By Richard Widmann-

The team here at Inconvenient History has just learned that our Print on Demand publisher Lulu.com will no longer print or distribute our Annual editions.  The “Questionable Content Team” at Lulu has informed us that our content and in fact all revisionist writing is “illegal and anti-constitutional” in France and Germany — two of their markets.

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On January 27, 2010, the “International Holocaust Remberance Day”, EU Commissioner for Security and Justice and Vice-President of the EC, Jacques Barrot, made the following highly important statement on his newspage:

“Sixty-five years ago, the world woke itself to the horrors of Auschwitz. Today, it is our duty to pay tribute to the 6 millions of Jews and all the other victims of the Holocaust.

We have a duty to remember the loss of life and the suffering caused by this unprecedented crime in history. This legacy must be passed to future generations as a memento. Miep Gies, one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis and who preserved Anne Frank’s diary said that the past is never over.

Remembrance of the Shoah must strengthen our determination to fight, in today’s world, against the phenomena that several decades ago led the world into the abyss of the Holocaust. (…)

No form of antisemitism, regardless of where and whom it comes from, is acceptable. The commemoration of other crimes cannot be to the detriment of the remembrance of the Shoah. The conflict in the Middle East cannot be an excuse or justification for antisemitism. It is deplorable to read at the very wake of the commemoration of the Holocaust statements that deny the Shoah. It is unacceptable to deny or minimize the established history of the Nazi genocide against the Jews. The value of human life is universal: this is true for each and every human being, regardless of their race, religion, or nation.

At the end of this year, Member States will have to implement the long-awaited Framework Decision on racism and xenophobia. Sixty-five years after the extermination camps were liberated, we can be proud that EU law makes the denial of the Shoah a crime in all its Member States. The Commission is strongly committed to pay particular attention to the correct transposition and implementation of all the provisions of this Framework Decision across the Union.”

Thus, if Barrot and his cohorts have their way, critical scrutiny of the “Holocaust” claims, i.e. “Holocaust denial” will be illegalized come 2011 in all EU member states, not only the ones already equipped with such anti-heresy laws (among them Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The modern day inquisition of the Holy Shoah will enter a new stage. “The European Mind Stops…”

By Richard A. Widmann-

In stark opposition to George Santayana’s now clichéd quote about learning from history, revisionist pioneer Harry Barnes in his  History and Social Intelligence  boldly noted that he did “not accept the view that history can in many cases be directly useful to the present generation through the discovery of alleged specific analogies between the remote past and the present day.”  He continued, “Perhaps the greatest lesson of history is that it has no such lessons for our generation.”

Whether the current generation did not heed Santayana’s warning or whether the vast differences of historical periods preclude us from applying lessons from the past, there is little doubt that we seem to repeat the worst mistakes of the generations that preceded us.

One historical period that has been embraced by popular culture is the “Red Scare” of the early 1950’s.  The nearly mythologized account seemingly replacing the earlier tales of young Washington and his cherry tree describe a vicious anti-Communist crusade led by Senator McCarthy.  McCarthy, or so the story goes, unfairly and undemocratically destroyed lives because of suspected Communist sympathies.  Regardless of the accused connections to Communism the message today is surely that all are free to believe what they choose – politically and otherwise.  The United States is the land of the free, and if we resort to totalitarian methods, to blacklisting, to name-calling, and attacks on character, then we have in fact lost what is best in America and in fact what so many lost their lives to protect during the Second World War.

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By Richard A. Widmann-

News this morning tells of hackers who broke into David Irving’s Website(s) and internet accounts. They apparently stole private information including ID’s and passwords and even bank account information. They took mailing lists and destroyed content on his Website. This same group, or an associated group also sought to have events on his speaking tour cancelled.

Those involved apparently think they are doing a good thing — fighting “Holocaust denial,” “neo-Nazism,” “racism,” add the slur, you get the idea. The value of free speech and a free press is completely lost on this crowd. They miss the point that their methods are in fact “fascist” or “Stalinist” in nature. The desire to prevent someone from sharing ideas which oppose your own is the type of dogmatic thinking that led to the burning of heretics, the witch trials, and the extremes of National Socialism and Communism.

For these hackers and “anti-Fascists,” none of this matters. They are sure that they are right. In being so right, it is fair to stop the speech of those they oppose.

They miss the point that if the only speech we defend is that which we support, then freedom is lost. It is only offensive speech or speech we disagree with that NEEDS the protection of the law.

Many years ago Huey P. Long said, Fascism will come to America,but likely under another name, perhaps anti-fascism.” Today it is clear that Fascism is live and well in the United States — brought to you by those with little understanding of what they have done.