UK Bans Wilders--And Hugo Chavez Follows Suit

Apparently Great Britain and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela now have something in common:

[Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech] Walesa was to travel to Venezuela on Friday on an invitation from opponents of President Hugo Chávez. But this week Chávez warned Walesa would be barred from entering. The Venezuelan government later said the former Polish ruler could visit the country, but would be closely monitored, AP reported.

Seriously, would Salman Rushdie have been given refuge in today's Great Britain?

Speaking of Rushdie, Mark Steyn wrote on Friday:

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the Ayatollah's fatwa against Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses. Two decades on, who needs the mullahs? These days western nations are happy to fatwa their own. It's now a familiar pattern.

If you threaten violence, the authorities cave in, and do the mob's bidding in the interests of "public order" — as they did in Toronto on Wednesday, when thugs attacked a Jewish center:

The police demanded that the center itself close down — punishing the innocent and achieving the goal of the mob.

If you're a "moderate Muslim" who gets death threats and complains to the authorities,

The police will dispatch two burly Muslim police officers. These gentlemen will warn the complainer to button it, lest he rile up restive Muslims.

If young Muslim girls are being kidnapped and forced into marriage with their first cousins, the British Home Office minister will suggest that these matters are best handled discreetly and informally. If young Muslim girls are being murdered in "honor killings", the Chief Commissar of the Ontario "Human Rights" Commission will explain that they're a "small commission" and they have to be able to prioritize and that Mark Steyn is a far greater threat to the Queen's peace than killers of Muslim women.

But, if you don't threaten violence, if you don't issue death threats, if you don't kill anyone, if you just make a movie or write a book or try to give a speech, the state will prosecute you, ban you or (in the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali) force you to flee your own country.

The pandemic continues.

[Hat tip: Reason Online]

Technorati Tag: Geert Wilders and Lech Walesa and Hugo Chavez.