youth. Her superior refused to interfere. When she questioned him afterward he said that all the animosity toward her was her own fault.

In the end she was fired. She is unemployed at the moment and gets turned away whenever she applies for another job as a civil servant. Last week, she learned that city authorities have given the job of integration officer, whose task it is to supervise 25 Antwerp mosques, to one of the radical Salafists. Meanwhile, the latter have threatened her with reprisals if she continues to speak out.

After her dismissal Ms. Uijt den Bogaard went to see Monica Deconinck, a Socialist politician who is the head of the Antwerp social department, to tell her about the plight of the Muslim women. Ms. Deconinck said, “You have taken your job too seriously and tried to do it too well,” adding that she cannot help, although she sympathizes. Ms. Uijt den Bogaard also went to see Christian Democrat and Liberal politicians. They also refused to help her because they are governing the city in a coalition with the Socialists. The only opposition party in town is the Vlaams Belang.

According to Ms. Uijt den Bogaard, the reason why the Socialists, who run the city, allow the Islamists to do as they please is because they want to get the Muslim vote, which is controlled increasingly by the Salafists who are in the process of taking over the mosques.

Europe isn’t dying; it’s already dead.  What we’re witnessing are the nervous twitches that continue for some minutes after death.