The post-democrats of Brussels are, along with many European governments, very keen on online censorship. Free speech is not a “European value.”

The flip side of censorship is propaganda, which can be direct or (through funding this or not funding that) indirect.

This Euractiv story made interesting reading:

As part of the EU’s next long-term budget, the European Commission has proposed around €8.6 billion for the cultural and creative industry — twice the amount currently provided. The new AgoraEU pot merges two current funds: CreativeEurope and the Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) programmes. Yet the media element of the fund will apply to both film and news, raising concerns about how the money will be divided between these industries.

As part of the EU’s next long-term budget, the European Commission has proposed around €8.6 billion for the cultural and creative industry — twice the amount currently provided.

The new AgoraEU pot merges two current funds: CreativeEurope and the Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) programmes. Yet the media element of the fund will apply to both film and news, raising concerns about how the money will be divided between these industries.

The CERV programs may be worth a closer look. Some details here.

Click on the link to find, among other items, this:

Civil society organisations active at local, regional, national and transnational level, as well as other stakeholders, can apply to receive CERV funding for initiatives aimed at citizens’ engagement, equality for all and the protection and promotion of rights and EU values.

Civil society organisations active at local, regional, national and transnational level, as well as other stakeholders, can apply to receive CERV funding for initiatives aimed at citizens’ engagement, equality for all and the protection and promotion of rights and EU values.

In other words, it is a taxpayer-funded slush fund for NGOs to promote “rights” and, uh, “EU values.”

It is, I suppose, fitting for post-democratic Brussels to turn to NGOs (or should I say “civil society organizations”), those prime agents of post-democracy, to drum up support for post-democratic values.

And here we can see that one of the projects for which Brussels was asking for tenders last year was to “provide technical, content-related and organizational support to prevent hate speech, particularly online.”

How to better implement censorship, in other words.

The trigger for the Euractiv story was the support that a Norwegian film has received from the EU (Norway is not in the EU, but it is in the single market). Its producer had this to say:

In the political space we are in, it’s especially important that Europe supports its filmmakers and its culture as a relatively cheap way of generating a lot of soft power.

In the political space we are in, it’s especially important that Europe supports its filmmakers and its culture as a relatively cheap way of generating a lot of soft power.

© National Review