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Web Summit founder cancels Marie Le Pen's invite

MarieLePenThe Web Summit, held for the past two years in Lisbon, was courting danger by inviting the French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, to speak at its next conference on November 5th, 2018, at the Altice Arena.

Co-founder of the wildly popular event, Paddy Cosgrave, stated today that he had changed his mind and that Le Pen’s invitation had been withdrawn, "based on advice we have received and the large reaction online overnight."

The invitation to Le Pen to join a debating forum at the conference, provoked a backlash on social media and Cosgrave has decided that, "Her presence is disrespectful in particular to our host country. It is also disrespectful to some of the many tens of thousands of attendees who join us from around the world."

He also said that his team welcomes suggestions for more "appropriate" speakers to speak at the event.

The organisers realised they were playing with fire and already had ensured Le Pen did not have centre stage, asking her to be part of a debating forum, away from the prime slots that attract media attention.

This strategy always was likely to fail as the furore triggered by her inclusion in the roster of 1,000 guest speakers, has proved.

"As has always been the case with speakers who express what might be considered offensive viewpoints, they are explicitly not invited to speak on our centre stage, nor on our more than 20 other primary stages.

"They appear instead on our smallest stages at Forum," he said.

Ever the diplomat, Cosgrave explained, "The issue of hate, freedom of expression and platform technologies is one of the defining questions of 2018. We will redouble our efforts to approach this difficult issue at Web Summit with more care."

The event organiser said he already has conceded that he would cancel Le Pen’s invitation if the Portuguese government objected.

In the end, it was online pressure that pushed Cosgrave to rescind Le Pen’s invite but he also will have pleased the government which prefers to avoid controversy.

Cosgrave anyway is on his best behaviour after last year’s blunder when he held a banquet in Lisbon's National Pantheon where many of Portugal’s heroes and statesmen are entombed.

The summit has no trouble attracting top speakers, here is list of the first 250 of them, booked for November this year HERE

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Comments  

+1 #8 Peter Booker 2018-08-17 18:55
"The irony is that the EU was created by right wing fascists," says AL.

The idea stated in 1942 may have been that of a German; Napoleon before him had a similar idea. But we could not call him a Fascist, which in any case, if it means anything at all, is now a mere insult.

The fact that an idea came from someone, of whose state ideology we disapprove, does not invalidate the value of the idea itself. People of the right are not all fascists; followers of Stalin were not all pathological murderers. And democracy does not have all the answers.
0 #7 Charly 2018-08-17 11:32
Interesting matter: I asked former friends in EU (Brussels) if they could provide me a copy of Prof. Dr Walter Funck's document that was mentioned by mr AL in his comment. Their answers were unanemous: nobody every heard about that statement. Therefore I should really appreciate if mr AL would tell me where I can find it or even send me a copy trough
Thank you for that.
;
-2 #6 J Talbot 2018-08-16 18:15
As a north European with several years of "Pink Mapping" already clocked up against me in Portugal for trying to effectively occupy it is clear to me that the underlying complaint against LePen is not that she would antagonise the (local) attendees. Far more likely is that she would not bring anything new to the Portuguese or indeed the wider pan Europe debate. Everywhere you look the sponger EU countries are keen to keep sponging but do not allow non-sponger developed EU citizens to be active in return. Now add in the non-EU migrants.
-1 #5 AL 2018-08-16 13:05
Charly, it doesn't matter what "democratic" countries created the EU. Perhaps you should compare the document "Europaische Wirtschafts Gemeinschaft" which was written in 1942 by Professor Walter Funk the Reich’s Economics Minister and President of the Reichsbank to the 1957 "European Economic Community" document that came into existence under the treaty of Rome. You will find it that they are very similar.
As for democracy in the EU the European Parliament, the only democratic institution of the union, has only an advisory status and is therefore not a real legislature.
There are many documents revealing that the idea of European integration came from the Nazis. And to get a few more thumbs down I'll even say that the EU was completed with the help of the CIA. That is why Obama was so keen in helping with stay campaign during the referendum. Easier for Americans to control the EU as a whole then to control individual countries. This is exactly what is happening now, with the US pressuring the EU to continue imposing sanctions on the Russians.
+2 #4 Charly 2018-08-16 10:57
The EU was created
a. in 1953 by 3 democratic countries: Belgium+Holland +LUxemburg and the name was at that time "Coal and steal Union"
b. 20 years later the group has been enlarged
by 6 other democratic countries: +Germany+France+Italy and then the name changed in "European ecomomical Association" and it is only later on that the "big expansion" (till 28, soon 27) began.
Dear Al: the "truth" has its rights, doesn't it ?
0 #3 AL 2018-08-16 09:52
Yes sometimes the truth offends so let's keep Le Pen away in case the truth starts spreading here in Portugal.
Anybody that is against uncontrolled immigration and believes that the EU is nothing but a ponzi scheme ran by unelected bureaucrats is labelled a right wing fascist.
The irony is that the EU was created by right wing fascists.
0 #2 Bob P 2018-08-16 08:57
More lefty censorship.
+2 #1 Charly 2018-08-16 02:34
And what to think about the Uk's own Nigel Ferrage? or the Dutch anti-islamist Geert Wilders? and why not asking Trump ?

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