Thanks, Thilo!Blogs All Kinds Of Blogs

As many readers know, the German banker Thilo Sarrazin caused a huge controversy in Germany last summer by writing a book (Deutschland schafft sich ab or “Germany abolishes itself”) about the ongoing destruction of the German nation by Multiculturalism, and especially by Muslim immigration.

Mr. Sarrazin was attacked, vilified, called a “Nazi”, and forced out of his job as a board member of the Bundesbank. No one in polite society would admit to supporting him, but strangely enough, opinion polls showed that the vast majority of ordinary Germans agreed with him.

Thilo Sarrazin was recently invited to take part in a debate on Multiculturalism tonight (February 14) at the London School of Economics. It’s no surprise that the British Left was deeply unhappy with the prospect of his presence at the event, and mobilized all its “anti-fascist” resources to stop him. The Independent reported on the controversy:

Anti-facist [sic] campaigners vowed to demonstrate outside the LSE during Thilo Sarrazin’s appearance in a debate on multiculturalism. The former executive member of the Bundesbank caused outrage in Germany last year with his comments, in which he also attacked Basques. He was removed from the country’s central bank and raked down by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who called him “stupid”.

Jewish groups in London warned yesterday that allowing Mr Sarrazin a platform in Britain would be “provocative and almost certain to stir further hatred and offence”. He also labelled Germany’s Middle Eastern population “dunces” and attacked Muslims for not integrating well. Mr Sarrazin is due to appear as a speaker in a debate as part of the German Symposium event organised by the German Society at LSE.

Sabby Dhalu, the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, called for Mr Sarrazin to be banned from the UK. “There is [sic] grotesque double standards in the implementation of bans on people entering Britain. There is no doubt that a known Muslim spouting similar views would be denied entry,” she said.

“LSE’s German society’s invitation to Thilo Sarrazin to address their ‘Future of Germany’ meeting is misguided and ill-judged. The title and invitation imply that Sarrazin is the future. I wonder how many Jewish and Muslim German people agree with him? Such vile, racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic views have no place in Britain, Germany or any other country.”

[…]

The LSE supported the society’s decision to invite Mr Sarrazin. A spokesman said: “LSE is committed to the principles of free speech and is, traditionally, a place where renowned speakers come to explain their thinking and answer questions. Students are free to hold and express their own views and this extends to organising events.”

The LSE didn’t stick to its cherished principles for very long. The event was canceled at the last moment, ostensibly due to the LSE’s inability to ensure the safety of the participants. The organizers moved the debate to the Waldorf Hilton, and as far as I know it proceeded as scheduled at the new location.

Henryk Broder is a famously politically incorrect columnist, and was one of the other featured debaters at tonight’s event. He wrote about what happened at Die Achse des Guten (many thanks to Markus for the translation):

LSE chickens out

In the last moment the Head of Events, the Head of External Relations and the Head of Security of London School of Economics canceled tonight’s planned kick-off session of the German Symposium “Europe's Future — Decline of the West”. The cancellation would not be an interference with free speech, rather the school would not be able to guarantee the safety of the participants and visitors, it said. Now the event is going to take place at the Waldorf Hilton, with more that 300 visitors instead of the originally registered 250. — LSE had no problem with a video appearance by the Libyan leader of the revolution, Gaddafi, on Dec. 2, 2010.

Amazing the Brits won the battle of El-Alamein. Today they would cancel their participation, out of fear of hurting the feeling of the Muslims.

As a reminder of Thilo Sarrazin’s important contributions to the campaign against Multiculturalism, Markus also sent links to these two videos from the day that Mr. Sarrazin’s book was published last summer. After the book launch, a lone courageous demonstrator stood outside with a placard declaring “Thanks, Thilo!” He was subjected to an enormous amount of abuse, and had to be protected by the police:

Video #1

Video #2