Speaking at the Oxford Union, Peter Whittle, Founder & Director of the New Culture Forum, debates the motion that: “This House Believes that Multiculturalism Has No Future in the UK”.
Month: March 2025
Nationalist Leader Joins Romania’s Presidential Race After Georgescu Banned
George Simion, the leader of the nationalist AUR, Romania’s largest opposition party, which is currently leading the polls, has announced that he will submit his candidacy for the upcoming rerun of last year’s presidential elections. With the deadline for final submissions merely days away, the populist party was forced to make the last-minute decision after electoral authorities and the constitutional court banned its original candidate, Călin Georgescu, from re-entering the race.
The initial strategy of the party was to stick with Georgescu and pressure the government and the courts to change their position. They announced a parliamentary strike on behalf of all nationalist opposition parties to achieve this. However, after consulting with Georgescu and taking into account the approaching deadline, Simion decided that he needed to step up to avoid leaving the right-wing opposition without a viable candidate.
In addition, Anamaria Gavrilă, the leader of the smaller nationalist party POT, which also supports Georgescu, will also submit her candidacy in case Simion is also disqualified. If both of their submissions are validated, then one of them (likely Gavrilă) will drop out in favor of the other.
The threat is real, as there have already been calls from the voices on the establishment’s side to disqualify both Simion and Gavrilă due to their “unconstitutional” politics. However, eliminating all candidates who would represent nearly half of the electorate would instantly delegitimize the election result and could cause such unprecedented social unrest that would be nearly impossible to manage.
Simion especially will have no problem collecting the required 200,000 signatures by Saturday, as polls have consistently put him in first place in the event that Georgescu is not allowed to run. The latest study, published just before Georgescu was banned, gives Simion 28% of the total vote, followed by socialist ex-PM Victor Ponta with 22%, and liberal Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan with 19%. Simion’s support is likely much higher now, after all that transpired in the past few days.
On Sunday evening, the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) decided by 10 votes against four—all coming from opposition parties from both Left and Right—that Georgescu cannot participate in the rerun of last year’s election. That election was annulled over claims that Russian interference helped Georgescu win the first round, but no solid proof of this has been presented yet.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court (CCR)—the same body that decided on the initial annulment—upheld the ban by unanimously rejecting Georgescu’s appeal, despite the tens of thousands of protesters gathering outside the court.
Apart from calling out the Constitutional Court’s blatant violation of democratic principles, Simion also condemned the oppressive “intimidation” tactics employed by prosecutors on behalf of the government against the dozens of protesters who were arrested and charged following Sunday’s clashes with riot police. He called for an investigation into police brutality instead of the abuse of the justice system to suppress dissent.
Moreover, Simion added that the country’s democratic backsliding in the past few months made it clear that the government, led by a grand coalition between left-wing PSD (S&D) and the centre-right PNL (EPP), can no longer be considered legitimate. “It is time for the Romanian people to wake up and stand up to the abuses of a corrupt and illegitimate government.”
Earlier, Simion also called for international pressure from his Western allies within and outside ECR. On Monday, following Georgescu’s disqualification, the European Parliament’s ECR group, together with the AfD-led ESN, requested a debate on the issue. The mainstream parties immediately rejected the request, arguing that they do not want the “extremists” and “friends of Russia” to create the “false impression that the rule of law in Romania is in danger.”
Fitness Influencer Faces Abuse And Death Threats From Trans Activists After Pledging To Open Female-Only Gym In London
The owner of a soon-to-open women’s-only gym in London has faced backlash online after clarifying that the space will not be open to biological men who choose to identify as transgender, and instead prioritize the safety of biological women.
Last month, fitness influencer Natalee Barnet announced that her women’s-only gym, The Girls Spot, had finally secured a location in Wandsworth, London. As described on the facility’s website, the gym “stems from the desire to tackle gym harassment, intimidation and sexual harassment that women face in the gym regularly,” and markets itself as “an environment that allows women to thrive as women.”
Barnet, who has amassed over one million followers on TikTok, had long shared her plans of opening a women’s-only gym with her fans, and regularly offered them updates on her progress. But after proudly declaring her dreams had become a reality, past comments Barnet had made on social media sparked debate.
In 2021, she made a post on X, then Twitter, regarding her policy on trans-identified males using her planned gym. “Respectfully, if you have a problem with trans women attending my gym then you can find another gym to train at,” Barnet posted. “I have discussed this several times before, trans women are women and also a minority that need to be protected. Please keep your transphobia away.” The fitness influencer repeated the sentiment in other social media videos at the time.
However, on Sunday, Barnet clarified in a video posted to X that her position had since changed on the issue. She noted that she had not really fully considered the vision of the gym, which now extends to self-defense classes such as Muay Thai, and hosting “events, workshops and activations around PCOS and training on your menstrual cycle.” The majority of women who would want to come to the gym are those who had experienced harassment or sexual assault, and therefore it was “imperative that [she] stick to the vision and the mission and ensure that these women feel safe.”
As a survivor of sexual assault in a gym herself, Barnet explained the issue of creating a single-sex space was close to her heart. In 2022, she spoke to the Daily Mail about a traumatic incident that she had survived when she was just 18.
“I was sitting in front of the mirrors next to a male gym-goer, who I’d known for a while, and we were talking,” she said. “As I laid back on one of the benches, he touched me really inappropriately. I don’t want to give exact details as it’s too upsetting. It was so rapid that at first, I questioned whether it had happened at all. I couldn’t believe a man would do such a thing to a woman in a public space.”
“I jumped to my feet, without saying a word and kind of stumbled away. I was in shock. He’d never done anything to make me suspect he’d behave like that. I’ve no idea why he thought he could get away with it,” Barnet added. “I didn’t say anything to any of my family. I was upset and processing what had happened. I’ve got brothers and knew if they found out they would be very angry.”
After her announcement, Barnet immediately faced backlash from trans-identified male and pro-trans commentators for her decision, with some arguing that this amounted to a “rug pull.”
Others argued that the concept of the women’s-only gym was unenforceable, and suggested that it was impossible to tell males and females apart from one another in some cases.
“You gonna do genital checks? Gonna do DNA scans? Gonna refuse any woman who happens to look too masculine for your tastes? Think you can ‘always tell’? you had a good concept and turned it into something centered around hateful judgement,” one furious commentator remarked.
Beth McColl, a London-based freelance journalist who has bylines in Vice and Elle magazine, suggested that it was “men” not “trans women” who harassed women inside and outside of gyms.
“Our efforts to tackle harassment, sexual assault and violence should include all victims of that,” McColl said. “A real shame.”
But the detractors, who have also targeted Barnet with chilling death threats and perverse sexual comments, were challenged by supporters who praised the influencer for her decision to stand by women.
Barnet quickly attracted attention from Sex Matters trustee Emma Hilton, and the founder of women’s-only app Giggle, Sall Grover. Women’s rights advocates similarly piled into Barnet’s replies to defend her from abuse.
Today, Barnet made another post clarifying her position.
“I wholeheartedly sympathise with Trans women and allies who feel hurt by my recent announcement and I appreciate that the decision to operate in this way will come to [sic] as a disappointment to some,” Barnet said. “This has been the unwavering driver behind The Girls Spot and I am excited to launch this space.”
“I want to be clear, I am in no way saying that trans women don’t face adversity or that they don’t deserve a safe space because they absolutely do. We’re all entitled to be treated with kindness and respect,” she added. “The Girls Spot is no different to many other businesses and we operate in accordance with carefully considered financial budgets, balanced by location, operating hours and longevity, meaning it isn’t possible in our early stages to provide all-alternatives [sic].”
“The decision to have The Girls Spot as a single sex gym for those biologically female was not an easy decision and something that I thought over for many years. I spent a great deal of time and money seeking legal advice and it was absolutely not a choice made lightly or out of exclusion or malice, but rather out of my commitment to ensuring a space where women who have experienced trauma, harassment, or discomfort in co-ed gyms can feel at ease,” Barnet continued. “That has always been my mission and drive behind the business. The Girls Spot is on a long journey and I will continue to listen, learn and lend my support for there to be inclusive fitness spaces for all. My hope is that every woman, cis and trans, finds a space as they need to feel secure, strong and empowered.”
Despite some claims from online trans activists that Barnet’s decision would violate the law, the Equality Act does allow for single-sex spaces that specifically block out trans-identified males, even if they have legally changed their sex on documents.
Guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission was updated on the issue in 2022, which says that trans-identified men may be excluded if the reasons are “justifiable and proportionate.” The guidance also specifically mentions two of the points that Barnet discussed in her video and further statement.
One example given by the EHRC in 2022 was where “a leisure centre introduces some female only fitness classes. It decides to exclude trans women because of the degree of physical contact involved in such classes.” The Muay Thai classes that Barnet suggested the gym would end up focusing on would be one of these.
Furthermore, the EHRC said it would also “most likely to be proportionate to exclude, modify or limit trans people’s access where a service provider has limited resources and physical space to alter the way the service is provided or if they are dealing with groups with particular needs; for example, female victims of male sexual assault who may feel unable to participate in the presence of someone they perceive as male.” Given the specifics of The Girls Spot creating a safe space for women who had been sexually assaulted in a gym before, this would also likely fall within the scope of the protections of the act.
Last year, Reduxx reported how a trans-identified male who was denied membership and access to the women’s showers at a female-only fitness center in Bavaria sued the facility for €2,500 in compensation, claiming “personal injury suffered.” The suit came just mere weeks after the gym was already ordered to pay him €1,000 by the federal anti-discrimination commissioner.
Algerian duo to stand trial for kidnap, drugging and rape of teenage girls at gunpoint in Vienna
Two Algerian men are facing trial in the Vienna Regional Court for the brutal assault of two teenage girls, aged 14 and 15, whom they allegedly lured into an abandoned building, drugged, and raped at gunpoint.
The indictment, spanning seven pages, details the ordeal endured by the victims, with the accused facing up to ten years in prison if convicted.
The events unfolded during Austria’s national holiday on Oct. 26 last year when the suspects approached the teenagers, inviting them to a party. Shortly after midnight, the girls entered a taxi with them, only to be taken to an abandoned office complex in Vienna’s 20th district — an area reportedly used as an illegal asylum shelter and drug den.
According to the indictment by the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, once the girls arrived, the older one was forcibly dragged inside. Her younger friend followed, only to be subjected to threats and forced drug use. The prosecution states: “The defendants administered various debilitating substances to the two minors,” a fact later confirmed by blood tests. The victims reported being forced to swallow ecstasy tablets under the threat of death.
The 31-year-old first defendant allegedly raped the 15-year-old, telling her that no one would hear her screams and threatening to kill her if she resisted. Medical examinations later confirmed strangulation marks, bruises, and scratches consistent with her testimony.
“Since it was obvious to the 14-year-old that the first defendant sexually assaulted her friend, she contacted the police emergency number and stated that she or her friend had just been raped at a party,” the prosecution stated, as cited by Kronen Zeitung.
However, she was unable to provide her exact location, and attempts to trace her call were unsuccessful.
Shortly after, the suspect allegedly turned his attention to the younger girl, attacking her at gunpoint so violently that she suffered a bruised rib. The second defendant, aged 24, is accused of aiding in the rape and coercion.
It wasn’t until the following afternoon that the severely impaired teenagers managed to escape and contact authorities again.
The two suspects have denied all allegations. The 31-year-old claims he did not engage in any sexual activity, while the 24-year-old insists he was asleep throughout the ordeal. However, DNA evidence contradicts their statements, linking them to the crimes.
The trial begins on Wednesday in Vienna.
A Friend for Trump in Italy
By S.R. Piccoli
Never in recent history have relations between the United States and Europe been as tense as in this period — that is, since the Trump administration began taking its first steps and revealing its foreign policy orientation. Over the last few days, the situation has worsened further, or more accurately, it has reached a boiling point, due to the approach — deemed too aggressive by the Europeans — taken by President Trump to the Russo-Ukrainian war and especially to Volodymyr Zelensky. The final straw was the tense public confrontation with President Trump and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office. It was the most heated public exchange of words between world leaders in the Oval Office in memory. The meeting, as we all know, ended with Trump reportedly abruptly instructing his aides to ask Zelensky to leave the White House.
The event, shocking in and of itself — though essentially due to Zelensky’s presumptuous behavior — also sent shockwaves through Europe, where political leaders immediately rallied to Ukraine’s side, forgetting that it is only thanks to Donald if, after three years of war and slaughter, peace is finally being discussed. “There’s an aggressor, which is Russia, and a people attacked, which is Ukraine. We must thank all those who helped and respect those who have been fighting since the beginning,” French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters, after reportedly talking to Zelensky. Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, reaffirmed his country’s stance, declaring, “We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.” He also accused Trump of “deliberately escalating” tensions with Zelensky. U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer said: “Three years on from Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, we are at a turning point. Today I will reaffirm my unwavering support for Ukraine and double down on my commitment to provide capacity, training and aid to Ukraine, putting it in the strongest possible position.”
The leaders of Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands were among those who posted social media messages backing Ukraine. There were also supportive messages from political leaders in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Sweden, and Slovenia. European Union chiefs António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen assured Zelensky in a joint statement that he was “never alone.” “We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace,” they said.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán was the only one who didn’t join the chorus of support for Zelensky. “Strong men make peace, weak men make war,” he said. “Today President Donald Trump stood bravely for peace,” he continued, “even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr. President!”
What about Italy? Where does Europe’s second-largest manufacturing country and one of the E.U.’s founding members stand? Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, merely expressed “sympathy” for Zelensky, carefully avoiding distancing herself from Trump. “She cannot — and doesn’t want — to turn her back on Ukraine because she has gone too far in supporting Kyiv and Zelensky. On the other side, she doesn’t want to give any hint of criticism of Trump, who has attacked Zelensky,” Stefano Stefanini, Italy’s former ambassador to NATO, told the Financial Times.
“She is hedging — she hasn’t decided which way to go,” said Beniamino Irdi, an Atlantic Council senior fellow and former Italian government security policy adviser. “She still thinks that the special relationship she has built with Trump and Musk may be of more value than her relationship with European allies.”
However, on Tuesday, Meloni rejected a plan by France and the United Kingdom to support Ukraine’s war against Russia by sending Italian soldiers. “Italy has expressed doubts regarding the proposal of France and the UK on sending European troops,” she told Italian TV channel Rai1. “I think it is very difficult to implement, I am not sure about its effectiveness, that’s why we announced that we will not send Italian soldiers to Ukraine,” she added. Moreover, speaking on Sunday at Downing Street, she stressed the need of unity between the two sides of the Atlantic:
The only thing that we really cannot afford is a peace that does not remain, and this cannot be afforded. Ukraine cannot afford it, Europe cannot afford it, the United States cannot afford it. For God’s sake, everything can explode. It’s not good news. So everything I can do to keep the West united and to strengthen it, I will do.
Meloni also proposed hosting a summit between European leaders and the U.S., to build bridges after the relationship between the longtime allies strained over the war in Ukraine.
On the day Donald Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine, Giorgia Meloni’s attempt to remain equidistant between Trump and the European Union was put to the test during a special summit that saw all 27 countries agree to Ursula von der Leyen’s “Rearm Europe” plan, but which also highlighted a serious divide over the approach to take. The final text — signed by 26 and hailed as a watershed moment — speaks about “peace through strength,” military assistance and security guarantees for Kyiv, all of which the Hungarian prime minister has strongly opposed. Orbán, who prior to the summit had signaled his intention to veto the E.U. statement, argued that it ran contrary to U.S. president Donald Trump’s deal-making initiative, to which he has firmly aligned himself. The European Council president, António Costa, who called the meeting, said, “Hungary has a different strategic approach on Ukraine, but that means Hungary is isolated among the 27. … We respect Hungary’s position, but it’s one out of 27. And 26 are more than one.”
As for the rearmament plan, Meloni’s stance is a “yes” but with reservations that could be refined at the formal European Council on March 20–21. “That’s where the decisions are made,” Meloni reminded everyone. There is time to fine-tune the points important to Rome, she said in a press briefing on Thursday. The first is to “change the name,” shifting the focus from weapons to defense and security. The second is to clearly state in advance that Italy will not use the clause allowing Cohesion Funds to be converted into spending on weapons. “Italy will not deprive itself of these precious resources,” said Meloni, announcing that this will be the “deal” she will propose to Parliament ahead of the next European Council.
Moreover, at a press briefing in Brussels, she suggested that NATO’s Article 5 protection could be extended to cover Ukraine even if it is not a full member-state. This would be better than options such as the deployment of peacekeeping forces to monitor a ceasefire, she explained: “Extending the same coverage that NATO countries have to Ukraine would certainly be much more effective, while being something different from NATO’s membership.”
All in all, despite her best intentions and her ideological stance — along with her strong ties to U.S. Republicans — Meloni has had a tough time mediating between Washington, D.C. and Brussels. Yet no leader of a major European country is better suited for that role than she is. Not for nothing was she the only E.U. head of government invited to Trump’s inauguration in January. Earlier the same month, she visited him at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump defined her as a “fantastic woman” who has “really taken Europe by storm.”
If all mediation attempts fail, then an extremely complicated, if not dramatic, phase will open in the history of relations between the two sides of the Atlantic. For this reason, we must hope that the efforts of the Italian prime minister are crowned with success.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/03/a_friend_for_trump_in_italy.html
Woke madness in UK: Displaying Egyptian mummies in museums is ‘offensive’, say MPs
Displaying ancestral remains such as Egyptian mummies in museums is offensive, MPs have claimed.
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR) said it should become illegal to sell and publicly display these remains.
A report by the group, titled Laying Ancestors to Rest, claimed the possession of ancestral body parts brought to Britain as a result of enslavement and colonialism caused distress to their descendants and diaspora communities.
They call for national museums such as the Natural History Museum, the V&A and the Science Museum to remove the remains, which include bones, skeletons, skin, hair and tissue, and repatriate them to their countries of origin.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy for Clapham & Brixton Hill, who also serves as the chair of APPG-AR, said the report’s advice would help address racial injustice formed by the colonial trade in ancestral remains.
She said: “Putting human remains on display is unethical, especially when no consent has been given.”
“I think removing the display of these items ultimately changes the culture, goes some way to look at them with some form of respect.”
Ribeiro-Addy questioned whether it would ever be acceptable to take the remains of Britain’s monarchs and display them in another country, drawing parallels between that scenario and the current display of African remains in Britain.
Currently, people can buy, sell and possess human body parts as long as they are used only for decoration and not acquired illegally.
However, the group argues that the sale of human remains should be banned on the grounds that they are hunman beings, not commercial objects.
The Labour MP said: “We’ve seen foetus earrings, we’ve seen foetuses in jars, the spine of a six-year-old being used as a handbag, the thigh bone of someone being fashioned into a cane, and all of these things are allowed to happen because they’ve altered them for art.”
The report urges the Government to amend the Human Tissue Act 2004, which regulates the acquisition, storage, use and disposal of bodies, organs and tissue, to also cover remains over 100 years old.
The act currently fails to take into account that ancestral remains held in Britain were looted from Africa, the author of the policy brief Iben Bo has claimed.
Bo said: “African diaspora communities expressed disgust with ancestral remains [being] on display because the museum space is not constructed as a cemetery where you go to pay your respects. There’s noise and children running around.”
Under the APPG-AR’s proposals, museums, universities and other institutions would need to possess a license to store ancestral human remains, and would not be allowed to display them except for religious purposes or if they obtained appropriate consent.
They have also suggested the creation of a memorial or burial site in Britain for remains which cannot be returned because their exact origins were destroyed due to colonial violence.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/woke-madness-displaying-egyptian-mummies-offensive-mp
Afghan man known to police threatens with knife: Intercity Express train to Berlin evacuated!
Shock for passengers on an InterCity Express train: the train was halted in Gifhorn (Lower Saxony) and then evacuated. The reason: an Afghan had triggered a threatening situation!
In the Lower Saxony district town of Gifhorn (population 43,000), Deutsche Bahn brought an ICE train to an unscheduled stop at around 9.40 a.m. on Tuesday morning and then evacuated it.
The reason: an Afghan man (aged 44) caused a threatening situation on the ICE 541, which was travelling from Cologne to Berlin.
According to a police spokesperson, the man allegedly threatened the train crew with a knife and another dangerous object during the journey.
During the stop in Gifhorn, the 44-year-old was arrested by police officers. ‘The man was taken into custody by the first police officers,’ said the spokesperson for the Hanover Federal Police.
The ICE was evacuated due to the dangerous object that was possibly still on the train. The 340 passengers were escorted to the station forecourt by police officers and then travelled on to Wolfsburg by various means of public transport.
Arriving federal police officers, including two dog handlers with service dogs, searched the train at Gifhorn station and gave the all-clear shortly afterwards. Initially, no information was available on possible casualties or the number of passengers affected.
An attempt is being made to organise an alternative transport service for the passengers so that they can continue their journey from Wolfsburg if possible.
The arrested man is not an unknown to the police: Earlier that morning, the Afghan had insulted the staff of another train at Hanover Central Station and threatened them with violence because they refused to take a bicycle on board the ICE. Federal police officers then initiated criminal proceedings for insulting and threatening behaviour.
A further investigation was initiated for disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit criminal offences.
https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/ice-berlin-evakuiert-bedrohung-gifhorn
The Book that Predicted the Rise of Germany’s Populist Right – A novel that skewers fake journalists, political leaders and “refugees” alike
Conservative populists who follow Europe’s creeping left-wing authoritarianism will be delighted with the news of Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) winning second place in Germany’s recent federal election. The party, which took twice the votes (20.8 percent) it earned just four years ago, was essentially born out of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s astonishing 2015 decision to unilaterally welcome in a million, mostly young and male, economic migrants from the culturally incongruent nations of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. It now looks to be on track to win a whopping majority in the country’s next federal elections.
To help explain their success, here is AfD’s Beatrix von Storch on German TV recently: “We have two gang rapes a day, we have ten normal rapes a day and we have had 131 violent crimes a day on average over the last six years—by immigrants, primarily Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis.”
Interestingly, there is a book which predicted last Sunday’s results down to a tee. In the 2018 satirical novel The Hungry and the Fat, author Timur Vermes charts the rise of AfD together with yet another Merkel-esque mass march on Germany from the Third World; this one coming from the bowels of sub-Saharan Africa, not the Middle East. As footage starts airing of a 150,000-strong convoy snaking it way towards Germany’s borders, national voter-support for AfD leaps to 20 percent and mass protests erupt across the country.
Although unintentional at first, the instigator of the march is a TV broadcaster that traffics in manipulatively scripted “reality” shows about refugees in Germany. When it takes its format on the road to the world’s largest refugee camp, based in Africa, things turn serious when its host, a fashion model-turned-hack TV journalist, Nadeche Hackenbusch, goes ‘full Merkel’ and sets up the refugee caravan (with the help of criminal smugglers) to the German ‘promised land.’
The nit-witted Hackenbusch, who disrupts every sentence with “like”, but is referred to as “Malaika” or ‘angel’ in Swahili by camp residents, epitomizes the social-media generation of today: a cohort of young people completely lacking in deep knowledge and perspective of the world, while desperately trying to find a vehicle to exercise their own self-absorption and extreme narcissism.
Consumed by a mixture of blown-out ego and misspent empathy, Vermes sets up Hackenbusch as a modern-day Mrs. Jellyby, the infamous character from Dickens’s Bleak House who spends so much time pursuing African philanthropy she neglects the health of her own children. Similarly, Hackenbusch abandons her own children to their stepfather back in Germany (one of them comically named “Bonno” for having been conceived in Bonn à las Victoria Beckham and her daughter “Brooklyn”). This is done so she can lead the convoy with a new refugee lover, someone she cringingly tells is, unlike European men, “a man and a human” who can provide her with “a better love for a better world.”
Of camp residents themselves, we learn, as one reporter for the TV company puts it, “… many of these refugees weren’t refugees… [s]ome even had proper jobs… [something] not obvious to people who don’t know any better.” But what’s important for the broadcaster is the pre-conceived narrative, not the reality. Elsewhere, Vermes has the show’s producer angrily rejecting interview candidates for the show because they are either too cheerful, wear garish jewelry, or have beards (“As soon as your average housewife switches on, she’ll be saying, “Hey, look at Nadeche Hackenbusch! Is she casting terrorists now?”).
After the caravan kicks off and the show’s handlers go along with Hackenbusch’s crusade (“We’re broadcasting the greatest live drama in the history of German television!”), they struggle with managing on-the-ground realities, like the number of pregnancies that happen along the way, many, involving young girls and prostitutes.
Then there’s the aesthetically problematic issue of capturing “shit heaps” on camera. ‘Like a hiker’, one cameraman explains to the irate producer, ‘you can find a suitable stop, if it’s just you… but with a giant mass of people, it gets harder and harder the farther down the moving train you go.’
Rounding all this out is Vermes’s portrayal of Germany’s utterly spineless and spiritually dead political elite. Central here is Interior Minister for the governing center-right party, Joseph Leubl. Similar to American neocons, the 77-year-old Leubl came out of a generation of 1960s social radicals (referred to today in Germany as the “68ers”) who then turned to economic liberalism then called himself a conservative. Comically, when his granddaughter is asked who she would vote for in the next election, she answers: “AfD”—Last Sunday’s election showed the AfD topping youth-vote figures.
Unsurprisingly, Leubl and his team of staff and fellow ministers are at a complete loss as to how to respond to the looming onslaught, and Verme’s portrayal of such hand-wringing is the most important part of the novel. As one jokes: “Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Russians will attack us… We’ll be East Germany all over again, and then we’ll see how many refugees actually want to come.” While it’s true the German nation has become a victim of its own prosperity’s magnetic effects, there is the decadent, magical thinking that has accompanied it which is also to blame.
With the convoy being allowed to march through Turkey towards Germany unabated (taking thousands more refugees with them along the way), one minister states that next-door Bulgaria won’t similarly waver, if German seriously demonstrates it will seal its borders; the thinking being that if eastward neighbors Austria, Hungary and Serbia follow suit in order to keep the German-bound refugees from stopping within their borders, Bulgaria will have to as well. Defending his position, he tells a colleague: “Germany may be stupid and rich, but it’s not defenceless.” To which his colleague responds, “Do you really believe that?” Unfortunately, his answer disappoints.
In an interview, Leubl absurdly claims that any rigorous enforcement of Germany’s post-2015 refugee-limits in this situation will necessarily lead to mass killing. As a solution then, he suggests simply putting aside these legal limits and instead creating a pie-in-the-sky, 50 billion-euro-a-year “integration industry”, so that “newcomers” will be able to contribute to the economy and become good productive Germans. When pressed by the interviewer that such a program, even if financially feasible, would only lead to more armless invaders, he eerily answers in the affirmative, before concluding that ‘if a Nazi wants to complain, they will be banned from employment.’
Vermes does give voice to reason in places. When the producer’s assistant suggests showing to viewers “the other side” of the issue, such as AfD-supporters, she’s met with a gasp before responding, “They’re not all Nazis”—to which the preening TV staff just laugh. Elsewhere, when one government functionary makes his case for fencing off key parts of the border, he states: “Every kilometre of fence means one hundred fewer demonstrators’; something that would be so nice for those on the left constantly fearmongering about ‘the rise of fascism’ to understand.
The core problem presented in the book applies not just to Germany, but to all Western powers as well: do they still have enough pride in their past, a sense of their national self, and a commitment to future generations to see and fight existential threats like globalist moral blackmail and Third World armless invasions? For Germany at least, the book’s explosive ending gives an ambiguous answer: ‘yes’ and ‘no.’
https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-book-that-predicted-the-rise-of-germanys-populist-right/
‘I was treated like a pariah’ – Woman forced out of UK fire service for gender critical views after ‘humiliating’ witch hunt: ‘The rug was pulled from under me’
A woman who says she was forced out of a UK fire service for her gender critical views has told GB News she feels “humiliated” after a “witch-hunt” saw her ousted from her position.
Andrea Pieri, a former employee of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service says she faced hounding allegations and an investigation into gross misconduct after requesting an order involving Norwich Pride be handed to another member of staff, due to her views.
The order included agreeing to a “Pride Allies Pledge”, which requires a “commitment to support and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community”, which can be made by individuals, businesses, or organisations.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Pieri said that her manager was willing to accommodate her wish, but she was called into a meeting with HR just days later.
Pieri explained: “I said to my manager, I’ve had this order for Norwich Pride come in, and due to my gender critical views, I don’t feel comfortable having my name against this order as it is. Is there any possibility that this could please be assigned to someone else?”And he was fine about it. However, a couple of days later, I was called into a meeting with HR.” Pieri says that she later found out another individual at the Fire Service had escalated a complaint to senior leadership and HR.
In the meeting, which Pieri described as “not tea and biscuits”, she told GB News it was insinuated that her views were “homophobic”.
Pieri insisted this was not the case, and her views were based on fears about transgender ideology entering pride events.
Pieri said: “The insinuation was that I was homophobic, and I explained that it’s precisely because of my opposition to homophobia that I have moral objections to Norwich Pride.
“Gay people have been kicked out of pride events in the past. Nancy Kelly, the CEO of Stonewall, has described lesbians as ‘sexual racists’ for not wanting to sleep with men. There’s a whole plethora of issues in terms of gender ideology, indoctrinating children, sterilising children, and invading women’s single sex spaces.”
Following the meeting, Pieri said that a “letter of expectations” was issued alongside another meeting with members of the EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) team, where she was once again “grilled about her beliefs” on gender.
Considered a “top performer” in her team, Pieri was told that the meeting was about her “performance” at work.
She was instead subjected to a “humiliating” and “intrusive” sit down with some of the EDI representatives.
She told GB News: “I essentially had to explain my whole reasoning, my political views, and my moral objections to pride. And it just felt very intrusive and quite humiliating as I don’t talk about my politics and my views at work.
“The only reason it came out, that I was gender critical, was because I asked for the possibility of the Pride order to be assigned to someone else. So I had that meeting where I was essentially grilled about my beliefs and I was still being hounded. It was quite patronising and condescending – I remember thinking to myself, ‘you’ve heard everything that I’ve had to say – why do you want me to repeat myself?'”
After the situation had “died down”, Pieri was then informed months later that a formal investigation was to be carried out against her for allegedly “breaching the letter of expectations”, which she says left her “completely dumbfounded”.
Pieri said: “As far as I was aware, that letter of expectations was to do with these Pride orders, and I hadn’t been asked to raise any. I was informed that this is a level three investigation, which is the highest form of investigation and could potentially result in dismissal. It was like the rug being absolutely pulled from underneath me.
“I was being investigated for gross misconduct; in that I had displayed discriminatory behaviour in the workplace. And again, I was just tearing my brain inside out because I couldn’t even so much as recall any arguments that I had with anyone, let alone discriminatory behaviour. I’ve never discriminated against anyone in my life.”
Highlighting the impact on her mental health, Pieri detailed how she became depressed and suffered with “intrusive thoughts” during the investigation period.
She explained: “I was going out of my mind at this point. This made me very ill, very depressed – I was essentially being treated as a pariah. I’d spent all that time in the organisation building such a good reputation, I was always the person people would go to for help – even people who’d been in the organisation longer than me.
“I was always praised for the quality of my work, and it seemed as if all of that was taken away just like that.”
Pieri was then suspended following the investigation – however, she claims she was then informed that the scope of the investigation had “widened” after the Fire Service sought to investigate her online posts as she was suspected of a “potential breach of their social media policy” and she had “potentially put the organisation into disrepute”.
Discussing the posts, which consisted of “likes and reposts” of a gender critical nature, she told GB News: “It just felt so intrusive. When it eventually came to my investigation meeting, they had printed out every single one of my tweets and I was asked to explain them.
“I retweeted a post that said ‘lesbians don’t like d***’, and I was asked to explain that. I just thought, isn’t that self-explanatory? Isn’t that what a lesbian is? They’re biological women that are not sexually attracted to men.
“I had to explain posts about straight men pretending to be women, infiltrating lesbian spaces such as dating apps and events, pressuring women to sleep with them. And the professional standards person asked me, ‘are you referring to men or trans women?’ And I just said men because let’s face it, they’re all men.”
Upon being informed of other allegations made against her by colleagues, Pieri stated that they were a “pack of lies”, and believed at that point that her relationship with an employer that she was previously proud to have been associated with had “irrevocably broken down”.
She claims: “I was told that discriminatory behaviour in the workplace had not been proven as all my colleagues had been interviewed. However, by that point I felt the relationship with my employer had irrevocably broken down and I just wanted to get out of there. From the first incident, they wanted me out at that point.
“And having that letter of expectations put on my record is almost like a chink in the armour, like as a prelude to try and get rid of me. I’d been in the organisation for three-and-a-half-years and not a single blemish on my record. It was only once I’d raised my head above the parapet and identified myself as gender critical, all of this happened. This was 100 per cent a witch hunt.”
Discussing her next steps, Pieri stressed how the impact of the investigation has left her reputation in “tatters”, and fears she may not secure another job.
She told GB News that she is currently attending counselling after the ordeal left a “huge knock on her self-esteem” – she is also considering legal action.
Pieri concluded: “I really did love that job and I worked so hard, and it feels like my reputation has been left in tatters. I am applying for other jobs now, but at the back of my mind, I’m worried in terms of referencing what will come up, if I might have job offers withdrawn as I’ve now got gross misconduct on my record, and the whole thing seems grossly unfair.”
In a statement, a Norfolk Fire & Rescue spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual cases of misconduct, and Ms Pieri left the organisation whilst an investigation was ongoing.
“Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service is an inclusive organisation and employer, and we strive for the highest possible standards of conduct and professionalism. We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously, and will investigate any breaches and take appropriate action where required.”
https://www.gbnews.com/news/uk-news-gender-critical-norfolk-fire-witch-hunt
Media Silent as Court Hears Shocking Details of Amsterdam “Jew Hunt”
Five more suspects have appeared in court over the brutal attacks on Jewish football supporters in Amsterdam last November, as Western liberal media outlets remain cynically silent on the incident.
One of the accused, 32-year-old Mounir M., is charged with being the administrator of the WhatsApp group in which the violence was incited and organized. As the court heard, participants in the group encouraged each other to “hunt down Jews.”
Chat messages between the men accused of carrying out acts of targeted violence against Jews were read out during the trial, which confirmed that the horrific attack against supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Israeli football team had been planned well in advance.
Messages such as “[we] may never get this chance [again] to beat up some f***ing Jews,” and “we have to make those cancer Jews feel what they did to our brothers” were shared among the men as they were preparing their brutal attack.
However, Western liberal media outlets have remained silent on the shocking revelations that were unearthed during the trial.
As we previously reported, 20 to 30 people were injured, some of them hospitalized, in November last year after Israeli football fans were attacked by a pro-Palestine mob in Amsterdam following a match between Dutch team Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Footage shared widely on social media captured moments of horrifying violence, including assailants demanding that their victims denounce Israel and pledge allegiance to the Palestinian cause. The perpetrators proudly filmed their actions, and evidence later emerged that WhatsApp and Telegram groups had been created in advance to coordinate these attacks.
The assault was decried as a “pogrom” and a “Jew hunt” by conservative leaders, such as Geert Wilders, the leader of the largest Dutch governing party, the Party for Freedom.
Left-liberal politicians and commentators, however, chose to ignore the evidence and instead opted to calling the events “street violence” and “riots” as though both Jews and Arabs had been victims.
In December, five suspects were sentenced for their role in the violence, with the harshest punishment being a stint of six months in prison. Some of the men were said to have incited violence on chat messaging groups, and shared information about the whereabouts of Maccabi fans. Others were sentenced for physical violence, such as kicking their victims in the head or beating them while they were on the ground.
“To the rational observer, it was clear from the start that what happened in Amsterdam was a pogrom,” writes Spiked’s chief political writer, Brendan O’Neill. Yet the leftists remain ignorant or silent about the true nature of the assault and its aftermath.
The pitiless cynicism of so many observers following the Amsterdam pogrom exposed the neo-racist cruelty of identity politics. Their denials of the Jew hunt were fuelled by a warped belief that Jews can never be victims. After all, Jews are part of ‘the privileged’ and Arab migrants are part of ‘the oppressed’. And how can ‘the privileged’ suffer a pogrom at the hands of ‘the oppressed’? They sacrificed the truth of Amsterdam’s Jew hunt at the altar of ideology.
As Raouf Leeraar, Policy Director at Israel Allies Foundation Europe recently told europeanconservative.com:
Initially, there was widespread condemnation of the antisemitic attacks. But as soon as investigations revealed that the perpetrators were predominantly Muslim immigrants, the narrative shifted. Suddenly, the attackers became victims—portrayed as marginalized individuals reacting to discrimination or anger over Gaza—while the actual victims were subtly blamed for their supposed provocation.