The Brussels Journal is a conservative blog, founded by the Flemish journalist

Paul Beliën Paul Beliën (born 1959), is a Flemish Belgian journalist, author and founder of the conservative blog The Brussels Journal. Beliën is a master of law with specialisations in European and social security law from the University of Ghent and h ...

. It is consistently named as one of the Counter-jihad movement's main channels. It was founded in 2005, and has both an English language section with various international contributions, and a Dutch section. The Brussels Journal bills itself as a member of the OpinionJournal Federation but does not appear among the list of members on OpinionJournal's own site. It is published by the Society for the Advancement of Freedom in Europe (SAFE), a Swiss non-profit organisation.

Political affiliations

Paul Beliën's wife,

Alexandra Colen Alexandra Maria Catherine Colen (born 9 July 1955) is a Belgian politician. She was member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the Vlaams Belang party from 21 May 1995 until May 2014. She holds a PhD in linguistics, and is known for h ...

, was a parliamentary member of Vlaams Belang. However, Beliën himself has been at odds with the party at times, criticizing the party for its populism. However, Beliën has since been employed as an advisor by Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch, right-wing

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

. According to the Brussels Journal, it is a

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

publication, and most of its writers, both Belgian and non-Belgian, have no affiliation to any political party or organization.

Notable debates

Allegations of racism

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Bret Stephens, after a 17-year-old Belgian boy,

Joe Van Holsbeeck Joe Van Holsbeeck was a Belgian 17-year-old student who was murdered at Brussels Central Station in Brussels on 12 April 2006. Van Holsbeeck was fatally stabbed in an attempted robbery of his MP3 player and died in hospital later that day. Van ...

, was murdered by

romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

from Poland, Paul Beliën wrote an article calling for the decriminalization of the possession of "self-defense weapons." The article was titled "Geef ons Wapens!" (Give us Weapons!). The government anti-discrimination agency Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism claimed the article constituted incitement to violence and warned that unless it was removed, the blog would face state prosecution, although the words Muslim or Islam were not used in the article and the following sentence, by some claimed to be a "quote" was not in the article:

Muslims are predators that have learned from childhood (…) during the yearly feast of the sacrifice (…) how to slaughter warm herd animals.

Beliën removed the article. The article has been noted as an important event in the development of a harsher climate towards immigrants in Belgium. The incident caused the site to shift to English-centric in order to be able to present future such cases to the international media. In June, Belgian police summoned Beliën for questioning regarding several articles, he wrote for the Brussels Journal. According to Beliën the police continued to invite him in for questioning but he refused to show up. On 27 July 2011, Belgian media reported that the Belgian security agencies will ask the federal prosecutor to open a case file investigating relations between The Brussels Journal and

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

, the confessed perpetrator of the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

. The security agencies would want clarity about a number of articles that have been published on the web site, and that are part of '' 2083: A European Declaration of Independence'', Breivik's manifesto.Veiligheidsdiensten vragen onderzoek naar verband Breivik en Belgische site
Gazet Van Antwerpen, 27 July 2011.

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

The Brussels Journal was the first news and opinion site to cover the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in English, bringing it to the attention to US bloggers, including Michelle Malkin, and the mainstream media. The Brussels Journal republished the cartoons. This action was called a "deliberate provocation by the neocons," by an editorial in the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

Knack magazine. According to Knack, Brussels Journal's aim was to "make Americans and Europeans believe that all Muslims are violent and dangerous, after which the clash in Palestine, Iran and Syria can really kick off."Paul Beliën en zijn vriendjes
Knack, 15 February 2006

Notable contributors

The Brussels Journal has featured contributions by

Diana West Diana West (born November 8, 1961) is a formerly nationally syndicated conservative American columnist and author. Until 2014, she wrote a weekly column which frequently dealt with controversial subjects such as Islam and was syndicated by Univer ...

Daniel Hannan Daniel John Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere (born 1 September 1971) is a British writer, journalist and former politician serving as an adviser to the Board of Trade since 2020. He is the founding president of the Initiative for Free Trade ...

, John Laughland, Fjordman, Tiberge, Koenraad Elst, Takuan Seiyo,

Jos Verhulst Jos is a city in the north central region of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. During British ...

, and

Matthias Storme Matthias Edward Storme (born 1959) is a Belgian lawyer, academic and conservative philosopher. Family life Storme was born and raised in a Catholic family in the Belgian city of Ghent. His father Marcel Storme (b. 1930) used to be a universit ...

among others.

References

External links

The Brussels Journal

OpinionJournal Federation

Interview with Seiyo on Dunedain.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Brussels, Journal Counter-jihad Blogs critical of Islam 2005 establishments in Belgium Publications established in 2005 Internet properties established in 2005 Anti-Islam sentiment in Belgium Islamophobic publications