European Freedom Fund
A charity founded by leading British neoconservative figures in 2007. As of July 2009 the charity had not begun any operations.
Contents
Objects
- THE PROMOTION OF RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AS SET OUT IN THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS ADOPTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON 4 NOVEMBER 1950 AND THE CONVENTION'S FIVE PROTOCOLS, BY 1 RELIEVING VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE WHO ARE IN FINANCIAL OR PHYSICAL NEED, 2 PROCURING JUSTICE AND OBTAINING REDRESS FOR SUCH VICTIMS, 3 RAISING AWARENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS (AS DEFINED), AND 4 CULTIVATING A PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN FAVOUR OF HUMAN RIGHTS (AS DEFINED)[1]
Trustees
Affiliations
The European Freedom Fund shares a Stamford address with Conservative councillor G.M. Gibbs. Gibbs' Register of interests shows that her partner has an interest in the New College of the Humanities. The other interests mentioned would appear to confirm that this is the college's CEO, Jeremy Gibbs.
EFF trustee Roy Brown is also a board member at the New College of the Humanities. He is also 'the immediate past-president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and since 2008 has been head of the IHEU delegation at the UN in Geneva'.
Brown's links to well-known counterjihad activists is a cause for concern writes Tom Griffin:
- While many of the issues Brown has raised at the UN are important ones in themselves, the nature of his alliances there raises profound questions about the framework within which he is pursuing them.
- David Littman claims to have worked closely with Brown at the UN from 2004, and Brown defended Littman in a 2008 article for the National Secular Society. The piece failed to mention that Littman and his wife Bat Ye'or are major proponents of the Eurabia conspiracy theory, which claims that western elites are complicit in an imminent Islamist takeover of Europe.
- Brown has also contributed a chapter to Robert Spencer's book The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, which featured extensive contributions from Littman and Bat Ye'or. Spencer has been described by the Center for American Progress as a leading Islamophobic disinformation expert.
- The Eurabia thesis promoted by writers from the so-called Counterjihad movement was a major influence on the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. That does not of course mean that they condone his actions, or that their freedom of speech should be restricted as a result. [3]
Resources
- Tom Griffin, Michael Gove and the subversives, Spinwatch 6 June 2014, first published on The Green Ribbon blog
Notes
- ↑ Charity Commission, Extract from the Central Register of Charities maintained by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 16 March 2008.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Extract from the Central Register of Charities maintained by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 16 March 2008.
- ↑ Tom Griffin, Michael Gove and the subversives, Spinwatch 6 June 2014, first published on The Green Ribbon blog
