A Walk in the Park

The last few days I have spent in Brussels attending a conference organized by the Vigilant Freedom Europa. I suppose we will be called right wing fascists by the left because it was about the danger of Islam in Europe. The conference was held in the Belly of the Beast, the E.U. parliament building. I was mildly surprised, the E.U. catering served us ham sandwiches among other things in the intervals between the speakers. During the time I was there I stayed with a Danish friend and another Danish Blogger. On the second day of the conference. I walked down through Jubel park to Robert Shumans plads to get a Taxi to the venue. Just a few yards away is the European Commision building. What caught my eye though was a minaret sticking up above the trees just to the left of the park entrance, curiosity got the better of me and I wandered across to take a closer look. The mosque turned out to be the Grand Mosque of Brussels built with Saudi money on land given to the Belgium muslims by the late King. It is no more than about 200 yards from the E.U. Commission building. I took a picture and then wandered back towards to main gate to get my Taxi. To get there I had to go past this monument. Late 19th century. It must have been very impressive in its day, but the past 100 years have ravaged it as you can see it is black and eroded. One would have thought that the Belgium people would have would have taken care of it because it is about ending the slave trade in the Congo. I didn't know this until I wandered over to read the inscriptions. Well the part of the inscription that I could read because certain vandals in Belgium society had vandalized it, it is not difficult to see why Here is my rough and ready the translation to my readers who can't read Flemish or French. The Belgium's military heroism in destroying the Arab Slave traders. Well you can't read the bit where it says arab in the French inscription because someone has taken a chisel and chiseled it away, but you can decipher it in the Flemish inscription. You can also see that it has happened before because both words have been repaired. It seemed symbolic to me about the problems we are suffering in Europe today. We allow them to build propaganda offices under the guise of mosques, then do nothing when they try to eradicate our history by disfiguring our monument. The monument is certainly not on a par with the Giant Buddha statues in Afghanistan, but you can bet your life it will be the first thing they blow up when they take power. History might not repeat itself but it certainly tends to rhyme.