In this mailing: Giulio Meotti: Europe's New Academic Fascism Amir Taheri: Iran: the Masks of Jefferson and Attila Europe's New Academic Fascism by Giulio Meotti  •  February 23, 2020 at 5:00 am       Minority groups claim "safe spaces", but the ones who really need safe spaces are those who disgree with the reigning orthodoxy. An appeal by some French intellectuals, including many Muslim thinkers such as Boualem Sansal and Zineb el Rhazoui, criticized this "intellectual terrorism." Free expression is not needed for "politically correct" or sedative speech, but it is the only protection the minority has from the tyranny of the majority. "[T]he freedom of Speech may be taken away — and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter." — US President George Washington, 1783. The European university -- which should be the home of open pluralism, debate, research and thought -- has instead become the paradise of intellectual sectarianism and terror. This new radicalism will reinforce not only political correctness, but also submission to coercion in the West. Mohamed Sifaoui was forced to flee North Africa in 1999 after death threats from Islamists, and now lives in France under police protection. His course on radicalization was recently cancelled by Sorbonne University in Paris, which Sifaoui blamed on "the pressures of Islamic associations and left-wing unions." (Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images) Western universities have become places of personal fear and intellectual terror. Formerly sanctuaries for open inquiry, instead fierce ideological minorities have been setting red lines of orthodoxy in the face of a silent or, worse, compliant academy. Education -- from ex ducere, to lead out -- has been increasingly eroded by ideological fundamentalism and an attempt to determine not only what actions are acceptable, but even words and thoughts. Social media has helped by officially reviving the lynch mob. We must now all sing the praises of multiculturalism, Islam, immigration, post-colonial guilt and racializing just about everything. In this new Inquisition, not even the slightest doubt or dissent can be tolerated -- it must be punished!